

Punter Tress Way, left, attempts to run with a fake punt in the third quarter. It came up short. (Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

Needing a spark with his team down 9-0 midway through the third quarter, facing fourth and five with the ball at their own 33-yard line, Coach Jay Gruden called for a fake punt.

Punter Tress Way took the snap but gained only two yards as he attempted a run up the middle. The outside was wide open, but Way didn’t recognize that until too late. He said that he made the wrong choice.

“Their guy played it perfectly,” Way said. “If he would have ran that up-and-under, we had daylight all across the outside. I should have just followed [tight end] Niles [Paul].”

Gruden said Way’s inexperience showed on the play.

“He is not a running back, but we tried to take a shot,” the coach said. “We tried to get something going. It was fourth-down-and-five and [special teams coordinator] Ben [Kotwica] saw something where he thought the fake would be there. It was worth the shot, and this one Tress didn’t get. One of the few things he hasn’t done all year.”

Way got tackled at the 35-yard line and four plays later, the Rams scored to take a 17-0 lead.

That wasn’t the only special teams blunder of the game. The Rams missed an extra point, a 28-yard field goal attempt and a 38-yard field goal try in the first half. Then, just 4 1/2 minutes after Way’s failed fake, the Rams’ Tavon Austin returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown.

E-mail a Redskins question to mike.jones@washpost.com, with the subject “Mailbag question,” and it might be answered Tuesday in the Mailbag.

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