The Takeaways, Week 8: Redskins at Giants
October 30, 2018
by Steve Thomas
The Redskins’ 20 – 13 win over the New York Giants on Sunday was a big victory that means quite a bit to this franchise. Yes, clearly, it’s only one game like the 15 others this season, but in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past many years, Washington has been terrible in their division battles for a long time. The idea that the Redskins have now won (a) three games in a row and (b) two straight division games is a major step forward. This team has flaws and significant areas that need to get better, for sure, but beating the Giants in these conditions just isn’t the result that would’ve happened in prior seasons. What the team has done now is put themselves in the driver’s seat in the NFC East: they currently have a one and a half game lead over the Eagles and a 2 game lead over Dallas. Philadelphia has their bye this coming week, so if the Redskins can squeak out a victory over Atlanta next Sunday, all of a sudden Washington will have a 2 game lead in the division leading into the second half of the season. That was made possible by the team taking care of business this week in New York. So, a hearty “huzzah” and an eager butt-slap to the boys in burgundy and gold for their performance in week 8. Here are The Takeaways for this week.
The Redskins front 7 impressed again, one more time
We said in our preview materials that a key to this game was to put Eli on the ground, alot, and make him as uncomfortable as possible. The Washington defense accomplished that and more on Sunday. The defensive line and the outside linebackers repeatedly collapsed the pocket, particularly in the second half. Matt Ioannidis continues to amaze (if you had money on him leading the team in sacks in week 8, speak up) and prove that he was underrated in his draft class. Ryan Kerrigan did a fine job, having found his spark after doing very little in the opening few weeks on the season in terms of his job collapsing the edge. This group also essentially shut down star rooking running back Saquon Barkley, who had his worst performance of year. The Redskins invested a very significant amount of draft capital in the defensive line, in particular, over the past 3 years, and the results have really showed. The team has gone from a defensive line that was atrocious to stout in a fairly short period of time. There’s no reason why this position group can’t be a major strength of the team for the next decade.
Adrian Peterson carries the offense
I feel like a broken record every week writing and talking about Peterson, but this man is vastly outperforming my preseason expectations, running like a player years younger and generally carrying the offense on an every game basis. Once again, Peterson showed his incredible vision and insane ability to cut and change directions on a dime on multiple occasions against the Giants. His 64 yard touchdown run was the game-sealing event this week. I shudder to think what this offense would look like this season with either Samaje Perine or Rob Kelley as the starter. Keep it up, Adrian, and stay healthy. He had 26 carries today, which is quite a few, and the idea that he can keep up that pace without significant injury is concerning. The pace he is on, extrapolated out to 16 weeks, would essentially be the greatest season in NFL history for a running back aged 33 or older, so keep an eye out on his numbers as the season progresses.
The wide receiver group had a bigger impact on the game than in previous weeks
No, we aren’t talking about The Fun Bunch or The Smurfs here, and a key piece, Jamison Crowder, is still out due to injury, but this group had more of an impact Sunday than in previous weeks. If you haven’t noticed, the last two weeks have seen Alex Smith spread the ball around more than he did earlier in the season. 2016 first round pick Josh Doctson had 5 receptions on 5 targets for 49 yards, Paul Richardson had 5 targets, and Maurice Harris had 2. That’s a total of 12 targets on 32 attempts – not great, but better, with All Pro Jordan Reed getting 12 targets. I realize that some of you think Alex Smith is the spawn of Satan, but the truth is that he’s still getting comfortable in DC, and it doesn’t help that the wide receiver group lacks talent. I do expect this position group to produce in greater amounts as the season goes on.
The Redskins played up to their potential after a big win last week
Washington actually followed up a strong division win with another strong division win, and on the road as an added bonus. I can’t really fault you if you were one of those people who expected the Redskins to lay an egg this week, simply because we’ve all seen that scenario play out many times. The fact that Washington was motivated and executed well against a team they’ve been terrible against recently was a major step forward, in my opinion, and was the single biggest reason behind this win. Today, Washington proved that the defense, at least, is for real. Great job on the intangibles this week, team.
Greg Stroman has potential but is not yet starter quality
I didn’t think it was fair to end this week’s column with it being all sunshine and roses, so I wanted to bring up one negative. I’m glad Stroman was drafted and is on the team, but he’s not ready to start at corner against big-time receivers; or at least that was my impression while watching this game live. Odell Beckham, Jr., took advantage of Stroman at times this week. Perhaps the All-22 film will show something different. I was a little bit surprised that the Giants didn’t focus more of their passing efforts on trying to exploit Stroman. Look, he’s a young player with talent and is a rookie who is learning and improving, and my intent isn’t to tar and feather this guy. The Redskins coaching staff just needs to focus some effort on helping this player out with safety coverage over the top when possible. If Quinton Dunbar is out for an extended period of time with his nerve injury, this could become a more of a problem if the coaches don’t do something to address it.
That’s it for The Takeaways for this week. Next up are the Atlanta Falcons at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, so I’ll be back with another installment in a week. HTTR, ya’ll.