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The Redskins travel to Minnesota for a must win game, it's Playoff Deathsport in the NFC. Win and the Redskins live to fight another day. Lose and they are out of playoff contention. So great is the demand for this game that it was rescheduled from 1pm to the national slot at 8pm on NBC.
As one that has been somewhat annoyed by the conventional wisdom that the NFL is a passing league I am pleased to see a game between two teams that favor the run. The Redskins have returned at least somewhat to their Joe Gibbs roots as a run first team, Clinton Portis has a thousand yards rushing despite only three 100 yard games and a 3.9 yards per carry average. In other words they have been sticking to the run even when other teams are not giving much.
As for the Vikings well they have Adrian Peterson but that's not nuff said. Minnesota added Adrian to a team that already had a thousand runner in Chester Taylor.
And now this Vikings team has won five in a row, and without giving up 100 yards in that stretch and are controlling their own destiny for the playoffs. When the Redskins players look across the field to the other bench they will see the team they have to go through.
Defensively for the Redskins the gameplan is going to be to jam the running lanes, all arms out and linebackers running downhill and contain Adrian Peterson. With Rocky McIntosh lost for this season and most of next it will be HB Blades and Randall Godfrey over on the weak side. There is some risk in this rotation as far as I am concerned, there are only so many losses a team can mask.
This is all somewhat mitigated by the fact the the Redskins have somehow by blind luck been able to find and develop two young defensive tackles in Anthony Montgomery and Kedric Golston, Anthony starts and Kedic is a high rotation backup, as well as Lorenzo Alexander aka Scarface, the Man that Does It All. Scarface plays offensive line, tackle eligible, defensive line and special teams. I hope the team finds a way to keep him.
With receiver Syndey Rice likely out it will be harder for Tarvaris to beat the Redskins through the air. I'll take the Redskins secondary on this one, Tarvaris threw three interceptions and fumbled last week against the Bears, a team that plays very much like the Redskins.
And one guy that will be out there defending against Tarvaris? Why it's Tarvaris' old teammate Fred Smoot. Loveboat Freddie left Minnesota with his tail between his legs his jaw wired shut and has become a key player for the Redskins since Carlos Rogers went down for a year or more. As Loveboat Freddie has become more comfortable as a starter, his play has improved. He is covering tighter and challenging receivers. I would love to be there to see his on field reception by the fans.
Curly R aside: wait, I do now someone that will be there to hear it, why it's Thomas at Vikings blog The Ragnarok, for whom Curly R unearthed 5 Questions for a very special exchange. Get over there and leave a comment.
But why the hell are we really talking about anyone but Todd Collins? Todd Collins, the man of the hour, enjoying that special celebrity, that of the ascended backup who wins, the man who at 36 has won two straight and is a free agent after this season. Looks like it was all true what Al Saunders said about him in the summer of 2006.
Joe Gibbs and I have had our differences this season but the man is a legend and I'm putting it in his hands. He knows what to do I just hope he can do it.
Washington Post preview, Redskins gameday (PDF). Redskins roster, Vikings roster; Redskins projected starters, Vikings projected starters; Redskins injury report, Vikings injury report.
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