Note: At this moment, Redskins coaches, players and staff have arrived safely at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota after a team bus accident that happened en route. The Redskins vs. Vikings Game schedule will not be impacted. No Redskins player hurt badly… bumps/bruises. Police cruiser/escort suffered the worst damage as well as one of the police officers.
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The 3-5 Washington Redskins are in Minneapolis, Minnesota today in the hopes of extending their current win streak to three and their NFC wins to two as they are hosted by the 3-5 Minnesota Vikings. When the schedule first came out, many might have marked this game down as a sure win but after reviewing the Redskins past eight games, doing so would be foolish.
Last week Washington earned a hard fought, legitimate win over the NFC East Division rival Dallas Cowboys and yet it’s hard not to notice that the national temperature on the game today is that the Vikings will manage to win. This is surprising only in that the Washington defense was quite literally smothering at times last week and rookie Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is only on his second career start.
But then, there are any number of ways to rationalize a Redskins defeat today… the Viking’s 15th ranked defense is lower than the Redskins’ 10th but the former has gotten a stunning 28 sacks this year. That’s the second-most in the league (the Redskins have 17) and, of course, Redskins starting quarterback Robert Griffin, III is back for his first game in six weeks. This fact can’t be ignored because, if one looks back to 2013, they remember an RGIII who was getting hit often. But here’s a small factoid mentioned simply to keep things in perspective: the Jacksonville Jaguars lead the league with 33 sacks and yet they are 1-7.
As well, there are only four other teams that have defended more passes than the Vikings (they are tied with Oakland Raiders at 41), the highest number being owned by the Indianapolis Colts at 54 which is the only team with a winning record with a better pass defense. Minnesota has 11 interceptions on the year, tied for second-best with the New York Jets. Guess what team has the highest number of INTs… that’s right… the Jaguars.
The moral of these stats are this: really good defensive numbers do not a winning team make.
That is not to say this will be an easy game for the Redskins. The players have no illusions that they are going to waltz into the upper mid-west and beat the Vikings. Several guys were asked how they would fight not having a let-down after such a big win against one of the best teams in the league last week. There was a variety of comments such as:
“What? We’re 3-5. You won’t find anybody around here beating their chest,” from left tackle Trent Williams.
“That is not an issue, I hope. We are 3-5, they are 3-5,” head coach Jay Gruden said about keeping his players motivated.
“Let down? We’ve won three games… No. There’s no danger of a ‘let down,’ safety Ryan Clark.
This was the reaction throughout the week, throughout the locker room. As a matter of fact, beyond Monday night’s jubilant mood, the players were upbeat but serious. The week’s practices were up tempo and the mood of the team was good but serious. On Friday, from the media trailer, one could hear the typical Friday crowd noise being piped on to the practice fields. While the practice started out with some music during drills — which the players clearly enjoyed (one could see a couple of the guys dancing around a little bit) — they was no indication that anyone was feeling cocky. Gruden has, no doubt, preached that the Vikings are an NFL and as such, must be taken very, very seriously. This team has no pretensions about who they are and what they’re up against today.
Robert Griffin is going to encounter some tough times today and in future game, no doubt about it. He is up against a good defense in the Vikings. Minnesota defensive end Eversen Griffen is third in the NFL with a career-high-tying eight sacks. Actually, he has recorded a sack in four consecutive games and has six in just the past four games.
Vikings’ rookie linebacker Anthony Barr leads the team with 77 tackles and is tied with the Texans Pro Bowl linebacker J.J. Watt for the league lead in fumble recoveries with three.
Safety Harrison Smith is tied for third in the NFL with three interceptions and this third one was an 81-yard touchdown return versus the St. Louis Rams in Week One. That pick-six is tied for the longest in the NFL so far in 2014.
Hopefully, Redskins Nation will see the Robert Griffin that Gruden unleashed against the Jaguars in Week Two rather than the conservative, hardly effective Griffin seen against the Houston Texans in the first game. The quarterback has some great weapons and he’s going to have to get the ball to them and let them do what they do best… make plays. He is going to make some mistakes having not played since coming out of the game in the first quarter of Week Two and will show some rust. He knows this, his coach knows this and his teammates know this. Patience will need to be exercised as he gets his football legs back under him. If the signal-caller can get the ball quickly out of his hands; if he can manage to not under-throw wide out DeSean Jackson, if the ball is spread around to the likes of tight end Jordan Reed and receiver Pierre Garçon if his coach will take advantage of Griffin’s running ability with the play-action and so help the running game and running back; and if the defense and special teams can play lights out as they did against the Cowboys, there is no reason why the Redskins won’t win this contest.
It would not be a surprise — and would actually be good — if Washington has a pretty big chip on their shoulder still. Even with the huge win in front of the nation Monday night — and even as badly as they were disrespected on national TV by the NFL Today (CBS) crew of Bill Cowher, Tony Gonzales, Boomer Esiason and Bart Scott; the lack of respect continued even AFTER they beat Dallas. On Inside the NFL (ShoTime), there was never a word said about how well the Redskins played when reviewing the game… the only discussion was about Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ interview from his owner’s box and quarterback Tony Romo going back into the game after the injury to his back from Redskins’ linebacker Keenan Robinson’s sack.
Maybe this is a good thing. The Redskins historically do not do well after big wins. Besides the seven game play-off run of 2012, the team hasn’t strung together more than two wins since 2008. But with the arrival of a new head coach hopefully an arrival of a new attitude accompanies him. Maybe this is the season the burgundy and gold bucks history.
Rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland is still questionable for today’s game and safety Phillip Thomas has been promoted to the active roster and defensive end Clifton Geathers has been waived. Safety Ryan Clark (ankles/shoulder) and Trent Williams (knee) were the only players limited in practice on Friday.
Hail.