After a disastrous performance from Kirk Cousins in his previous game, there’s suddenly a lot less hope and faith in the quarterback on behalf of the Washington Redskins, especially as they face the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, in their next game, which could turn out to be a very painful experience.
This is only the second road game for the Seahawks this season. They lost the previous one to the San Diego Chargers. But the Redskins aren’t the Chargers, and Cousins, who might still be a better fit than Robert Griffin III to the offense Gruden runs, is no Philip Rivers. The last time these two teams met was in January 2013, when the Seahawks beat the Redskins in Washington as Robert Griffin III got injured, something which derailed his and the team’s quick rise during 2012.
One thing both teams do pretty well is stop the run, but the Redskins will probably be facing a sterner test. The Seahawks average just under 150 yards per game on the ground, while the Redskins, with Alfred Morris and a little bit of Roy Helu, do a good job with 123 rushing yards per game. But despite that aspect of their offense, it’ll be down to Kirk Cousins and avoiding mistakes (four interceptions in the loss to the Giants last week) which will decide who badly or well this one goes for the Redskins, losing their last two games while giving up 82 points.
The Seahawks had two weeks between games after beating the Denver Broncos in overtime. Their loss to the Chargers led to some questions. Certain moments in the win over Denver, especially being unable to contain Peyton Manning on the final two drives, led to more questions. But the Seahawks do have Russell Wilson rise above that criticism, throwing just one interception so far this season while completing 69% of his passes and throwing six touchdown passes.
The Redskins have an excellent record in the regular season against the Seahawks, winning their last six meetings. However, they’ve lost the last three regular season encounters, not to mention doing quite badly on night games recently, compared to the Seahawks winning eight straight on Monday Night, including the famous non-touchdown victory over the Green Bay Packers not too long ago.
The big fear for Washington heading into this game will be a blowout and falling to 1-4. Relying on Alfred Morris and a little bit less on Kirk Cousins is the expected approach. Even if Richard Sherman isn’t as good as he likes to say he is, testing Cousins, who is exposed as more mistake prone than anybody thought, against such a secondary unit without establishing the run isn’t a very good idea.