Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

IMO one of their priorities will be knocking Welker out of the game by any means necessary. Welker has been taking some hits, but has proved very resilient up to now. The Skins will try to use Landry, Taylor et. al. to deliver some heavy blows, and a late/illegal hit would not surprise me. The absence of Welker, and the uncertain status of Watson, would allow the Redskins to focus even more on Stallworth and Moss, and influence the Pats into more of a running attack. Then the Redskins will make Maroney beat them, and hope to knock him out too, given his injury history and upright style, and their excellent team speed and ability to strike violently. IMO the Redskins D plays with more volence than any other in the NFC, and the hype and underdog status will have them even more hopped up than usual for this game.

IMO this game will be closer than many expect, and a very good test prior to the Colt game. The Redskins team speed on defense is even superior to that of the Colts, and should prep the Pats for the coming RCA contest.

Having watched several Redskin games, IMO Campbell has played much better than his numbers suggest, as the Redskin receivers have dropped ball after ball. If they hang onto a few of those passes Sunday, the coming game could be semi-competitive.

An underrated advantage for the Pats is the fact that Joe Gibbs is practically dribbling his apple sauce. He seems to lack the energy, attention to detail, and sense of urgency that characterize successful coaches in today's game. Gibbs' position seems more honorary than one that involves hands on coaching, and his primary role seems more media snake charmer, and head cheerleader.

Right now I see this as 27-20 Pats.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

Your forgetting that they need to tackle randy at the LOS to keep him out of the end zone.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

My guess is the Skins will do whetever they can to stop the Pats passing attack at the expense of exposing themselves to the Pats running attack.

In fact, I believe we are going to start seeing opposing defenses game plan around forcing the Pats to run and not throw.

Hopefully Maroney is up to the task.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

This plays right into the Pats hands if it the elements are messy on Sunday.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

That applesauce comment is priceless! :D

I really believe that Belichick will outsmart Greg Williams on the Defense.

As far as shutting down Jason Campbell, he is not very accurate under pressure and his teammates have not been helping his cause. I think they get their points, maybe 17, and we get more....;)

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

I think the Pats will use more of the short passing game this week, especially more so than against Miami. 5 - 8 yard sideline routes, not so much of the slants across the middle and I doubt we'll see any deep endzone passes to Moss like last week. I'd like to see Maroney get some yards but as long as we're up I hope he doesn't see more than 1/4 of the snaps.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

I think defensively against Washington you have to trust the defense to take away the run and then take Cooley and the deep passes out of the game. I don't think Campbell is good enough to lead them on 12 play drives.

Edit: Didn't see you wanted to focus on the Hogs D against the Pats so...

I think they're going to let their secondary stand against the receivers and try to pressure Brady so while their secondary is the best we've seen I'll let our receivers stand against them. I'd like to see Maroney run well here and remember he's never going to see a lot of 8 man-in-the-box situations.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

Is the Washington defense aggressive? Are they overaggressive? I don't know much about them so I'm simply curious. Hard-hitting defenses tend to be overaggressive, and we know that NE likes to frustrate and confuse them.

I agree. It amazes me that, since NE has flourished with deep passes this year, everyone suddenly forgets that they won two superbowls with an offense based on a short passing attack.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

Common mistake. Campbell is completing around 60% of his passes. If you cut all of the nicely thrown balls dropped by receivers in half... it would be around 70%. (Heard this on the John Riggins show yesterday) Campbell has actually been playing very very well. 2 of his ints were from dropped balls. I place this in the hands of the receivers no pun intended.

Re: Redskins D strategy vs. Pats
 

We are actually the exact opposite. I bet we have blitzed around 5% of the time. Our secondary has been so good at coverage, the D line can rush 4 and get sacks.

What's funny, is this style is exactly the opposite of what Gregg Williams normally does.