Greetings Humaniods.

This week we're in either Motown, Detroit Rock City, or the Motor City depending on your tastes.  Today your 4-2 Washington Redskins, Defenders of the NFC East come to town to bag the 3-3 Detroit Lions. Unfortunately, due to the airlines moving my flight back tonight up two hours, this will probably be short, sweet, & incomplete as there's a travel delay warning from road construction back to the airport as well. So my halftime adjustment will be getting out of downtown Detroit so I can make it home tonight. 

TARGET ACQUIRED 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF INACTIVES

DETROIT – The Washington Redskins have announced the following inactives and lineup changes for today’s game against the Detroit Lions:

The Redskins declared the following players as inactive: 

o   No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld

o   No. 19 WR Rashad Ross

o   No. 35 CB Dashaun Phillips

o   No. 45 S Josh Evans

o   No. 60 OL Vinston Painter

o   No. 72 DE Anthony Lanier II

o   No. 86 TE Jordan Reed

No. 85 Vernon Davis is expected to start in place of Reed at tight end.

The biggest shocker there is Harris is active at WR at expense of Ross. Harris was activated from the Practice Squad earlier this week.

Based off of the analysis & stats I had posted earlier this week here on the Blog, I expect the Lions to come out trying to establish the run while mixing in a few short passes on 2nd down or 3rd & long situations. They don't really throw deep a lot with Megatron retired nowadays. And they really haven't been able to get Golden Tate going out of the stable. 

Today, I'm expecting a win. And I'm expecting Cousins to ball the eff out here in front of his friends & family. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fully sipping the Kool Aide yet. But I am close. A win here today will having me taking another swig of it though. Also, making their undefeated on the road return are the Championship White jersey & Burgundy pant combo. 

And now, here's some words from Murf. 

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From 1968-2008, the Washington Redskins dominated the Lions -- winning 22 out of 24 games against Detroit. Unfortunately, the last three times these two franchises have done battle, the Redskins failed to bring home a victory.

And the last time the Redskins traveled to Detroit, it was especially embarrassing -- quarterback Donovan McNabb got benched in favor of Rex Grossman, which marked the beginning of the end for the mediocre quarterback's tenure in Washington.

I was on the sidelines that day and everything about that game was awful. No one ever considered me a member of the Donovan McNabb fan club, but his benching made it clear that he wasn't going to be around much longer. It also meant the team's quarterback situation was about to get even uglier, because Grossman was never going to be the answer.

The mood in the post-game locker room that afternoon was especially somber, with defensive players not really excited to talk about giving up four passing touchdowns and the offense having nothing to say about the change at quarterback. 

Fast forward six seasons later and the Redskins seem much more settled at the quarterback position. Sure, there are games where Kirk Cousins is his own worst enemy, but he's already done much more to justify his place in the starting lineup than McNabb or Grossman ever did in Washington.

In related news, the mood around this team is much more positive these days -- which tends to happen during a four-game winning streak. While Cousins has slowly worked his way out of an early-season slump, last week's win over Philadelphia had much more to do with the ground game.

Specifically, the Redskins were able to stick with the rushing attack while keeping the Eagles from doing any real damage on the ground. I'm still not sure how good Matt Jones is, but last week he definitely got the job done. Same goes for rookie Rob Kelley. The Redskins rushed 33 times for 230 yards against Philly, which makes life so much easier when your quarterback doesn't have to drop back and throw every single down.

 

And yet, I wouldn't be surprised if the story of today's game is Washington's passing game. No team in football has given up more passing touchdowns than Detroit's 17. Their defense isn't very good to begin with, but it's especially vulnerable in the secondary. Even without tight end Jordan Reed, who is missing a second-straight game as he recovers from a concussion, the Redskins should be able to move the ball up and down the field.

 

On defense, I'm planning on focusing my attention on the pass rushers. Ryan Kerrigan finally showed signs of life last week, picking up two sacks. Was that because he was playing against a rookie offensive lineman in over his head or is Kerrigan actually heating up? And what about Preston Smith (who currently has one more sack than I do this season)? Can he start to get more pressure on the quarterback as well? Those two and Trent Murphy will likely have a say in who leaves Ford Field victorious this afternoon.