Bold Predictions: Redskins vs. Rams

On Sunday the Washington Redskins have an opportunity to do something that they haven't done in about 20 months. They have a chance to win a football game by a comfortable margin. That is something that they did not accomplish all of last year. Their largest margin of victory was a eight-point win in Detroit. The Lions had possession with just less than two minutes left with a chance to tie it with a touchdown and a two-point conversion. They beat the Eagles by seven in Week 16. If you recall, it took a LaRon Landry-Fred Smoot high-low tackle at the goal line on the game's last play to preserve that win. Their other seven-point win came against Arizona. Washington took a 24-17 lead early in the fourth quarter and had to survive two subsequent Cardinal possessions to hold on for that win. The last game that could be described as a laugher came in the last game of the 2007 season when the Redskins beat the Cowboys 27-6. Earlier that year they accomplished their last true rout, a 34-3 win over the Lions in Week 5. The Rams would seem to be the perfect opponent to have an empty-the-bench fourth quarter. Last week they got blasted 28-0 by a Seattle team that, while it should improve from its injury-riddled 2008 mark of 4-12, is not one of the league's elite teams. Of course, last year they were the perfect opponent for the Redskins to pad both their stats and their record but they never got it together and lost it on a fluke play, a accidental reception and subsequent fumble by Pete Kendall and on a late pass to set up the winning field goal in a 19-17 shocker. I don't see a repeat of that result. Except for the "any given Sunday" chance, the Rams have very little shot at beating the Redskins. The question is, will it be a nail-biter, the typical Jim Zorn type of win? Or will they light up the scoreboard and empty the bench? It says here that it will be somewhere in between. A blowout is possible if, all of a sudden, the defense turns into the takeaway machine it is capable of being. A pick six, a couple of short fields for Jason Campbell and company to work with could pad the score up to the stratospheric (for this bunch) 30-point mark. But I don't see that happening. Actually, I can see it but I'm not going to predict it unless and until the defense has that sort of breakout game. Even if the defense doesn't create a boatload of turnovers, the Rams won't score much. They didn't get an offensive touchdown in their win last year and that could well happen again. As for the Redskins scoring, let's say that they get Malcolm Kelly untracked with five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown and Clinton Portis runs for a buck and a quarter with a TD. The defense sets up one touchdown and they drive for a field goal. The Rams sort of hang around for the first half but the Redskins will pull away in the third quarter and Redskins 24, Rams 6 What do you think is going to happen? Hit the poll or speak up in the comments!