Washington Redskins vs. Baltimore Ravens Sunday night - Washington defense will have to lead

With the last quarter of the season upon us, the Washington Redskins find themselves back in a familiar position.  Having silenced many critics, and excited many eager fans, first time head coach Jim Zorn had lead the Redskins to a 6-2 record in the first half of the season and had would-be nay-sayers hopping on the Washington bandwagon.  The tolls of early success finally caught up with the Redskins as they have lost 3 of their last 4 games.  The early talk of a possible play-off birth has been mummed, and the Skins must now win out for a shot at what is right now a highly contested wild-card spot.

Clinton Portis has carried a huge load for the team this year, evident in his 1,228 yards rushing on the year and leading the league in rushing four weeks thus far this season. (3 of those 4 being Washington wins)  But the heavy burden has left Portis with a string of injuries as of late, ranging from knee to neck and even a hip flexor.  Although they have prevented him from practicing during the last few weeks, he's fought through significant pain playing on Sundays, determined to help his team.  Unfortunately, no matter how heroic of an effort he puts out there, he desperately needs a well-earned helping hand from the Redskins' passing game.

The offense as a whole has struggled all year to put up the kind of numbers that were expected of them given the arrival of coach Zorn and his version of the west coast offense.  Albeit there is an obvious allowance for error when introducing a new head coach and a new passing system.  But such is life in the NFL, and the Redskins possess quite an impressive arsenal of weapons on the offensive side which should balance the aforementioned offensive changes.  Names like Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, Chris Cooley, and Antoine Randle-El are all big-play makers in their own right which has many fans feeling very confused about how the offense ranks 28th in the league in average points per game.  The only 4 teams with a lower average are Detroit(0-12), Oakland(3-10), St. Louis(2-10), and Cincinnati(1-10) respectively.

It would appear that the appreciation for a win and how difficult they are to come by in the NFL, due to the caliber of defensive play that exists in the league, served as a very valid reason for the small point spreads in Washington victories during the early season success.  After all, this was a newly taught offense with newly schooled players who displayed encouraging progress week to week.  While these facts were cited, no excuses were ever made, and the players and coaches all very admirably professed their own mistakes and shortcomings in the media each week.  They stressed taking advantage of more opportunities, opportunities that the defense regularly provided throughout the year, and even at times other teams would gift them.  Having to settle for field goals would become a common and frustrating theme.  Frustrating, as deep down the vast majority knew that this type of production was not going to continue to cut it.  The overworked defense, and overloaded Portis had gone to heroics to give the maturing passing game time to grow into it's own, and late in the season is when it would need to pay dividends as injury and fatigue took their toll on all.

With the 3rd quarter of the season came an ominous cloud of doubt.  Teams were now able to stymie the bit of success the Washington passing game had found to that point, allowing them to key on the Redskins' run game and begin breaking through the defense given the extra opportunities afforded by the stammering offense.  This would lead to a 1-3 stretch that would include 3 home game losses, 2 of which were to their division rivals the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.  The latter would effectively negate the huge win at Dallas earlier in the year.  Inevitably the media's eye would focus on the obvious position, Redskins' QB Jason Campbell.  Fair or unfair, the responsibility of success and failure become the burden of the leader, however closer inspection of game film will show him not alone in his mistakes.  I'm certain the offense knows it, and know that it's now do or die time with no more room for error.  Only time will tell if they can get it done.

As always, the road to the playoffs begin with the next game, and this week will be the Baltimore Ravens lead by another first year coach, John Harbaugh, and touting the #2 overall defense in the NFL.  It is lead by their own veteran linebacker, Ray Lewis, and stand-out safety Ed Reed, who pose a constant threat to any offense let alone a struggling one.  If Washington is to beat Baltimore, it's going to have to be the Redskins' defense who will once again have to rise to the occasion and do more than just their part.  They will have to set the tone for the game, and inspire the offense to follow their lead.  The Ravens' offense is extremely impressive this year, so this will be no easy task.  Rookie QB Joe Flacco is playing like anything but, and their run game is as stout as any in the league.  Still there is no denying that Flacco, as impressive as he's been, is still a rookie, and he'll be facing an extremely talented secondary rotation in Carlos Rodgers, Laron Landry, Shawn Springs, Fred Smoot, and D'Angelo Hall who will all be playing with something to prove after being humbled by Giants QB Eli Manning last week.  This should allow the front 7 of Washington, lead by middle linebacker London Fletcher, to focus heavily on the mutli-talented run game of the Ravens' in the hopes of forcing Flacco to throw into what should be a hungry Washington secondary.  If the offense can just hold their own against a relentless Baltimore defense, Washington may be able to continue their quest for the playoffs.