Bye Week Recap
What’s up Redskins Nation?! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed a relaxing and stress free bye week. Although early, I feel like the time off helped this football team given the amount of key players already nursing injuries. A 13 week grind lies ahead, with a huge test at New Orleans in prime time on deck. It will be an opportunity for the Redskins to put back to back quality wins together and further establish themselves as a potential playoff contender. This is one of the biggest early season tests I can remember in recent years, which will give us a true indication of what we can expect in 2018.
The Redskins 2–1 record is where I think most fans thought it would be through the first 3 weeks. Laying an egg in their home opener against the Colts team was extremely disappointing, but not surprising given how up and down the Jay Gruden era has been. However, beating the Packers the following week was a key early season win and made the bye week more tolerable. There is a lot to like about this team so far, and much more we’ll need to monitor as we enter the 2nd quarter of the season.
Early observations through 3 games –
Alex Smith seems to be getting more comfortable in Jay’s offense. You finally saw a deep shot to Richardson in the Green Bay game, and he’s using his legs in key spots to get first downs,
Jordan Reed is healthy. His snap count has gone up each week and the favorable matchups he creates don’t go unnoticed. I’ll look for Gruden to start dialing up more plays for Reed in the next few weeks. He should have at least 10 targets a week.
After a lackluster game against the Colts, AP turned back the clock against the Packers. He showed burst and tough running that made me think I was watching a 2012 highlight reel. It’s amazing how important he is to our offense now.
The Redskins should put a missing person poster around the district for Josh Doctson. It looks like he’s a long shot to play Monday night. 5 receptions for 65 yards through 3 games so far. Bust?
Allen and Payne played for over 90% of snaps against the Packers and had a huge impact. As I’ve mentioned before, this will be a fun duo to watch grow before our eyes. Both can stop the run and get to the quarterback (they combined for 3 sacks against Aaron Rodgers). Roll Tide!
I’m not too worried that Preston Smith and Ryan Kerrigan haven’t registered a sack yet. Preston has been inconsistent throughout his time in Washington, but in a contract year you would expect more production. With Kerrigan the sacks will come — he did draw some key holding penalties in the Green Bay game. We’ll need more production from the outside backers to complement the interior of our line.
Still waiting for more of an impact from Josh Norman. He doesn’t have an interception since week 16 of the 2016 season. Granted the fumble recovery against the Packers was a huge play, but we need more production from the 3rd highest cap hit on the team.
There is still some concern with our run defense. Although points allowed and total yards are down, there have been instances where we’ve been gashed. With the running backs left on the schedule, I would imagine this will be a point of emphasis after the bye week.
In both wins this season the Redskins have built a pretty significant lead which lead to a conservative approach in the 2nd half. They’ll need to put two halves together offensively to beat the elite teams on their schedule (a la the Saints on Monday night).
To me, the game Monday night should be personal. Can the Redskins exact revenge from last season’s collapse in New Orleans? That is essentially where the 2017 campaign came to an end. You lose your offensive MVP (Chris Thompson) for the year and blow a 15 point lead with 5 minutes to go in the process. Playoff hopes quickly faded after that epic collapse. A chance to make a statement on the road against one of the NFC’s elite would be a huge step forward for Gruden’s squad. Home games against Carolina and Dallas are also on the horizon.
If they can somehow come out of this 3 game stretch 2–1 and 4–2 overall, the burgundy & gold would be in an ideal position within the NFC East. Eagles at 2–2 don’t look like the same team as last year, Dallas is literally a one man show on offense and hasn’t been consistent, and the Giants have been out right awful. Health will always be a major factor, but I like where the Redskins line up in the division. It was around week 4 last year when injuries began to take their toll. Let’s knock on wood that isn’t the case this year. In the meantime, time for payback in the Bayou. HTTR!
Cheers & Hail,
Kevin (Your fellow diehard fan)
