Monday night’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Redskins is a matchup of two teams in different places in their seasons and two teams that are completely different skill levels. The Seahawks have the advantage in just about every aspect of this game and, to make things worse for Washington, are coming off a bye. The only saving grace for the Redskins might be that Seattle will be flying all the way across the country for the game and Seattle isn’t quite as good on the road. Here is a preview of the matchup:
Russell Wilson Set For Huge Game
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson hasn’t been off to a great start this season. He’s only averaging 217 yards per game, has a 69% completion percentage, and six touchdowns with only one interception. His PFF (subscription) passing rating on the season so far is -5.5. Well, this will be the game for him to pad those stats. The Redskins secondary might be one of the worst units in football and Wilson has had an extra week to watch film on them. I expect Wilson to have a huge game against Washington.
Kirk Cousins Needs A Bounce Back Game
Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins had an awful game on Thursday night against the New York Giants. It was quite possibly the worst game of his professional career. For Cousins to gain his confidence back he needs to have a bounce back game against Seattle. While that sounds counterintuitive because Seattle is known for their talented secondary, now is the time to attack them. Seattle has a lot of injuries in their secondary and the people filling in just aren’t playing like Seattle is use to from their defensive backs. The unit playing the worst right now on their defense is their secondary. If Cousins can exploit their backups and stay clean in the pocket (not an easy feat against the Seahawks’ pass rush), he might be able to have some success.
Alfred Morris Must Step Up
To help combat the Seahawks’ pass rush and keep them honest, Redskins running back Alfred Morris needs to have some success on the ground. The Seahawks run defense has been very good and the Redskins’ offensive line has struggled a little bit in run blocking. However, Morris needs to find a way to have some success on the ground to keep the Seahawks defense honest. This, in turn, will give Cousins more time to throw and more favorable coverages to throw into. While I don’t think Morris will have a particularly good game, it’s absolutely going to be an important part of the Redskins’ offense if they want to pull off the upset.
Seahawks Offensive Line Will Be Tested
The Seahawks’ offensive line has struggled this year. The defensive line of the Redskins will feast on them if they continue their struggles. With guys on their line such as Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan, Jason Hatcher, and Chris Baker it’s going to be a lot to handle for an offensive line that is still trying to figure things out. The Seahawks have done a good job keeping Wilson safe in the pocket by having him do a lot of short dropbacks and getting the ball out of his hands quickly but the Redskins need to get some hits on him. He’s only been sacked six times this season and only hit once while throwing. If they can get to Wilson early and often it will take a lot of pressure off of their secondary.
I think the Redskins have a slight chance to pull off the upset in this game but I just don't see it actually happening. The Seahawks are too complete of a team, they're coming off a bye, and they're probably angry about their last two performances and want to prove to the world that they're better than what they showed. The Seahawks will probably give the Redskins a steady dose of Marshawn Lynch with Wilson making some good plays here and there. In the end I see the Seahawks winning this game but at least two touchdowns.