Redskins defensive end Jason Hatcher dives on the ball as he recovers a fumble by Colts quarterback Andrew Luck after a sack by outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan on the Colts' first possession of the game.

Redskins defensive end Jason Hatcher dives on the ball as he recovers a fumble by Colts quarterback Andrew Luck after a sack by outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan on the Colts' first possession of the game. Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post

This was a good day to be a Colt. Either Indianapolis or McCoy. Otherwise, cover your eyes.

Washington found a plausible quarterback for the rest of its season here on Sunday, in what was otherwise an embarrassing 49-27 loss to Indianapolis. Colt McCoy passed for 392 yards , threw three touchdown passes and, after a bad start, looked more comfortable reading defenses and going through progressions in Coach Jay Gruden’s offense than Robert Griffin III did in any of his five starts this year.

At least December can be played with some hope that Gruden’s system, and the team’s offensive players, can be evaluated in a normal NFL manner. Talents like tight end Jordan Reed, who caught nine balls for 123 yards, and DeSean Jackson, who had a 42-yard scoring grab, won’t be wasted.

After McCoy’s third straight strong performance — in the other two, he was a key to victory — every Washington blunder or penalty won’t have to be seen through the distorting prism of “what did Griffin know and when did he know it?”

McCoy showed the flaws and rust that were expected, including four fumbles, a couple of which he covered instantly. But his pleasant statistics — 31 for 47, no interceptions and a 113.1 quarterback rating — should be taken with many grains of salt. This was a game that Washington, coming off 3-13 and facing quarterback Andrew Luck at home, may have been doomed to lose the day it was put on the schedule. But like so many lopsided-on-paper NFL games, this one had a moment when the eight-point underdog saw some light.

Despite a decent performance, Colt McCoy could not pull a victory for the Redskins, as they lost 27-49 against the Indianapolis Colts. The Washington Post's Gene Wang and Dan Steinberg discuss how the lackluster defense was mostly to blame. (Kyle Barss/The Washington Post)

But when it mattered most, when Washington might have taken an early initiative, neither McCoy nor Gruden’s play-calling was worth a lick. The defense forced Luck and the NFL’s top-ranked offense into two turnovers in the first 3 minutes 10 seconds. “We could have been up 14-0, 10-0,” Gruden said, disgusted. Try 3-0.

Instead, McCoy managed minus-four net passing yards on Washington’s first five possessions. By then, Luck made an electrifying discovery. Washington had left all of its defensive backs at the team hotel. In their place, ushers and soda salesmen were given burgundy-and-gold uniforms and told, “Nobody understands Jim Haslett’s defenses anyway, so just run around at random. We’ll hope they drop the ball.” It worked as usual: Indy quickly led 21-3.

Actually, Ryan Clark, Bashaud Breeland, Brandon Meriweather, David Amerson and Phillip Thomas did get to Lucas Oil Stadium on time. But it’s a large structure and easily identified. Apparently, Coby Fleener, at a barely visible 6 feet 6, 251 pounds, and Donte Moncrief, 6-2, 221, are harder to detect. They weren’t left open by yards. They were open by city blocks. You could build a Wal-Mart between Amerson and Meriweather and men they were (later told) they were covering.

Moncrief scored on unaccompanied touchdown passes of 48 and 79 yards ; Fleener caught scoring bombs of 30 and 73 yards and was so discombobulated by being open by 20 yards that he also dropped what would have been a 52-yard scoring pass. Daniel Herron disregarded several of the same gentlemen on a 49-yard touchdown run. That’s almost a season’s worth of big plays allowed.

“The players have to start stepping up and taking some accountability at some point. We have to do a better job of coaching,” said Gruden, who detailed some of the gaffes, like a basic three-deep call on which no one — think about this — covered the deep middle third of the field. Who needs Luck to beat that? “To have these guys wide open like that, that’s unheard of on simple coverage calls.”

Meriweather showed accountability by walking out of the locker room, past a group of reporters as they asked him to be interviewed. Their attempt to capture a pawn “en passant” failed.

There’s reassurance in McCoy’s general competence, as well as his spectacular three-broken-tackle scramble that created a 16-yard third-down touchdown to Logan Paulsen that cut Indy’s lead to 21-17 in the third quarter. “I didn’t want to take a sack,” said McCoy, who was alone on a naked bootleg with nothing but Indianapolis players everywhere. “I tried to make one guy miss, and then one guy became three guys. . . . The smart play probably would have been to throw it away, but at that point in the game, we needed a touchdown, we needed a spark, something. We found a way.”

The Post Sports Live crew debates quarterback Robert Griffin III's future with the Redskins after another disappointing performance in the team's loss to the 49ers. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)

On days, like last week in San Francisco, when Haslett’s gambling and complex scheming leaves the other team confused rather than his own, this offense, with McCoy, may “find a way” often enough to be competitive.

“Colt competed and he did a nice job out there. All our [performances] in the first half were not good on any level. But he came back and gave us a chance,” said Gruden, adding that his tackle-breaking scramble before his Paulsen touchdown was a McCoy trademark back to his days at Texas. “He’s a tough guy. Players play hard for him.”

McCoy’s worst moment — and the play that iced this win for Indy — was a Gruden go-for-it gamble on fourth down in the middle of the third quarter of a 28-17 game. On what was intended to be a play-action bomb to Jackson — a pure “rookie coach rolls the dice for a shocker” moment — both left tackle Trent Williams and tight end Paulsen blew a basic pass protection. They should have blocked out. They both blocked in. The result: All 337 pounds of Williams had no one to block while linebacker Erik Walden, rushing from a three-point stance, was allowed an untouched blind-side sack of McCoy. At any level, that is called “not ‘coached up.’ ”

Walden blew up McCoy, who fumbled, gifting a 35-yard touchdown for D’Qwell Jackson . “I wish I had eyes in the back of my head,” McCoy said.

Gruden can take edge-of-sensible gambles. But only if he’s taught all 11 their assignments. “I got a little greedy. And we blew the protection,” Gruden said. “Our tight end and tackle should have fanned out there. . . . Big play in the game, that’s for sure. . . . Should have run it. Should have done something other than what I did.”

Enjoy Gruden. Who was the last NFL coach who criticizes himself before — and more than — anybody else? If he lasts, he’ll be unique — more accountable and edgy than Steve Spurrier, and with even more barely controllable candor than Jim Zorn. Or are those the comparisons you want to hear? Maybe Jon Gruden with more play-calling daring. Sound better?

This team and its coach may have found one crucial source of stability. Not stardom. Just a player with an understanding of his limits, a grasp of how to utilize those around him and a little spark, too. “I just want to stay in my three-foot world and really know my responsibility and my job,” McCoy said.

Only 52 more to go.