WASHINGTON REDSKINS @ MIAMI DOLPHINS 
Vegas Line: Redskins + 4
Rob’s Line: Redskins + 5.5
A truly terrible thing happened to the Washington Redskins last week and it has nothing to do with their loss to the 49ers. Well, only in so much as they were the team that Washington happened to be playing at the time. Rookie running back Roy Helu broke Art Monk’s Redskins single game rececption record with 14. Sadly, there’s no law against that kind of robbery in the NFL.
Now, I have no love for the Redskins, but I grew up wowing at the highlight reels Monk once featured on and his is a name revered in the NFL. To lose a franchise record like that is, quite frankly, a disgrace, but it’s not Helu’s fault of course. Much of the blame (because this is not a popular thing to have happened) has been heaped upon quarterback John Beck for going through his checkdowns too early and not actually looking for a wide receiver downfield.
Miami should welcome back cornerback Vontae Davis this week but, based on the above, it’s debatable how much of the ball he may actually see. One player destined for a busy game is Reggie Bush who, over the past two games, has seen more of the ball, both rushing and receiving and, call it coincidence, but it’s two games they should have won. As it happened, they won one, that impressive 31-3 dismantling of the Chiefs in Kansas City last week. The previous week, in New York, Bush ran for 103 yards against the Giants and he’s averaging 7 yards per carry over his last 28 carries; this is form he’s rarely been in for the whole of his career.
Washington ranks 20th against the run so Bush should look to dominate early as the Dolphins try to control the clock.
The Redskins are in a mess, but they’ve been decimated by injuries to so many key players and they simply haven’t had the depth to recover. They’re on a four game skid right now and after this one they face a brutal last seven games, with a game against the Seahawks the only positive, but that’s in Seattle which means a cross country trip, which is rarely easy.
Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore looked incredibly assured in KC last week and his stats are not what anybody saw coming (17 of 23, 244 yards, 3 TDs with a QB rating of 147.5) and it remains to be seen whether he carries that focus through to a home game or whether the mind wanders a little now that the hard work of getting the first win of the season is out of the way.
I’ve liked Miami recently and honestly believe they should be 3-5 (Broncos and Giants pulled out the W against them) and with the offensive coaches clearly doing something right with Bush and Moore looking good in the same system, I think there’s a lot to like about them this week, too. The Dolphins to cover the spread.
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