Last week the Redskins offense and defense had a monster game against the Saints. This week though, they face a tougher challenge in my opinion, the undefeated Carolina Panthers. And they're going to need to do a lot of things to get to 5-5. Here is what they will have to do.
Last week the Redskins did a good job running the ball and they will definitely need their run game against the Panthers who have a great defense all around. Although, it is easy to say that they had a good running game last week because they played the Saints defense. They currently rank last in defense and fired defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. Matt Jones, Alfred Morris, and Chris Thompson of the Redskins were a big part of their good run game. Jones had 54 rushing yards along with three receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown. Thompson had just two carries but went for 54 yards. Alfred Morris had 15 carries for 92 yards.
Recently, the Skins run game has been struggling. Last weekend was good for both Matt Jones and Alfred Morris because they were both in a slump. They also need Kirk Cousins to stay on his streak of accurate passes which again was easy for him to do against the leagues worst secondary. He threw for 324 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes along with NO turnovers which was key for him. Cousins has 9 interceptions and 3 fumbles so far this year and usually the games that the Redskins win are the ones when Cousins doesn't throw any interceptions. That was the case against the Saints.
They have a different situation this week going up against a very good Panthers defense with both an amazing secondary led by Josh Norman and almost an even better defensive line led by Luke Kuechly, and Jared Allen. So far this year, Cousins has had a hard time throwing the ball against good defenses so it will be interesting to see how much progress he has made over the last couple of weeks.
The Redskins defense also had a good game last week against the Saints and one of the leagues best QB's. The Redskins defense held Drew Brees to 209 passing yards, 2 touchdown passes that were both early in the game, and also 2 interceptions. It was almost unbelievable that the score was once 14-14. By the end of the game the score was 47-14 in the Redskins favor. The Skins scored 33 unanswered points and the defense was a big part of that. The Skins run defense had improved too, holding Mark Ingram of the Saints to 77 rushing yards. It would have been less if he hadn't had that 70 yard run towards the beginning. Over the last few weeks, the Skins had been giving up over 100 rushing yards but last weekend their defense got it together.
The Panthers offense led by Cam Newton has a lot of weapons starting with Jonathan Stewart. He is a big and tough back who is really good at getting extra yardage. In my opinion Stewart is mostly a short distance runner but if he is out in the open field he is very dangerous. Tight end Greg Olsen is another one of their big weapons. Olsen has 664 receiving yards so far this year and 5 touchdowns. The Panthers offense is very dangerous and the Skins defense is going to have to watch out for them.
I think this is going to be a great game. There are two things that could happen. Can the Panthers stay undefeated? Or will the Skins get the victory and go on top in the NFC East?
