Patriots at Redskins
THE STORY: The Washington Redskins were anticipating a hard enough time keeping up with the New England Patriots on Sunday. Now, they'll attempt to put an end to their careening ways without two key cogs in their offense. Tight end Fred Davis and left tackle Trent Williams will begin a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy with Sunday's home contest versus the Patriots. Losing two starters on the offensive side of the ball is obviously horrible news for a team that has lost seven of eight to plummet into the basement of the NFC East. As for the Patriots, it was business as usual last week – well, for three quarters. New England breezed out to a 28-point lead over the winless Indianapolis Colts before hitting the snooze alarm in the final 15 minutes. New England won its fourth in a row after settling for a 31-24 victory.
TV: CBS, 1 p.m. ET. LINE: Patriots -9, O/U 48
ABOUT THE PATRIOTS (9-3): Reigning NFL MVP Tom Brady is tied with Hall of Famer Warren Moon for sixth on the NFL's all-time list with 291 touchdown passes. Brady has four games this season to track down John Elway, who is fifth with 300. Brady has found a familiar target in TE Rob Gronkowski, who collected three more touchdowns last week. Gronkowski's 13 scores tie him with San Francisco's Vernon Davis (2009) and San Diego's Antonio Gates (2004) for the single-season NFL record for tight ends.
ABOUT THE REDSKINS (4-8): Washington allowed Shonn Greene to rush for three scores in a 34-19 loss to the New York Jets last week. With Davis now benched, former Patriot WR Jabar Gaffney leads the Redskins with 46 receptions for 665 yards receiving. Washington is deciding between RT Sean Locklear and undrafted rookie Willie Smith to fill the vacated spot of Williams, who was the fourth overall pick of the 2010 draft. TE Logan Paulsen is expected to start on Sunday after beginning the season as the team's third-string TE. Veteran Chris Cooley is also in the mix.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Former Redskins DE Andre Carter has recorded nine sacks in 12 games this season. He is just two shy of the 11 that he recorded in 2009 with Washington and 3 1/2 short of his career-best effort with San Francisco in 2002.
2. Redskins WR Santana Moss needs 70 yards receiving to reach 9,000 for his career.
3. The Patriots handed the Redskins their most lopsided loss since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger in the teams' last meeting. New England cruised to a 52-7 victory on Oct. 28, 2007.