With Josh Norman on the shelf for a couple of weeks, Bashaud Breeland will step into the limelight a little bit.
Nicknamed Breeland Island in his rookie season, the Redskins cornerback will definitely be tested this week, as he will face former Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon and the San Francisco 49ers.
Kyle Shanahan must have certainly circled this week’s matchup between his San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins, with a big, fat magic marker. After all, he hasn’t been shy about slinging some passive aggressive mud around, about his time in the nation’s capital. His team is struggling; and he’d like nothing more for those struggles to come to an end at Fed Ex Field on Sunday. Does Shanahan’s return affect the Redskins odds for the next game?
It doesn’t appear so, with the Redskins being given their first ten-plus point spread of the season (11), over the winless 49ers.
Shanahan is in his first year of a six year deal with the 49ers, and they are re-building. Perhaps that gives him a distinct advantage over the two guys that went before him, and only got one year each. One of those guys was current Redskins defensive line coach, Jim Tomsula, and the other was Chip Kelly. That turnaround makes Shanahan the third coach in three years, following a time where Jim Harbaugh was producing winning teams there. Including a team that made it all the way to the Super Bowl.
Two things were clear at the end of the Redskins game against the Chiefs on Monday night, Washington had not only lost the game, they had lost some personnel as well. The two went hand-in-hand. They will benefit greatly from an early season bye week, as the extra time will obviously allow some injuries to heal enough to play. How those injuries progress will affect the team Washington can field, and subsequently, the Redskins odds for the next game.
With the bye, Washington don’t play again until October 15th against the San Francisco 49ers. The Redskins had this game highlighted on the calendar already, as they will be facing former coach Kyle Shanahan, and it will be Pierre Garcon’s first time back at Fed Ex Field since leaving in the offseason.
The Redskins suffered a tough loss to the Chiefs on Monday Night, and given the ridiculous injuries that piled up, it isn’t that hard to understand why a Washington defense that was stuffing Kansas City – suddenly couldn’t.
While there have been mentions of the injuries in many articles, few seem to talk about the collective effect that these injuries had. There were so many that it was hard to follow. Several players went down – only to return; making it even harder to follow.
I have to admit, even though I am used to the fickle nature of NFL fandom, I was quite surprised at the number of people in the twitterverse that were throwing the Redskins under the bus for losing the Monday night game. Not because they lost to a good NFL team – but for failing to recognize some very glaring NFL game facts. Like the injuries the Redskins had to contend with.
I’m just going to take a quick look at the defense and point a few things out. I grabbed the Redskins depth chart from ESPN, and then started making a few annotations. Here is what I came up with.
As huge fans of the mighty Redskins, we are always interested in learning more about our favourite team and its players. For example, did you know that the Washington Redskins were not always known as the mighty Washington Redskins? In fact, they were originally known as the Boston Braves, but changed their name after just one year!
Only 5 years after the name change in 1938, halfback Andy Farkas ran the wrong way and was tackled for a safety. Farkas, however, went from goat to hero when he led the Redskins to a 7-5 comeback win over the Detroit Lions.
Did you know that legendary defensive back Darrell Green won the title of ‘fastest man in the NFL’ four times in a row?
Can you name the Washington Redskins quarterback who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983?
On Sunday night, the Redskins put on a dominant performance against one of 2017’s most revered teams in the NFL. The Washington Redskins made the Oakland Raiders look overrated if nothing else; and a game many people unexpected to be a one-sided affair in Oakland’s favour, actually turned into a very lopsided 27-10 Redskins victory. Washington’s schedule doesn’t get any easier either, as this week they draw the undefeated Chiefs. Did last week’s improvement and performance translate in the online odds for the next Redskins game?
The win has forced many pundits to start re-examining the Redskins potential. They have shown tremendous improvement over the first three games and have shown that they can play with even the stiffest of competition. Washington stunned a prime time audience by limiting the “mighty” Raiders offense to just 128 total yards. They managed exactly zero third down conversions – 0 for 11.
The Redskins offense also spanked the Raiders – tallying up 472 yards – that’s a 344 yard difference in net offenses. Not only that, Washington crushed Oakland in time of possession – holding the ball for 38 minutes, compared to just 22.
Here is a collection of tweets with videos to summarize the Redskins 27-10 destruction of the Raiders on Sunday Night.
DJ Swearinger getting the boys fired up before the game:
Sunday night under the lights! #HTTR #OAKvsWAS pic.twitter.com/7mZgo0kE4k
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 24, 2017
Montae Nicholson interception less than a minute into the game:
A Nicholson INT to kick things off. #HTTR #OAKvsWAS pic.twitter.com/jwQNnPYozF
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 25, 2017
The Washington Redskins have at least a .500 all-time record against all but 12 current franchises in the NFL. Their worst winning percentage against any active team is .111 (1-8) against the Kansas City Chiefs. On Monday night, the Redskins visit the AFC’s lone unbeaten team looking for their first-ever win at Arrowhead Stadium, one of the toughest places to play in the league. Make sure you check 5Dimes before wagering on the game, and that sportsbook has the Chiefs as 7-point betting favorites.
The Skins don’t play the Chiefs very often so that winning percentage is a tad misleading, but Washington’s lone victory was at home on Sept. 18, 1983, by a 27-12 score. Kansas City has won the past six since then, last 45-10 at FedEx Field on Dec. 8, 2013. That was part of a season-ending eight-game losing streak for Washington. Jamaal Charles rushed for 150 yards and a TD on 19 carries. The Redskins won’t have to worry about Charles this time as he’s now in Denver, but they will have to worry about current running back Kareem Hunt.
The numbers and statistics from the Redskins 27-10 win over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday were gobsmacking. Sometimes you can’t get a feel for a game just by looking at the numbers. Sometimes, you can tell everything you could possibly hope to know.
The Washington Redskins were held to 64 total rushing yards in their season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles; it was one of the key reasons the team lost 30-17. A week after the embarrassing loss, the Redskins turned to their running game to lead them past the Los Angeles Rams, 27-20.
This week, NFL betting sites have the Redskins as underdogs against the Oakland Raiders, but the Redskins believe they have what it takes to get the win.
During the offseason, Washington coach Jay Gruden emphasized that he wanted to have a more balanced offense, after relying heavily on quarterback Kirk Cousins last year. It was difficult to get their run game going against the Eagles in their season opener because they fell behind quickly.
Against the Rams, the Redskins could run the ball more since because they didn’t have to deal with a big deficit, and they finished the game with a healthy 229 net rushing yards. Washington should be able to get some yards on the ground this week because the Raiders allowed the Jets to rush for 126 yards last week, and have been shaky on defense this season. They’re averaging 4.8 yards per carry (against) in the first two games, and will have to do better than that against the Redskins.