I was settling down to write my Redskins preview post when the news came down this afternoon that Plaxico Burress literally shot himself in the foot. I don't want to go into the details of how it happened or how badly hurt he is - but I would guess that Plaxico Burress has played his last game as a New York Giant. He will surely be out for a while, probably the whole year. I am sure that the team, the coaches, the front office does not want this distraction on the team, no matter how good Burress is and he will not return to the team next year. The distractions and behavior was bad enough this year, between fines, suspensions and benching. The annoying and perplexing thing to the team has to be that the Giants caved and gave him his big contract. I am 90% certain that he will not be on the team next year. Maybe Sean Payton has some more draft choices to give to us and Plax can go down to New Orleans with Shockey.
On to the Redskins:
Burress was out anyway, so except for the distraction factor, this gunshot thing would not have hurt the Giants personnel-wise. Giants shut down the Redskins running game in the season opener and put the ball in the hands of Campbell to try and beat them, which he couldn't. Everyone said that the Redskins weren't used to the Zorn offense and that is why they looked so bad in that season opener. I don't get that - they were terrible in week 1 because they didn't get the Zorn offense; after 6 weeks of training camp, 4 preseason games, mini-camps, Organized Team Activities during the off-season and other learning opportunities. But then magically in the one week of practice between weeks 1 and 2, they finally "get it" and go on a 4 game winning streak. I don't think so. I think the Redskins are an average offensive team that rely heavily on the running game and the performance of Clinton Portis. Giants were (are) very good at shutting down the opposing team's running game and that's what they did to Washington in that opener.
After Redksins won 4 in a row, they have been 3-3 since then and have not been particularly impressive. If the Giants can control the running game of the Redskins, they should be able to hold their offense relatively in check. Redskins do have a decent OL and Santana Moss is a dangerous WR, but Campbell is not a great qb and I think Giants defense will have a good game.
On the other side of the ball, Redskins defense is very good. They have excellent CBs in Carlos Rogers, Fred Smoot and now D'Angelo Hall. The Redskins have some injuries at LB, including Fletcher. Giants will probably try to establish the run, especially on the edges against the Redskins. They ran effectively in the first game and Brandon Jacobs should be coming back Sunday. No doubt Washington will scheme to stop the run because of Giants success in game 1, so Giants must be prepared to pass to keep ' Skins honest. If they play carefully and intelligently, they should be able to move the ball, even though the Giants scored only 16 points in the first game. Burress had a big game against the Redskins in week 1 and he will be missed tomorrow. Redskisn S LaRon landry is an excellent player and Eli will have to know where he is on passing plays
No comments:
Post a Comment