Fantasy Football: Washington Redskins' Jamison Crowder heating up

LANDOVER, Md. -- The Washington Redskins expected a lot from wide receiver Jamison Crowder this season.

Last year, playing with DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, Crowder had 67 receptions for 847 yards and seven touchdowns in his second pro season.

With those two receivers gone, Crowder was one of the pass-catchers expected to pick up the slack. He struggled early however, and after six games, he had 19 catches for 149 yards and no scores.

"Early in the season, I was kind of pressing too much and I kind (of) dealt with a few nagging injuries here and there that kept me down a little bit," he said. "Now that I'm feeling good, I've just been going out there and trying to play relaxed, not trying to go for the home run play every time, just let the game come to me."

Over his past four games -- he missed the Seattle game on Nov. 5 -- Crowder has 27 receptions for 412 yards. In the Redskins' 20-10 win over the Giants on Thursday, Crowder made seven catches for 141 yards and his first touchdown of the season.

"He's very talented," Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "We've just got to get him opportunities. There was a couple of routes where we gave him the freedom to choose how he wanted to run it, and we've just got to make sure he's running it the best he can every time because when he does, great things happen."

--Giants rookie tight end Evan Engram entered the Thursday game with a team-leading 41 receptions. He caught three passes for 18 yards against Washington, but he dropped three others.

"He looked like we played on a short week tonight," Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. "He needs to get that out of his system. He needs to learn from it, and I'm confident he will learn from it and move on."

--With Washington running backs Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson both on injured reserve, rookie Samaje Perine is now the lead ball-carrier. Perine carried 24 times for 100 yards Thursday night, 97 of the yards coming in the second half. He also caught three passes for 30 yards.

"His vision was really good today," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. "He had some outside zone hits. He stuck his foot in the ground. He was very decisive with his cuts today."

--Giants cornerback Eli Apple was an unexpected healthy scratch Thursday night. Apple was inactive for last Sunday's game, which took place a few days after his mother underwent successful brain surgery. He was expected to return against the Redskins.

"Eli missed a lot of time last week with practice and the ballgame," McAdoo said. "It was a short week. ... That was the reason for it.

Asked if Apple was inactive due to a disciplinary measure, McAdoo said, "I just gave you my reason."

Ross Cockrell started in place of Apple and committed two penalties, including a costly holding infraction on Washington's fourth-quarter touchdown drive.