Last season, the Washington Redskins were the greatest story in football, and the San Diego Chargers were just a forgotten about team. Things can really change in one season. Now, Washington must fight to have even a small chance of winning their division for the second year in a row. Last year’s most exciting player, Robert Griffin III, has looked, well, average. The Chargers have become a revitalized team, mostly due to Philip Rivers no longer turning the ball over as much. Rivers had thrown 35 interceptions over the past three seasons and subsequently the Chargers missed the playoffs all three of those seasons. This season, he has only thrown five interceptions, three of which came in one game against the Oakland Raiders.
The Chargers are currently on a two game winning streak in which Rivers did not turn the ball over. The Redskins are coming off a blowout loss to the Denver Broncos. In the game, Griffin came out after taking a hard hit to the knee (not the surgically repaired one). Kirk Cousins took over, but did not have much better luck against the Denver defense. Washington has said that Griffin was only taken out as a precautionary measure because the game had slipped away, we will find out how his knees are today. Fans have only seen a small sampling of the explosiveness RG3 introduced to the NFL last season. More unsettling, once a great deep ball thrower, Griffin has struggled mightily on throws over twenty yards.
The Redskins defense has been atrocious all season and with the resurgence of Philip Rivers, I do not expect them to be any better today. They did, however, get Peyton Manning to throw three interceptions. They will get safety Brandon Meriweather back, which should help their defense as long as he quits getting penalty flags. Washington needs to hand the ball off to Alfred Morris, who had a breakout rookie season, but seems to have fallen into the sophomore slump. Washington just has not looked like the team of last season, and this just is not their season. Redskins vs. Chargers- who you takin?
