Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET, the Washington Redskins kick off their home debut against the Indianapolis Colts.
Washington is coming off an impressive 24-6 win last week against the Arizona Cardinals.
The win on the road snapped a five-game losing streak in regular season openers for the Redskins dating back to 2013. The win marked the first time in coach Jay Gruden’s five-year tenure that he and his club found success in the victory column in Week 1.
This week at FedEx Field the Redskins should come into the game feeling good about what they accomplished in the Cardinals road win. Both, Washington’s offense and defense played extremely well.
Will there be a hangover effect for a young team still trying to win games consistently?
In order to silence a lot of naysayers who didn’t take a lot of stock in their opening day win, the Redskins will have to go out a beat a Colts team that lost last week to Cincinnati in their home opener.
Washington comes into the game favored by six by most oddsmakers.
Redskins vs. Colts: Where to watch, listen and stream the game
On offense, it will be interesting to see if the Redskins continue a heavy dose of Adrian Peterson/Chris Thompson and maintain the balanced attack they had last week against Arizona?
That balanced attack put up numbers of 182 net yards rushing and 247 net yards passing in the 24-6 win. The Redskins were also 3-of-4 (75%) in the red zone.
The Redskins defensive unit played lights out football last week but faded slightly down the stretch. They still were close to pitching the teams first shutout since the 1991 season. Against the Colts, the Redskins new defensive front will need to make life tough for returning Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck. Last week against Cincinnati, Luck completed 39 of his 53 attempts for 319 yards and two touchdowns. The Colts struggled in the run game, however, as Jordan Wilkins led them with only 40 yards on 14 attempts.
There is a different approach out at Redskins Park and the team had an air of confidence during practices this week that could be felt.
In the end, the Redskins are the better football team and should win this game fairly comfortably.
Last week, I had the Redskins beating the Cardinals 20-13. They won the game even more emphatically than expected. This week, I will continue that trend and take the Redskins to win impressively 26-10.