Need to Know: Despite Giants win, Redskins still in division race

Here is what you need to know on this Monday, November 26, seven days before the Redskins take on the Giants at FedEx Field.

Giants just need to lose sometime

Last night as the Packers fell further and further behind the Giants I was getting despairing tweets asking me if the Redskins’ chances of taking the NFC East were over.

The answer is that the Redskins are still very much alive for the NFC East title but they need help. The Packers didn’t give them any so someone else, probably two other teams, will have to give it to them.

Washington is 5-6 with a 2-1 record in the division while New York is 7-4, 2-2. If the Redskins manage to beat the Giants, they will be 6-6 and a game back with four to play. If New York splits its four games after that (Saints, @Falcons, @Ravens, Eagles) they would be 9-7. Assuming that one of their wins is over the Eagles they would have a 3-3 record in the NFC East.

Continuing under the scenario that the Redskins win next Monday and the Giants split their last four games, Washington would need to go 3-1 in its last four games (Ravens, @Browns, @Eagles, Cowboys) to catch the Giants. If their one loss is against one of the two AFC teams, they would have a better division record than New York, giving them that tiebreaker, and a head-to-head sweep over the Cowboys should Dallas also finish 9-7.

So, the bottom line is that if the Redskins beat the Giants and Cowboys and finish 9-7 they will win the division if New York also finishes 9-7.

That all is much easier said than done. The first big challenge will be beating the Giants, who do have a recent history of stumbling after big wins. The Redskins, of course, had them dead to rights in the Meadowlands last month before Victor Cruz got past double coverage to catch the game-winning bomb from Eli Manning.  

Even if the Giants don’t cooperate and lose enough down the stretch, the Redskins do have wild card possibilities. We will delve into those in some depth later today.

Today’s schedule

Players return to Redskins Park after getting the weekend off, schedule TBA.

In case you missed it

The can’t miss kid

A tale of two halves for the defense against the Cowboys

Days until: Monday night Giants @ Redskins 7; Ravens @ Redskins 13; Redskins @ Eagles 27; Cowboys @ Redskins 34

Comments

[so_matic]

I know this post is about looking forward: But the losses vs the Rams and Giants are magnified so much right now. But we must move on to Monday vs the Giants.

I understand that many fans will think if we get a lead against the Giants, we need to keep the foot on the gas, which I agree with to some degree -- BUT -- I think the key to victory is not simply scoring, but scoring with Long, Sustained Drives. IMO, the best defense vs the Giants, is a good skins Offense.

So my point is: Our defense simply can't be relied on to win. But I don't think that means we need to score a ton more points than the Giants, we just need long sustained drives to keep our D as fresh as possibly, and more importantly, keep Eli and the Giants off the field. It's unfortunate Robinson is hurt because I loved some of the more exotic blitzes we sent with him vs the Eagles, and we need to get in Eli's face.

Another key to victory - that many will overlook - is getting great special teams play: good punt/kickoff coverage, and hopefully causing a fumble and giving our offense good field position.