Giants at Redskins: Kick 'Em While They're Down

New York Giants (0-2) at Washington Redskins (2-0)
4:15 p.m. FedEx Field
It’s like déjà vu all over again. Doesn’t this season just reek of 2005? Start out with an ugly and close win at home against an overmatched opponent with offensive issues (In 2005 it was Chicago. This year it was Miami). Next, grab a win against a division opponent on the road on Monday Night Football (Dallas in 2005 in the famous Santana Moss game. Obviously the Eagles from last Monday for 2007). All the signs are there. An offense that couldn’t do squat the year before, all of a sudden converting key third downs and getting points in the second half. A defense, led by a coach whose large ego is famous throughout the league and believed to be the reason said defense is failing, suddenly becoming airtight. An early bye week on the schedule (In 2005 it was week three, and it will be week four this year). Injuries to the offensive line. It’s even to the point where the media is already labeling the Redskins the worst undefeated team of all-time. Which is exactly what the media said in 2005 when the Skins started 3-0. Say what you will about the Redskins, and I will shortly, but the Skins are one of only ten teams that still have no losses. And four those teams are the Texans, Packers, 49ers and Lions. I think we can all agree that the Skins are much better than all four of those frauds.

The coincidences are very freaky. But freaky in a good way. The Redskins ended up making the playoffs and winning a game in 2005. That wouldn’t be a terrible outcome for this 2007 season.

I ended my last Redskins post talking about the insignificance of last Monday night’s game if the Redskins ended up losing. I figured they would. I’m a diehard fan, and when it comes to the Skins, I’m an optimist. I just didn’t see them going into Philly and winning. What I didn’t talk about last week was the possible significance of a win over the suddenly hapless Eagles. This win is HUGE. As big as the win over Dallas was two seasons ago. All of a sudden, the Redskins are 1-0 in the division, two games ahead of Philadelphia and still have their three division home games upcoming. I look at football just like I do college basketball. You hold serve at home and steal a road game here and there, and you end up with a pretty good season. The Redskins stole one of those road wins on Monday.

Now the goal is not to give it back. Again, the Redskins have issues entering their game this week. The loss of Randy Thomas was the second lineman in as many weeks. At this point, Joe Bugel will be playing on the offensive line instead of coaching them by week nine. Ray Brown still looks like he’s in good shape. Can we sign him? Mark May has lost some weight but still looks game ready. Can someone put out a call to Joe Jacoby while we’re at it?

As of right now, the best move of the entire off-season was stealing Pete Kendall away from the Jets. Not only did the Skins grab a much needed veteran, they weakened a team that is on their schedule. And now, with the injuries to Thomas and Jon Jansen, adding Kendall for a second day draft pick looks absolutely brilliant. In the future, when criticizing Daniel Snyder and his penchant for trading draft picks, please don’t forget to bring this trade up for discussion.

For the second straight week the running game looked terrific despite the loss of an offensive lineman midway through the game. The defense bent, but didn’t break in the end. All receivers not named Brandon Lloyd found ways to get open. Shaun Suisham delivered two more clutch field goals. Heck, this looks like an actual football team here.

I’m still a little bit distraught over the play of Jason Campbell. I’m still not sure what everyone else sees in this guy. That touchdown pass to Chris Cooley was perfect. And Campbell finally got outside the pocket and looked good doing it. But he was still missing open receivers on short passes, mid-range passes and the bomb towards the end of the game to Moss, who more wide open than any receiver on the Redskins since Gary Clark in 1991. Campbell has made some good plays, but he’s also made some bad ones. In my mind, he continues to be maddeningly inconsistent. 431 yards passing with one touchdown and three picks through two weeks are exactly great stats. His 66.3 quarterback rating is 28th in the league, ahead of only Steve McNair, Matt Leinart, Rex Grossman and Tarvaris Jackson. Anytime you are in the same sentence with Rex Grossman is not a good thing.

I will say this though. Campbell looks very confident on third down. The Redskins are 15 for 29 on third down this season. That is an excellent number. Anything around 40-45 percent is going to win you a lot of games. So being over 50% through two weeks is a big reason why the Redskins are 2-0.

Enter the Giants. New Jersey is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the Redskins. A 0-2 start, complete with injuries to key players, dumb penalties, dumb coaching and the New York media have turned the Giants’ season into a potential nightmare. And it’s only mid-September.

We’ve been down this road before with the Giants. It seems every time they get ready to play the Redskins, they’re mired in some sort of controversy. Usually because their coach has the people skills and football savvy of a banana slug. Add in to the mix a veteran gap-toothed defensive end, who thinks he knows what’s best for the team and can’t shut his mouth, a sociopath steroid-pumping tight end, who can’t shut his mouth and a running back, who retired less than a year ago and still can’t shut his mouth, and you have plenty of entertainment.

Here’s what we know about the Giants. Like the Redskins, they have too much talent around the field to be a continuously .500 team. Eli Manning, Jeremy Shockey, Amani Toomer, Antonio Pierce, Mathias Kiwanuka (although he has been less effective as a linebacker) and Brandon Jacobs (who will not play due to injury) are all very good players. I probably think Manning is much better than most people do. If you compare him to his brother, then he’s not very good at all. If you compare anyone to his brother they turn out not looking very good. It’s all a matter of perspective.

The real problem for the Giants is the coaching. Last year, Tom Coughlin was by far the worst coach in the division. This year, with the addition of Wade Phillips, Coughlin isn’t head and shoulders behind all the other men-in-charge. But he’s still behind. His team is so undisciplined. If anyone saw the Giants ugly loss to Green Bay you would know what I’m talking about. Several personal foul penalties. Twice they were called for spiking the ball/delay of game penalties. One negated a first down and goal. The players are listless out there. The writing is on the wall. The Giants are underachieving solely because of leadership. Or the lack thereof.

So the trick for the Redskins is to put this game away early. Don’t let this team hang around. Don’t let them get any confidence. Step on this team’s throat. Go to 3-0, push the Giants to 0-3. How much of a killer would that be? Three weeks into the season you’re already three games out of first. It can’t get any worse than that.

The Redskins should be able to utilize Cooley. In the first two games, the Giants have surrendered 15 completions to tight ends. And Cooley will be the best they’ve faced yet. It’s also important for Campbell’s progress to get Cooley involved in the offense. A quarterback’s favorite target should be his tight end. The more he looks to Cooley, the better this offense is going to be.

If the Redskins mix Cooley in with their running game and then look for a couple of deep passes, the offense should put up more than 20 points. Since there’s no chance that Tiki Barber comes back and rushes for 200 yards, the Giants offense should be hard pressed to match the Skins output. Especially with the way the defense has been playing recently. Put the Giants away early, and the Redskins may just put the Giants season away for good.