October 26, 2011

Week 7: Washington Redskins at Carolina Panthers

WASHINGTON REDSKINS @ CAROLINA PANTHERS

Vegas Line: Redskins + 2.5

Rob’s Line: Redskins + 5.5

The best 1-5 team in years at home to the one who let themselves down the most last weekend. Washington were in prime position to put an end to practically the last hopes the Philadelphia Eagles had of reaching the playoffs and blew it with some aplomb. They got banged up in the process and head to Carolina with enforced changes they wouldn’t have foreseen.
The most publicised one is the benching of Rex Grossman for John Beck at quarterback. Grossman threw 4 INTs last week and Head Coach Mike Shanahan (who prides himself on developing QBs) could only take so much and has confirmed that Beck starts this week. It does beg the question that should Beck start to suck early, how long does Shanahan leave it before Rex gets a second chance to
Not helping whoever may begin the 4th quarter (or even the 3rd quarter) at QB for the ‘Skins is the fact that left tackle Trent Williams will miss this week, but perhaps bigger than that is Chris Cooley’s absence. This receiving magnet of a tight end would have been more than just a safety valve for either quarterback and will be sorely missed and I sit here in astonishment that Vegas are only asking Carolina to give up not even a field goal.
I would happily lay Washington plus 5.5 and this is not just the rantings of a bitter handicapper bruised after almost assuring everybody that the Redskins would have no problem with Philly last week. The Panthers are awesome against the spread this season and I simply cannot see that trend bucking this week. I do have to be a little careful here as this is a season where practically nothing is certain, but when a juicy bone like this is presented, I can’t keep it under wraps for long. Carolina simply must be backed to cover less than three points; this spread honestly looks absurd to me.
Washington have acquired a number of problems in less than 60 minutes of football and are suddenly a team under pressure with their NFC East adversaries having good games last week and I include the Dallas Cowboys in that after their narrow defeat in New England.
I’ve come this far in this preview without once mentioning Cam Newton so here he is. He won’t have it easy against a Washington defense that actually officially ranks fourth overall in the league and is only allowing 16.6 points per game, but this is one game where I’m willing to look past stats like that, as impressive as they are, and concentrate on other aspects of this contest.
The Panthers are giving up a shocking 140 rushing yards per game so no problem for the ‘Skins gaining decent yards on the ground this week, surely. That should also have been the case last week against Philly as the Eagles run D was there for the taking and yet, on home soil, the Redskins managed a diabolical 42 total rushing yards…10.5 rushing yards per quarter.
I really like the Panthers to build some momentum in this game and they’ll not have a better chance all season than this Sunday to beat a team with a winning record.

No comments:

Post a Comment