Guy Damrosch is a featured contributor of the Redskins blog Riggo¡¯s Rag. He has given himself the terribly pedestrian nickname ¡°Redskins Guy¡± despite the fact that he detests people who are arrogant enough to give themselves nicknames.
Oh, what a difference 12 weeks can make. The last time these teams met, we wondered which team was in more trouble. Now we want to know, Can anyone stop the Giants? The Redskins were horrible against New York in Week 1. I knew the Redskins were in trouble the moment that gap-toothed menace Michael Strahan jumped out of the giant Lombardi trophy during the opening ceremony. Since that disaster, the Redskins have improved.cheap NBA jerseys An upset isn¡¯t impossible; don¡¯t think we¡¯ve forgotten that Giants game in Cleveland. The Giants can indeed lay an occasional egg, especially when they¡¯re playing away like they are this weekend. So it COULD happen, but will it? Probably not. Not unless the Redskins learn how to score more than 20 points in a game. Giants, 27-20.
David Wagner is one of the writers at Riggo¡¯s Rag, a Redskins fan site and member of the Fansided Network of blogs. He is also an editor at M.I.T. Sloan Management Review. The only thing he considers worse is someone who¡¯s pretentious enough to refer to themselves in the third person. Mr. Damrosch has a degree from Johns Hopkins University and currently lives in Maryland with his wife. Washington¡¯s defense has been brutally consistent, allowing only one team to top 300 yards since September. But, lately, when he isn¡¯t going against an opponent of Seahawks-like stature, the Redskins¡¯ Jason Campbell has been just plain brutal. Giants, 24-17.
What has changed since opening week that might make us think this is going to be a closer game? Well, for one, the venue. Had I known Michael Strahan was coming out of a giant Lombardi trophy before last game, I might have picked the Giants. For another, Clinton Portis has established the Redskins as one of the best running teams in the league. This can take pressure off Campbell. Coach Zorn has some experience under his belt, and I just don¡¯t see Brandon Jacobs freight-training Laron Landry again. I just can¡¯t. On the other hand, the Giants are still playing like the best team in the league, and while we WANT this game really bad, we don¡¯t need it so much with easy wins against the 49ers, Bengals, and Eagles, and a winnable game against the Ravens left on the schedule. It wouldn¡¯t shock me if we were a bit conservative and lost. Can we win? Sure. In the last three games against the Giants, the Redskins have had one shockingly bad quarter and have outscored the Giants in the other three but we¡¯re 1-2. If we avoid the bad quarter, we can win. We won¡¯t though. The score will be 24-13 for the Giants, but we make the playoffs as a wild card.
Ten games later, the Redskins¡¯ Week 1 loss doesn¡¯t look so bad; no one scored in the second half of that game. The Giants figured out who they were from Week 1, and the Redskins still don¡¯t know. What they do know is tough defense and close games,wholesale NFL jerseys and Sunday will be no different ¡ª this will be no New York walkover. Three years ago, the Giants marked the passing of Wellington Mara with a 36-0 wipeout of the Redskins in Giants Stadium. Sunday, the Redskins put safety Sean Taylor in the Ring of Fame a year after his death. Emotion matters in football, right? Redskins, 30-24.
John Woods is not a guest blogger. He is a staff editor for The Times, a regular contributor to The Fifth Down, and the guy who put this post together. This is the kind of matchup that causes him to hear Pat Summerall¡¯s voice in his head ¡ª more than usual. Ben Folsom writes for the Curly R, a Redskins blog that still doesn¡¯t take Eli Manning seriously and thinks Tom Coughlin has beady eyes. If the Jets and Giants make it to the Super Bowl, will the universe explode?
At some point, the Giants are going to shift down a gear or two, put a foot out the window and roll through the end of the regular season. But not yet. The Giants, with a three-game lead in the N.F.C. East, face three division opponents in the next three weeks. The math will never be simpler. But how does it add up for the Redskins?