October 21st, 2011, 2:28 pm · Post a Comment · posted by sreed
Coach: Mike Shanahan, 2nd season with Redskins (154-109 overall in as a head coach).
Series History: 10th regular-season meeting. Redskins lead series 7-2. This is the first meeting between these two geographic rivals since Oct. 11, 2009 when the Panthers rallied from 15 points down to defeat the Redskins 20-17. Jake Delhomme completed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Jeff King and Jonathan Stewart ran for a score to give the Panthers a rare win over the Redskins.
Last week: The Redskins lost 20-13 to Philadelphia as QB Rex Grossman was intercepted four times. He’s been benched for this week and John Beck will get his first start since 2007 when he played in Miami.
Offensive player to watch: TE Fred Davis. He’s emerged as the top tight end in the Washington offense and leads the Redskins with 343 yards receiving. He’s second on the team in catches with 22, one behind WR Santana Moss.
Defensive player to watch: OLB Brian Orakpo. The former first round draft pick has been living up to his billing leading the team with 3.5 sacks. Look for him to apply all sorts of pressure to Panthers QB Cam Newton.
Special teams player to watch: K Graham Gano. He’s struggling a bit with the Redskins, having converted 9 of 12 field goals with all three misses coming from between 30-39 yards. Outside of the four he’s 3-for-3, including 2-for-2 from beyond 50. It’s just the chippies he’s struggling with.
By the Numbers: 8 – Number of touchdowns the Redskins defense has allowed in six games this season.
My take: The Redskins have a really good defense and this will certainly be a good test for Cam Newton and Co. Look for them to throw all sorts of looks at Newton designed to confuse him and force him into mistakes. In all likelihood this will be a low scoring affair as the Redskins offense is averaging just 15.3 points per game over the last three weeks. They’ve also turned the ball over eight times during that span.
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