In the final 30 seconds of the first half Sunday, the Redskins provided coaches across the country with the perfect example of how not to properly play football.

Instead of trying to save time so they could either trim the Giants' advantage or take the lead for themselves, the Redskins looked like they were deliberately wasting time so that they could enter halftime with a five-point deficit.

This was truly awful. Here's what happened.

Trailing 21-16, Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins hit Jordan Reed for a 24-yard gain that took the ball all the way to the Giants' 4-yard line. That play began with 30 seconds left in the half. The Redskins didn't end up running another play until 11 seconds remained.

For that, blame the team, which refused to use its final timeout and, instead, waited for Cousins to spike the ball to stop the clock. So, that's mistake No. 1.

Mistake No. 2 was entirely on Cousins. After he threw incomplete on second-and-goal, Cousins had one more chance (with six seconds left) to get the Redskins some points. He could've tossed an incomplete pass, taken a sack, thrown short of the goal line, or thrown an interception -- all of those results would've been fine as long as the play took less than six seconds. The one thing Cousins could not do was let the play develop for six seconds. If he did that, the Redskins wouldn't even be able to kick a field goal.

And that's the one thing Cousins did. He scrambled, took a sack, fumbled, and time expired.

Still, he tried to call that final timeout. The only problem? He did so with with zero seconds on the clock.

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That won't work, Kirk. NFL/FOX

The Redskins went into halftime facing a five-point deficit. And Cousins went into the locker room as the least popular person in Washington.

Cue the chatter for Colt McCoy:

The lessons here: The Redskins are not a well-run football team. Kirk Cousins is not the quarterback he was last season. And Andy Reid is clearly rubbing off on the league.