What to Watch: Redskins vs Cowboys

So far this season the Redskins have been unimpressive at best. 1-3 was not the way most envisioned the Redskins starting and it has left the fans calling for quarterback changes and coordinator firings. This week the Redskins must travel to Dallas to face their bitter rivals the Cowboys who just put up 48 points and over 500 yards of offense on the Broncos. Fortunately, the Redskins had an early bye week to regroup and hopefully work on the basics. If this team wants to make the playoffs it must improve drastically on its poor start and what better atmosphere to do so then in Dallas on primetime Sunday Night Football.

1. Dez Bryant vs DeAngleo Hall – I’m not a huge fan of Hall and was one of those fans who was slightly disappointed at his resigning. However, Hall can also be extremely entertaining and this week will be no exception. Bryant is a big powerful wide receiver at 6’2″and 222 lbs to Hall’s  5’10” and 193 lbs. Frankly, Hall at a huge disadvantage in this matchup. The bright side is that despite all of his limitations Hall at times steps up and has his best games when facing a big time receiver. This should be a fun matchup to watch.

2. The Return – Jarvis Jenkins and Rob Jackson will be able to play for the first time this year after serving their 4 game suspensions. Jackson isn’t a starter but he was impressive last season when asked to fill in for an injured Orakpo and should provide valuable depth. Look for Jackson to get some solid playing time as he has shown the ability to be a good pass rusher and strong coverage skills. Jenkins on the other hand is a starter and should quickly upgrade the defensive end position. He hasn’t been as explosive of a pass rusher as the Redskins originally expected but he is a good run defender and should really bolster the Redskins run D. It will be interesting to see how big of an impact the return of these two guys can have on the defense as a whole. 

3. RGIII’s improvement – Robert Griffin III has been a hot topic recently because of his injury and subsequent slow start to the season. For those have been watching it has been clear that he has slowly improved each week and looked closer to form week 4 against a solid Raiders defense. Now with a week off the expectations for RGIII are sky high and if he can’t perform well there will only be more questions about if Bob Griffin can ever be RGIII again. Of course most of this is overblown and this game shouldn’t determine how people view RGIII’s future but when you are playing a rival in a nationally televised game the media and fans tend to put more meaning in one game than they should. 

4. DeMarco Murray vs Barry Cofield – Cofield is only one piece of the Redskins run defense but he is probably the most important one. He started off the season a little slow because of an injury that required him to wear a club around his hand but in the last two game he has been fantastic. Stopping the run is always important and Cofield will need to have a big game for the Redskins to succeed this week.

5. Jordan Reed – Reed had a fast start this season and really continued to improve in his blocking and as a receiver. He was hurt and missed the week 4 game against the Raiders but will be back Sunday. His momentum got a little derailed by the injury but he should be able to get back into it quickly. I really like Reed and think he has the potential to exploit a Cowboys defense that has let two tight ends go over a 100 yards in consecutive weeks.

Week 6 Prediction: Tony Romo is playing at a high level right now and has tons of weapons with Dez Bryant, Witten, Murray and rookie Terrance Williams. It’s an offense that has the ability to really exploit the Redskins defense. Fortunately, the Redskins know Romo well and should be able to come up with a game plan that should limit him. However, that plan will only work if RGIII and the Redskins offense can stay on the field and create some long drives. The game being in Dallas and on primetime means it will be loud and rowdy so Alfred Morris and the rushing attack is key to taking the crowd out of the game. The more I think about it the more I lean towards the Cowboys winning this game but my guy says that a Sunday Night game in Dallas is the perfect setting for RGIII to make a statement. Cowboys 34, Redskins 38

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