Skins Face Reeling Eagles Coming Off Bye Week
Coming off their bye week, the Washington Redskins are a surprising 3-1, in first place in the NFC East and one of unexpected success stories in this young season. In what could have been called one of the best bye weeks the Skins have had in a while in terms of the rest of the division, both the Giants and Eagles lost (the Cowboys were also idle), leaving Washington as the only one loss team in the East. After two straight road games, the Skins return home to FedEx Field to play host to the now ex-“Dream Team.” The Eagles come in at 1-4, coming off the loss to Buffalo, and one would have to think their slide can't last forever. The Skins fans everywhere are just hoping it lasts at least one more week.
Through the first quarter of Washington's season, the team is separating itself from the other under performing teams in the East with the play of its defense. The Skins rank 8 th league wide in pass yards allowed at just over 212 per game, 6 th against the run at 84.5 yards per game, and 3 rd overall at just under 297 yards per game. Only Baltimore and Dallas have given up less yards per game so far this season. Through four games, the Redskins are allowing just under 16 points per game, good for 3 rd only behind the Ravens and 49ers. At the same time last season, the Skins were 2-2 and giving up 21 points per game, including two 30 point games. The defense has also forced seven turnovers so far, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Linebackers Rocky McIntosh and London Fletcher and cornerback DeAngelo Hall lead the team in tackles, with 27, 22 and 22 respectively.Brian Orakpo leads the team with 3.5 sacks and rookie linebacker Ryan Kerrigan has added two more. The Skins face a formidable offense this week in Philadelphia, who, despite their four losses, have been putting up very good offensive numbers. The Eagles are averaging almost 450 a game.
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While the defense has been keeping the Skins in games, and helping them to win a few of them with their big plays late in games, the offense has been decent enough to not lose games. Rex Grossman has been effective so far this season, completing 58% of his passes for just about 1000 yards and six touchdowns through the first four games. His leading receiver is, no surprise here, Santana Moss. He leads the team in receptions (21), targets (36) and touchdowns (2). Tight end Fred Davis has been filling in nicely for Chris Cooley, who is still working his way back from an injury, and leads the team in yardage with 248, just edging out Moss. The running game has been pretty balanced throughout the first four games, with the Cardinals and Rams games showcasing the running game a little better than the two NFC East match-ups so far. The team is averaging just under 127 yards per game on the ground, led by newcomer Tim Hightower's 233 yards on 67 carries and one score. Last year's featured back, Ryan Torain, exploded in his first action of the year in week 4 against the Rams, carrying the ball 19 times for 135 yards and a touchdown. The Philly defense ranks right in the middle of the NFL is yardage given up per game at 352, 212 through the air and 140 on the ground. No one has had trouble moving the ball on the Eagles this season, so hopefully Grossman and the Skins don't buck that trend.
NFC East games are always tough to call. No matter how good or bad each team is, these division games are always some of the best played games of the team. Don't expect anything less during this week 6 match-up.
By Matthew Dagen
ProFootball-fans.com Washington Redskins Correspondent