Robert Griffin III – Eagles vs Redskins 11/18/2012
courtesy of Matthew Straubmuller
The moment that could come to define the Redskins 2012 season happened the last time they met the Giants. With the Redskins having scored late to take the lead and little time left on the clock Eli Manning completed a pass to Victor Cruz that shoved the dagger into the hearts of Skins fans, and signaled that this season could be over. After two straight wins against the Eagles and the Cowboys the Redskins find themselves in second in the NFC East and could get back to .500 with a win tonight against the Giants.
It won’t be easy as the Giants are the defending Super Bowl champs and once again look to be the class of the NFC East as the Redskins, Cowboys, and Eagles have all struggled this season. The Redskins are different this time though. RGIII has somehow managed to get better. Against the Eagles he threw for four touchdowns. It was the most of his career and looked to be his season high until the very next week he once again threw for four touchdowns against the Cowboys.
Last time against the Giants RGIII was 20-28 with 258 yards and 2 touchdowns and 1 interception while also rushing for 89 yards on 9 attempts. RGIII is a great passer and a great runner and that makes him hard to defend. Recently he gave credit to his teammates for his recent touchdown explosion saying all it took was for him to start trusting his receivers. After all the dropped passes earlier in the season it is hard to blame Griffin for losing faith in some of his teammates, but a lot of it might have to do with the return of Pierre Garcon. His ability to catch the ball where it is thrown is a rare quality.
The last two games have also been breakouts of sorts for Aldrick Robinson. There are few players in the league as fast as him and in the games against the Eagles and the Cowboys he broke away from the defense and scored on long, wide-open pass plays. Here is the scary part, as bad as RGIII made the Cowboys and Eagles look they are ranked 9th and 14th against the pass where the Giants are ranked 25th. With as good as the Giants defensive line is it would stand to reason that if they weren’t good against the pass they would be against the run, but they are ranked 16th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game.
If anything this game will be much like the first coming down to who has the ball last. Neither of these teams are good at stopping the pass with the Giants ranking 25th and the Redskins 31st, but the Redskins do rank 3rd in rushing yards allowed per game, but that is due to the fact that no one needs to even worry about running the ball against them. The Giants are the class of the NFC, but the Redskins and RGIII are getting hot at the right time. Knocking the Giants off on Monday Night Football would go a long way to increasing the Redskins shot at making the playoffs.
