The Washington Redskins should not have to worry about covering Plaxico Burress on Sunday. The New York Giants may or may not have to worry about tackling Clinton Portis.
Burress, who torched the Washington secondary with 10 catches for 113 yards in the season opener, is listed as out with a hamstring injury. As has been the case for the last two weeks, Portis is questionable with a knee sprain. Linebacker Marcus Washington is out with a high ankle sprain.
Portis has a lot of company in being designated as questionable, with a 50-50 chance of playing. Andre Carter, Cornelius Griffin, London Fletcher, Kedric Golston, and Chris Samuels are questionable for the Redskins while running backs Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs and defensive tackle Fred Robbins are in that category for the Giants.
Regardless of the status of the banged up players, I don't see this game as being an impossible challenge for the Redskins. Washington will not have to score a ton of points to win. As I seem to have to keep reminding people, the Redskins have a damn good defense. It's a balanced defense, third overall, fourth against the pass and seventh against the rush, fifth in scoring defense. Yes, they don't get the sacks and they don't get the turnovers but they still make it difficult for the other team to gain yards and score points.
The magic number for the Redskins is 17. If they can get to there, they can win or at least get it into the last minutes or into overtime. It's probably asking too much for the Redskins offense to post 17 on its own given that the unit has difficulty posting 20 against normal to mediocre defensive units. That doesn't describe the Giants D, which is highly ranked and gets the sacks and gets the turnovers.
So, that leaves it up to the defense or special teams to score or set up a touchdown. It might happen, but there is nothing that would indicate that it's likely.
Giants 17, Redskins 13
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