New York Giants
at Washington Redskins
With the Giants fighting for their very playoff lives as they try to keep pace with the Eagles and Cowboys in the NFC East, the Redskins have an opportunity to play spoiler to their hated, hard-nosed, historic rivals while also maintaining some sense of personal team pride and divisional relevance by keeping the G-men out of the post season.
After winning five straight games to start the season, the Giants have since gone 2-6 and turned their once tight stranglehold on the NFC East into nothing more than a mere glimmer of hope at Wild Card berth contention. To make the post season, New York will need to defeat the improved but still topsy-turvy Washington Redskins franchise and hope for some outside help next week as well.
With an offense that ranks in the top 10 in all statistical categories and a defense that’s only blemish outside of a top 10 ranking across the board is the vital points allowed category (where they’re an abysmal bottom 5 unit), you’d think that the consistency and high performance of the Giants statistically would also be reflected in their record. Not so.
New York has gone through a rough stretch where they’ve continuously seemed to find a way to lose games: whether its the inconsistent play of gimpy quarterback Eli Manning, the disappointing rushing production of running back Brandon Jacobs, or the once stout and deep defensive front being decimated by injuries and failing down the stretch, the Giants have become a very talented but vastly underacheiving squad that can’t remember how to win close games.
Luckily for them, they run into a franchise that’s experienced as much loss, turmoil, and disappointment as humanly possible this season. The Redskins have been a picture of dysfunction in 2009: They’ve all but cut ties for next year with lame duck starting quarterback Jason Campbell and head coach Jim Zorn, they’re without their top two running backs Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts (one of which was their franchise player), and they’re barely holding together at the seams as an organization through all of the finger pointing. In fact, if not for the improved play of the veteran-laden, top 10 ranked defense, the Redskins would be even further in the basement of the NFL then they already are.
Unlike New York though, Washington has actually played tougher down the stretch and tried to pull together despite all of their issues. They’ve shown marked improvement in their last five contests: A win against the projected playoff team Denver Broncos, followed by three consecutive losses by three points or less to Dallas, Philadelphia and New Orleans respectively (all potential playoff teams), and then a win against the lowly Raiders to cap off their current 4-9 predicament.
Yet just like the Giants, Washington continues to find ways to lose games they should win and gift wins to their competitors. So much so that this contest could very well come down not to which of these NFC East rivals plays better tonight but rather which one is better at avoiding the outright implosion that gives the victory away to their opponent.
We know that both teams will look to establish the run and control the clock. We know that both teams will look to play conservative offense and pressure defense in hopes of capitalizing on the mistakes of the other. We know that both teams will likely have an opportunity to give in and give up when push comes to shove in this game. The winner likely won’t be the one who delivers the knockout punch, but rather the one who decides to get back up off the mat after tripping over his own feet.
Which team that will be on this cold Monday night in Washington though, is still anybody’s guess.
