Game Preview: Injury riddled Redskins come to town
The Seahawks stay in Seattle for a second straight week as they welcome the 3-4 Washington Redskins who are on a two-game losing streak. This game gives Seattle the opportunity to sit atop the NFC West with a 6-2 record on the year.
To say the general consensus amongst Redskins fans is bleak is an understatement of epic proportions, the Redskins match up horribly against the Seahawks in every aspect of the game. They’re all expecting an easy home win for the Seahawks.
Looking at the Redskins injury report, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the 2016 Ravens report. The injury bug seems permanently embedded deep into the roster, here’s the list –
TE Jordan Reed
DL Matt Ioannidis
G Shawn Lauvao
C Spencer Long
S Stefan McClure (backup)
T Trent Williams
CB Bashaud Breeland
G Brandon Scherff
WR Jamison Crowder
S Montae Nicholson
T TJ Clemmings (backup)
T Ty Nsekhe
DL Jonathan Allen
K Dustin Hopkins
LB Mason Foster
T Morgan Moses (on the verge of being out with 2 bad ankles)
That’s 16 players who aren’t healthy in one way or another.
You’d be foolish to think this will be a cakewalk game though the Redskins absolutely need to respected. They are, after-all, an NFL team and the cliché of no win is easy rings true. The Redskins have scored points on their opening possession for 6 straight weeks. If the Seahawks defense is slow to rise don’t be surprised with the Redskins taking an early lead.
Their offensive line is the worst hit on the injury front and did not look good last week against the Cowboys. They were woeful in pass-protection giving up 5 sacks and the run game was even worse, getting just 49 running yards all game. I’d expect to see the legion of boom continue their great interception streak this week given the one dimension-ness of Kirk Cousins. The ‘Skins also turned the football over 3 times, 2 fumbles and one interception thrown. I’d expect to see them at around 4 total turnovers this game.
The Seahawks on the other hand, enter the game in relatively good health, Earl Thomas suffered a slight hamstring injury late last week but I’d expect him to play. We also get to see our rejuvenated offensive line with newcomer LT Duane Brown suiting up in a Seahawks uniform for the first time. I’m also looking forward to seeing what number he’s wearing as RT Germain Ifedi currently wears #76, perhaps an arm wrestle. I’m sure Ifedi would be more up for a good ol’ fashioned fist fight, though.
If there was ever a game to pound the ball and get a rhythmic run-game going, this is it. I’d like to see Rawls taking all of the carries and seeing what he can do on the left side.
I hope the offense’s momentum from last week carries through to this Sunday, never have I watched such an electric offense, reminiscent of the 2016 wild-card game against the Lions in my opinion. Stunning play down-after-down by Russell Wilson. And now he doesn’t need to keep one eye on his blind side for the majority of the game. Blissful!
I don’t expect to see an exciting game, I expect a smash-mouth football type affair where the only possible outcome is a Seahawks win. I just cannot come up with a scenario whereby the Redskins take away the victory, barring the ‘I’ word, of course, but lets not go there.
Score prediction – Seahawks 31 – Redskins 10
