After two grueling division matchups to start the season, the Packers are still undefeated (though not the way they should be).
Week three sends them on the road for the first time this year. They travel to Washington, where the Redskins rank 2nd in points allowed in 1st in yards allowed (including giving up only 161 passing yards per game, the lowest in the league).
Stats rarely tell the whole story, and that goes triple this early in the season , especially when the Skins have only faced the struggling Colts and the pathetic Cardinals (who’ve put up a grand total of 6 points all year).
Looking deeper, the Redskins have some talent on defense (Johnathan Allen and Da’Ron Payne are former first rounders on the defensive line, Josh Norman leads the secondary, and Ryan Kerrigan is a consistent 10-sack rusher), but after the two tests the Packers just passed, this unit doesn’t phase me.
Adding Aaron Jones into the mix and giving Rogers another week of healing his knee sprain should only make this offense more potent than it’s already been. I love Aaron Jones, but I believe McCarthy will make him earn back his time and he will not be the featured back this week (or potentially all year, given how well Jamaal Williams has done in pass protection and how much McCarthy values that).
The Redskins offense isn’t terrible, but that’s about all I’ll say about them. Led by solid quarterback Alex Smith and aging wonder Adrian Peterson, their receiving core is average. Jordan Reed is a very talented tight end, but their wide receivers are nothing to write home about. Peterson had a big game in week one, but the Colts held him to 20 yards on 11 carries. Take away his long of 14 yards and he had 6 yards on his other 10 carries. Part of that may be attributable to a banged up offensive line.
The Packers should be able to take advantage of that line. Kenny Clark, Mike Daniels, and Muhammad Wilkerson have already been wreaking havoc and the edge rushers have shown a little life here and there. Mike Pettine has been scheming creative blitz packages to keep offenses mostly out of rhythm.
There is some concern about Kevin King’s injury because he seems to get hurt a lot and because the Packers defense looked like a completely different animal with him out last week. However, if there was a favorable stretch for him to miss time in this schedule, it would probably come in the consecutive games against Washington, Buffalo, and Detroit.
I’m not worried about this game in the least.
Predictions
Jamaal Williams continues to get the bulk of the carries and gets his average over 4 yards per carry
Jimmy Graham finally gets a score
Aaron Rodgers continues his streak of no interceptions
Clay Matthews gets a sack
Nick Perry gets a sack
Mike Daniels gets a sack
Mason Crosby comes in focused and doesn’t miss
Packers 30, Redskins 13