The 5-2 Washington Redskins defense is getting it done. The Redskins are on a streak of three wins and their defense could be the key to a top-two NFC seed. Jay Gruden‘s Redskins have been somewhat of a surprise package through the first-half of the season. What might the second half yield?
Jay Gruden Has Heaps Praise On The Washington Redskins Defense
Gruden, now into his fifth season in the capital seems to be enjoying his football team. Despite his offensive background, Gruden’s defense has led Washington to their impressive start. Eli Manning was sacked seven times last week as the Redsksins moved to 5-2 with a 20-13 win over the New York Giants in week seven. Manning was also picked twice by D.J. Swearinger. Matt Ioannidis has been one of the standout players on the Redskins. The former Temple player had 2.5 sacks in that win over the Giants, moving to 5.5 sacks for the season. Ioannidis’ improvement his highlighted by the fact that he had 4.5 sacks in the 2017 season.
“I think we’ve invested some resources in the defense, hoping they would pay off. We’re hoping this is what we’re trying to build. In this division, you’ve got to play great defense, in my opinion. This is critical for our success; until we get going offensively we have to win games like this. There’s nothing wrong with that”. (Jay Gruden to CBS Sports).
The Redskins defense is ranked second in the NFL against the rush and fourth overall. In the Redskins’ three consecutive wins over the Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, and Giants, they’ve held running backs Christian McCaffrey, Ezekiel Elliott and rookie Saquon Barkley to a meager 66 yards rushing. Impressive numbers.
“We just aint going to let nobody run the ball on us. Point. Blank. Period. We don’t care who you are” (Zach Brown via Redskins Twitter).
Linebacker Ryan Kerringer and DE Jonathan Allen have also been influential, sacking the QB 4.5 and four times respectively.
Looking Ahead To The Next Two Games
Gruden can’t rely on playing an unbalanced game, there are three phases afterall. The Redskins defense however, have an opportunity to improve to number one against the rush in the next two weeks.
Week 9 vs Atlanta Falcons (3-4)
Matt Ryan has been productive through the air for Falcons. Ryan has 2,335 passing yards, 15 TDs and two picks on the season on the season. Redskins free safety D.J. Swearinger has four picks on the season. The Falcons have struggled against the stronger teams this season and are ranked 30th in rushing yards.
Projection – Redskins Win
Week 10 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4)
The Bucs have had problems behind center. Jameis Winston‘s struggles have been Ryan Fitzpatrick‘s keys to owning the job as the starting QB. Fitzpatrick will give the offense an opportunity targeting Mike Evans, but their running game is ranked 28th in the league. Peyton Barber has 345 yards rushing from 93 attempts. The Redskins D should dominate this game.
Projection – Redskins Win
Prolonging The Redskins Season
The playoffs have not been kind to the Redskins since they won the Super Bowl XXV back in 1991. Since then they have lost three Divisional playoffs (1992, 1999, 2005) and three Wild Card games (2007, 2012, 2015).
A home game against the Houston Texans and two games against NFC East rivals and current Super Bowl Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, look like the toughest games in the lead up to this season’s play offs.
The current NFC projections see the currently undefeated 8-0 Los Angeles Rams and the 6-1 New Orleans Saints picking up the first and second seeds respectively. The Redskins are on course for a third seed playoff place.
If Alex Smith remains upright and Adrian Peterson keeps running the football, the Redskins have every chance of challenging for the NFC Divisional game. Offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh and Special Teams cooridinator Ben Kotwica will be striving for their units to keep pace with the levels of performance set by Greg Manusky‘s defense. The big question is just how far the Redskins can go. Only time will tell.
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