After conquering their week one demons, Redskins face another familiar challenge the next two weeks

As mentioned previously, the month of September is a big month for the Washington Redskins. Washington has three winnable games during a month that has treated them poorly in the past and have a chance to gain a healthy lead against the rest of the NFC East. The biggest obstacle to not having a strong September is consistency. Washington has had spurts where they looked like a top ten team in a given week, but then followed those up with bottom 12 performances. Weeks one through three are more significant than one can imagine for Washington.

The Redskins got off to the start they needed in Arizona, leaving them in a good place for their Sunday match-up against Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. Overall, the Redskins are a better team than the Colts, but nothing can account for a top-tier quarterback. Those types of quarterbacks can keep their team in any game, making a play on each unit of the Redskins and playing sound football. Playing keep away on offense, winning the field position battle, and generating pressure to get the opposing quarterback off his mark is key for Washington, not only against Andrew Luck but Aaron Rodgers the following week.

The primary reason why Washington could come out of September with an undefeated record is their defensive front. Led by Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, the front would need to find a way to generate pressure consistently without defensive coordinator Greg Manusky having to send additional rushers via the blitz. Along with pressure, the defensive front must eliminate the ground game. The saying is true, defense wins championships, and in the past Luck and Rodgers have had their way against the Redskins. Luck and Rodgers have combined for 1,494 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and just two interceptions, not to mention their mobility and ability to elude defenders in the pocket. It creates an additional element to the defense of them.

2018 is the year for the Redskins defense to make a statement to the rest of the league that they can compete against not just any offense, but the best of the best at the quarterback position. The first test comes against Andrew Luck the Rodgers – and we did not even discuss who’s next coming out of the bye week.