The Redskin Report

Abbreviated edition due to a weekend work conference.

To save some time and repetition, the Patriots are good. Their offense is good, their defense is good. But here are some weaknesses the Redskins can and hopefully will exploit.

• Secondary – Asante Samuel is good, very good. But the Patriots haven’t been great against wide receivers. They rank 20th in the league against opponent’s top wide receivers. The Redskins are going to need some big plays and it appears the Patriots may have a weakness against wide receivers.
• Wide Receivers vs Redskins secondary – Hey, the wide receivers of the Patriots are very good. But Wes Welker and Dante Stallworth rely on yards after catch, a Redskins specialty. The linebackers and the corners are very good tacklers and I don’t expect to see them running wild after catches. We all know that Sean Taylor gets up for these match-ups against uber-hyped receivers. He’ll relish this chance to battle with Randy Moss. If Moss dominates, the Redskins have no shot, but if Taylor gets in his head and beats him down, this could be interesting.
• Rush Defense – The Patriots are in the middle of the pack stopping the run according to football outsiders. Keep in mind that they’ve had huge leads most games and thus run defense hasn’t been a big factor.
• Punt coverage – Antwaan Randle-El hasn’t busted on yet this year, but this would be a good week to do it. The Patriots haven’t been great covering punts.

Not much detail here, but I’m a bit rushed. Prediction withheld to protect the innocent.