The Washington Redskins vs. Seattle Seahawks Week 5 matchup has the makings of gore cinema. We’re not saying that the Redskins don’t have a chance in hell to win against Seattle, but if Dan Snyder’s team’s idea of preparing for a showdown against the defending champions next week is by getting blown out to smithereens by the New York Giants, then there’s little reason to believe that the Redskins will upset the Seahawks. Little reason, meaning there’s hope left.
To accomplish a monumental upset or at least avoid a massacre in Week 5, we think that the Redskins must do the three things we’ve listed below.
[sc:Football ]What should the Redskins do against Seattle?
Avoid Turnovers and Penalties
[sc:NFL240banner ]The Redskins are eighth in the NFL in opposing teams’ total yards with 324.2 per game. Isn’t it a good thing? Well, the answer is yes and not really. Yes, because Washington isn’t allowing opponents to have as much chain movement as other teams would. And not entirely because it doesn’t translate to having prevented opponents from scoring a bunch of points.
In fact, the Redskins are giving up 23.8 points per game, which is sixth-worst in the league. So why the incongruity? Two words: Turnovers and penalties. Through four games in the NFL, Washington has accumulated a -5 turnover ratio, which is tied for last place in the league. The Redskins aren’t doing any better in the penalties department, where statistics show that they pick up an average of 9.8 infractions for 96.8 yards a game. Limit those, and their defense will start to look a lot better.
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Kirk Cousins must pass more to secondary targets
Tight end Niles Paul (78.3 receiving yards per game) and wide receiver Pierre Garcon (63.8) are the Redskins’ 1-2 punch down the field, and they’ll likely continue to be targeted the most by Kirk Cousins against the Seahawks. However, they’re about to be subjected to the Legion of Boom treatment on Monday night.
Knowing how tough it is to crack Seattle’s secondary, Cousins must distribute his passes across his receivers. That means more passes to the likes of DeSean Jackson, Jordan Reed (if he’ll play), Andre Roberts, and Roy Helu. Helu is a running back but could perhaps do better receiving the ball in this game than coming out of the backfield as the Seahawks are fifth in the league against the rush with only 72.3 rushing yards allowed per game.
Cousins must refrain from aiming deep
All those people trumpeting Kirk Cousins as the future of the Redskins were left looking like fools when the former Michigan State QB threw four picks against the Giants last week. Making it even look bad was the fact that three of those picks happened when the defense weren’t pressuring him at all.
Kirk Cousins simply does not possess the physical abilities to make the plays he was trying to do a lot of times against the Giants. When he did, though, it resulted to a series of traumatizing events for Redskins fans watching that game. His arm doesn’t allow him to throw accurately in long plays. Cousins need to change his ways against the Seahawks.
In the words of Sports Illustrated’s Doug Farrar, head coach Jay Gruden must“create a shorter passing game in which his young quarterback doesn’t have to look beyond reads made open by route concepts, and will be smart with the hero stuff.” If Cousins can make safer passes, his elite run game with Alfred Morris can do its thing more effectively.
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