"DC" Skins Pregame - Week 2 - vs Houston

As I said in last week's blog, I'm going to try to make these pregame and postgame blogs a weekly weekend habit, because this NFL football is a topic people in the blogosphere can really get into, and it is also a topic I love to talk about. Gives this blog a little bit of balance. ;-)

However, like I said last week, I'm just gonna focus on Redskins games. If I talked about a lot of different teams every week and all of the games playing this week, I don't think I could get all my thoughts down. (I mean, I can, but it would just take forever) I'm not a sports journalist, nor do I work for the organization. I just want to offer my particular "out-of-the-box" authentic view as a genuine fan of the game. (I will say, that to make these entries easier to identify, I'll prefix these particular blogs will be prefixed with "DC" Skins (Pre/Post game...). 

Now that I got the housekeeping out of the way, let me get this started...

This week, I'm not going to get into the off-the-field drama with the women in the locker room remark by Clinton Portis about Inez Sainz and the New York Jets locker room, or whether or not Albert Haynesworth is injured or not. I will just be focusing on my thoughts primarily about the game itself (such as players to watch, other notables), what I think the keys to victory are, and my predictions (as I hope to do every week).


With that being said, as a Redskins fan, this game scares me. Even though the 'Skins should be familiar with the offense because Kyle Shanahan coordinated the Texans offense last year, it still doesn't look as good in the Redskins' point of view. The Texans put up 34 points against a formidable Colts team, whom many are picking to go to the Superbowl. They have arguably the best wide receiver in the game in Andre Johnson, and they have the top (non-passing) offensive player of Week 1 with the sudden emergence of their running back Arian Foster, who had 231 yards rushing last week (and undoubtedly got picked up by many Fantasy Football owners). Their offense is clicking, and they outgunned Peyton Manning and the Colts (which says a lot).


The Redskins offense has a lot to do before catching up to this offense. Although they are patterned similarly, Houston is way ahead. The 'Skins didn't put up an offensive TD last week, and was outgained by Dallas in about a 2.5/1 ratio. And, as I said last week, even though I appreciated the win, the Redskins were extremely fortunate to get the win, considering how much Dallas shot themselves in the foot.

Many are saying if the Redskins are gonna have a shot at winning, the defense has to step up big time. I agree. The Redskins defense played relatively well against Dallas by keeping points off the board and making some plays (that turnover to TD to end the half didn't just happen by itself... DeAngelo Hall was a big part of that), however Dallas' bad playcalling and mistakes had a lot to with them not scoring many points either. I'm sure Houston's offense would be a lot more disciplined, and the defense has to match them.


Arguably, as it looks right now, the Redskins defense is better than the Colts defense, and I don't think they're gonna let Arain Foster put up 231 yds in the ground against them. And since they showed that they can make plays and force mistakes, that can really help them out. But, they still have to stop the big play, and not let Houston march up and down the field willingly (like Dallas during the end of the game). If they do, the game will be a lot uglier than last week's Dallas game.


I will say though, that these teams do know each other pretty well, despite being in opposite conferences. Houston head coach Gary Kubiak is under the Mike Shanahan coaching tree since he was his coordinator in Denver, and Kyle Shanahan (Mike's son) coordinated under Kubiak last year in Houston, and practically built Houston's high powered offense. Based on that, it should be an interesting chess match, especially on offense.


But based on everything I've said so far, and from what was seen last week, the overall edge goes to Houston. The Skins haven't really gotten their running game going yet, and the only the tight ends have shown some glimmer of hope on the offensive side of the ball. And like I said, the Skins still haven't scored an offensive touchdown. And even though I think the Redskins may have the edge on defense, Houston's defense is still nothing to sneeze at. The gap between the 2 offenses, in my opinion, is larger than the gap against the two defenses. As far as special teams go, when all is said and done, I don't think we'll be talking about ST come the end of the game. 

So I give the edge to Houston. The line for this game is Houston by 3. I think that sounds about right. As much as I would like the Redskins to win every game, and I would like to think that Redskins will perform better than they did last week, but even if they do perform better, the realist and prognosticator in me would think that it may not be enough.


Game prediction... Houston 28, Redskins 24.



Of course, I will be more than happy if I'm wrong and if the Redskins happen to pull out a win. It should be an interesting game nonetheless. Like I said, the coaching staff is familiar with each other, and from that, it should be an interesting match to watch.


HTTR,
-OBE



PS: I do regret, I probably won't be watching the whole game though. On an unrelated note, I do start my first day as a Youth Counselor in my church that evening, (which is another way to make an impact with "our future"). Therefore, I may miss a good chunk of the 2nd half. But, I will still post my postgame blog sometime after the game.