SEATTLE -- Two throws.

That's all it took. Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins shook off a tough game, that was made worse by a number of starters being out with injuries. He stood in the pocket and delivered a 31-yard pass as he was drilled. He then did what the coaches have wanted him to do: Give Josh Docston a chance.

And Doctson came through. Somehow, someway, so, too, did the Redskins. In one of their best wins in a long time, Washington stunned the Seattle Seahawks 17-14 and moved to 4-4. The Seahawks had won 27 of their past 33 at home. The Redskins were missing four starters along the line and two of Cousins' top receiving targets. Another one, Vernon Davis, wasn't in the game on the final drive because of an injury.

Which leads to this: How the heck did this happen?

Go ahead and try and analyze it, but some of this simply came down to confidence. Earlier in the week, Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall stood at his locker and offered a prediction. It was a quiet one. It was also a confident one. And it was one that few would have believed.

"We're going to surprise some people," he said. "Just watch what we've come up with."

Sure, old man. Turns out he still has his wits.

It's sometimes a cliche for players on a winning team to say no one gave them a chance. The Redskins would be right in this case. It was understandable. But they were calm during the week. Even coach Jay Gruden, when reading off the injury list during the week, had to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Yet he made it clear: He had confidence in the group he had. Others did too.

“I was a backup myself [once], so it don’t matter,” said running back Rob Kelley. “Anyone can play. If you’re not good enough to play, you wouldn’t be here.”

Still, how did they do this? They prevented Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson from making big plays with his arm on the run. They used a variety of looks to slow him, from three-man rushes to blitzes. Wilson did hurt them with his legs and he led what seemed to be a game-winning drive before Cousins' heroics.

But they won because of linebacker Zach Brown's speed. He chased Wilson from the pocket quicker than he wanted to leave. Sometimes, a linebacker would be on the outside to force Wilson back in -- or wider than desired. They won because linebacker Will Compton intercepted a pass and nearly picked off two others.

“They kept us in the game,” Cousins said of the defense.

They won because the secondary played an excellent game, with safety D.J. Swearinger intercepting a ball on a two-point conversion. And Kendall Fuller picking off another pass.

In the end, it came down to Cousins and his two throws. A 31-yard toss to Brian Quick, who had all of one catch before this game, with a defender about to drill him. Quick adjusted and made the catch they needed. Cousins had been sacked six times, yet didn’t flinch under pressure. He also lofted the ball enough to allow Quick the ability to adapt.

“I just threw it to a spot and got hit,” Cousins said. “Then you’re just kind of waiting for a reaction, trying to look through guys’ legs on the ground to see what happened. Man coverage, you just trust it and put it out there and Brian did a phenomenal job of coming down with the ball.”

On the next play? Cousins had Doctson one-on-one and lofted a perfect ball in which Doctson made a perfect diving catch inside the 1-yard line. For the game, Cousins finished with 247 yards passing. It certainly wasn’t a perfect outing. The day wasn’t about aesthetics.

“He just kept fighting,” Redskins corner Josh Norman said. “Man, he got some guts and he got some grit.”

And then some.

“That’s just big time,” Gruden said of Cousins’ final drive. “We needed him to step up into some throws at the very end, he did it and made two big-time clutch throws.”

Voila; a game that appeared destined for Moral Victory City ended up being one of their wins best in recent years.