How The Redskins Can Win On Sunday

After a tense defensive scrap against the Cowboys, the Redskins have made a statement that they’re not going to roll over for anyone this year. Unfortunately, making that statement in Week 2 will be more of a challenge as the high-powered Houston Texans offense comes to Fedex Field. Yes, this is the team that has one of the top passing offenses in the league and a running back that just torched Indianapolis for 231 yards and three touchdowns last week. By any standards, that’s a tall order. So what can the Redskins do to leave Landover with a win this week?

• They need to establish the running game early on. For most of last week’s game against Dallas, Washington had little to no ground game, aside from a 17-yard run by Donovan McNabb. But Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson started to get on track towards the end of the second half and were able to eat up a good chunk of the clock. They’ll need to do that again if the Redskins are going to have a chance against the Texans. If the Redskins can muscle out quality yards early on, they’ll not only gain an advantage in time of possession; they’ll also get the Texans defense to cheat up and put more men in the box, leaving their secondary to battle with the Washington receivers in one-on-one matchups. That creates a big opportunity for the Redskins passing attack.
• They might need to give their rookie tackle some help. Even though Trent Williams didn’t look like he’d just been drafted in April against the Cowboys, Houston’s defensive line is a different animal than that of Dallas. Williams may have held his own against the agile DeMarcus Ware, but this week, he’ll line up against 300 pounds of speed and power in Mario Willaims. The Redskins rookie is athletic and can get a good push off the snap, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he needs help containing “Super Mario”, especially on a bull-rush. Maybe this means that Shanahan slides protection to the left, maybe it means a little more play-action passing, or maybe it means lining Portis or Cooley up near Williams, but the Redskins cannot let Mario Williams into the backfield.
• The defense needs to contain Arian Foster and put pressure on Matt Schaub. My guess is that Haslett isn’t going to let Foster run all over Fedex Field like he did against the Colts last week. I’m betting he loads the box a little more to take away the Texans ground game, and to allow him the option of throwing a strong pass rush at Matt Schaub. Why do I think he’ll do this? For one thing, Haslett loves his starting corners, (Carlos Rogers and DeAngelo Hall). Something tells me he’s not afraid to have them cover Andre Johnson. For two, he loves creative blitz packages. Just look at how many corner blitzes he brought against Tony Romo last week. For three, Schaub is a play-action QB who struggles in the face of pressure. Haslett’s game plan should be to eliminate Houston’s ground game, keep Schaub from setting his feet, and force him into making poor throwing decisions on which Hall and Rogers can capitalize. Aggressive should be the operating word on Sunday. Big risk, big reward.
• They need to challenge Houston’s secondary. If there’s a defense that the Redskins should be able to one-up this year, it’s Houston’s. That’s because offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan used to run Houston’s offense and would practice against this unit every week. So it’s pretty safe to assume that he knows Houston’s defensive strength lies with the defensive line and not with the secondary. The Skins need to take shots down the field. Santana Moss could be just a double-move away from a big play in this one.
• They need to get turnovers. This one’s pretty straightforward. When you take the ball away from the other team, they can’t score. That’s just putting two and two together.
• Josh Bidwell needs to get his act together. I’ll admit it; this is a bit of a cheap shot. But seriously, catch the snap, man. We might need a field to goal to win this one.

This game won’t be a shootout. That’s just my gut feeling. I think that the Redskins play stronger defense than Indy, and I think the Houston’s will stumble a bit after an emotional win. Of course, the Redskins will also have plenty of emotions, but I think that they’ll be able to translate them into production more easily. McNabb’s been in emotional games before and his experience will help keep the team focused.

That said, it’s still going to be a close contest. Kubiak and both Shanahans know each other well, and I think that they’ll exploit their mutual knowledge of each other as much as they can. But I’ll take the Redskins by the score of 20-17. A late field goal wins it at Fedex.