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Two weeks after possibly his strongest performance as a Raven, Fabian Washington had what he called the worst game of his career.
The result was Washington watching the final two defensive series of the game from the sideline after being benched in the fourth quarter of yesterday's win over the Bills.
Washington was burned by Bills wide receiver Lee Evans throughout the afternoon, and following Evans' third touchdown catch of the game mid-way through the fourth, head coach John Harbaugh decided to pull the sixth-year cornerback and insert Josh Wilson in his place.
"It was just what we needed to do at that time," Harbaugh said in his postgame press conference. "He was struggling. We all see that Fabian has good games. Sometimes it's just not a guy's day, so we thought that was the best thing at that time."
A disappointed and frustrated Washington took full responsibility for his poor outing in the locker room after the game.
"It's sour. I can't lie," Washington said. "It's sour. This one hurt. I felt like I was prepared as I've been all season, and they just had my number."
Washington said he noticed the Bills attacking him and trying to force the ball to Evans once they had success doing so early in the game.
It will make for a long bye week for Washington, who will have plenty to work on going into a game against the Dolphins two weeks from now.
"You better have a short memory or you won't last long in this league. Especially playing corner, because, like I said, there's going to be days like this. This is my first time ever giving up three touchdowns in a game. I was like, wow. But I'm going to put it past me and move forward. We've got a whole bunch of weeks left where I can redeem myself, so I'm not worried about it too much. The big thing is we found a way to win the game.
Despite the poor outing, Washington still feels like he's capable of performing at a starting cornerback level. He had a fairly solid season up until yesterday, and now has posted 24 tackles and eight passes defensed this year.
"I had one bad game," Washington said. "They get paid, too. Lee Evans is a pretty good receiver, and he beat me. There are some technical things I think I can work out in this week off, watching film, seeing what I'm doing wrong, and come back [against] Miami ready to play ball.
"This week they got me. But, please believe I will be back."
