Giants at Redskins: Skins Need To Start Manning Up Against Giants

New York Giants (10-4) at Washington Redskins (8-6)
1:00 p.m. FedEx Field
Well, last Sunday sure was fun, wasn’t it? It reminded me a lot of the Redskins earlier beat down of San Francisco this season, only against a much better team with much larger stakes. I’m having trouble remembering what happened the following weekend after the 49ers game. Let’s see…oh that’s right. The Redskins were embarrassed 36-0 by New Jersey’s finest. How could I forget?

I’m sure the Redskins haven’t forgotten that late October day. Things went wrong on the first play from scrimmage. Tiki Barber busted out one of what would be many long runs and things snowballed from there. Barber finished the game with 206 yards and the Redskins finished the game with Patrick Ramsey as their quarterback. Clinton Portis carried the ball exactly four times for nine yards. The Skins only ran the ball 12 times total, and most of that was Mark Brunell running for his life.

So while many things have changed since that game, many things have stayed the same. The Redskins come into their game with the Giants off their best game of the year, and are favored by almost everyone to beat New York this time around. Which was the exact scenario the Redskins found themselves in the first meeting. But unlike game number one, this contest will be held in the friendly confines of FedEx Field and not the pig-farm infested swamp of the Meadowlands.

Also helping the Redskins is the Giants injury situation. The G-men will be without middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, outside linebacker Carlos Emmons and defensive tackle William Joseph. Roman Phifer, who was signed this week to replace Pierce, hurt his knee in practice and is listed as questionable. Their third linebacker, Reggie Torbor, is also listed as questionable with a sore calf but should be able to play, albeit significantly hampered by an injury. The Giants will also be without offensive lineman Kareem McKenzie and most likely without Luke Petitgout. This is a large amount of injuries to have amongst the front lines for both sides of the ball.

The Redskins benefit even more from the health of their defensive line. Last week was the first time since week three that Daniels, Salave’a, Griffin and Wynn were all starting. All of them are almost completely healthy going into Saturday. And the result of a healthy defensive line was staggering. After struggling most of the season to put pressure on quarterbacks without blitzing, the Redskins were able to sack Drew Bledsoe seven times last week despite only blitzing seven plays out of sixty. Five of those seven sacks were with either four or five man rushes. The Redskins also get Lavar Arrington back this week, and that should help both the run and pass rush. Add in the fact that the Skins are playing a Bledsoe-like quarterback who hates to be flushed out of the pocket, and the Giants offensive line is banged up, this could be another field day for the Redskins front four.

One other additional, and unintentional, assistance to Redskins this week were the Pro Bowl selections. The Washington defense, despite being ranked in the top 10 all season long, had no members picked for the Pro Bowl. The Giants defense, despite being ranked in the bottom half of the league, had two players selected. Now I’m not saying that Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora didn’t deserve to go (In fact, I named both of them to my Pro Bowl team in an earlier post this week). I’m just saying that if the average Giants defense had two players picked, how did the Redskins end up with none? Marcus Washington should have been a no-brainer. Shaun Springs and Sean Taylor also should have merited consideration. And the Redskins are taking this snub seriously. Joe Gibbs, Greg Williams and several players are furious. It has gotten to the point that Santana Moss and Chris Samuels, the only two players that will be going to Hawaii, have talked about boycotting the Pro Bowl altogether. I have never seen a team take the popularity contest this seriously. Look for an extremely angry Redskins defense tomorrow.

The one thing that the Giants possess that Dallas does not is a consistent and dangerous running game. This will help New York keep the Redskins honest up front. Other than Denver, there is no team in the league that blocks better for a cutback runner than the Giants. Tiki loves to stretch plays out and wait for his cutback lane to open up. So the Redskins have to play disciplined defense. And it is important that the outside linebackers, namely Chris Clemons and Warrick Holdman, and the cornerbacks make tackles. This is how the Skins were burned in the first game against New York. The defense over pursued, and Holdman, Clemons and Walt Harris didn’t make tackles when they had the chance.

If the Redskins neutralize the running game, and that is a big if to be sure, then Eli Manning is going to be in a world of trouble. Manning has struggled as of late and he tends to get rattled very easily on the road. The last three games for Manning have been downright horrible. Even though he threw for 312 yards against the Eagles, he also threw three very bad interceptions and almost cost the Giants the game. In the games against Dallas and Kansas City, Manning went a combined 29 for 63 (46%) with one touchdown and three more picks. His quarterback rating has been 27.9, 63.8 and 68.0 the last three weeks. Amazingly, the Giants won all three games. That speaks to the necessity for the Giants to have a successful running game.

So defensively, the Redskins are going to have to stop the run. With a healthy front seven, and an injured Giants line, Washington won’t need to bring eight men into the box. But they need to be disciplined and make plays when the opportunity presents itself. Springs should be able to counter Plexiglass, and Harris should matchup well on Amani Toomer. The x-factor is Jeremy Shockey, but if the Redskins can get to Manning with only five or six guys, Taylor should be able to cover him and Shockey shouldn’t make much of a difference.

Offensively, the Redskins need to attack the middle of the Giants defense. With three of their front seven players missing, this would be the week for Gibbs to force feed Portis up the middle. With Strahan and Umenyiora on the edges, the outside running game that has worked so well in recent weeks may not be able to thrive on Saturday. If Gibbs feels confident in his matchups with Strahan and Umenyiora verses Jansen and Samuels, then by all means try to attack the edge. But it probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Also, Chris Cooley on Phifer is a matchup that is clearly in favor of the Skins. So that should also be a priority. And whatever happens, do not get away from the running game. We saw what happened in the first meeting, and that can’t happen again.

The two key matchups for Washington will be Jansen against Strahan and James Thrash on whichever cornerback New York throws on him. Jansen is responsible for protecting Brunell’s blind side, and Strahan is always a handful. It will be even more difficult for Jansen without Randy Thomas next to him to help out with double-teams. Jansen and Strahan always have great battles. I would be surprised if either player dominates the other tomorrow. Meanwhile, Thrash is back from injury and finally gives the Redskins a competent number two receiver. If Moss is doubled covered or blanketed with different zones like he was in the first game, Thrash is going to need to get open for the passing game to be effective.

While I’m very hesitant to predict a score, I will offer some predictions for the game. The first is that the Giants will not score 36 points, nor will they shutout the Redskins. Tiki Barber is not going to approach 200 yards again. Look for him to have only about half that number. Portis will get many more carries than he did in the first game, and he will also approach the 100 yard mark in the contest. Finally, expect a close game. The Giants will not be able to blowout the Redskins again, and the Redskins will not be able to run over New York like they did Dallas.

If the Redskins control the trenches, or at least control the trenches when the Giants have the ball, they should win this game. Remember, Manning has exactly two wins on the road in his career. They came against horrible San Francisco and injured Philadelphia. He can’t deal with loud stadiums when he is on the road. Even in college he struggled to win games on the road. The Giants are going to have problems doing anything complicated when they have the ball. Do not expect a lot of motion and shifting before the snap. Do expect a heavy dose of Tiki to try and get the crowd out of the game. The Redskins can’t stop Tiki, but they have to contain him long enough to force Manning to start throwing the ball. If the Redskins control Tiki, that will force Eli to beat them. I like their chances in that situation.

I’m ready for this one. Here’s hoping…