Each week, Parks will be posting the Hogs Haven staff's weekly picks and as you can see, I'm picking the Redskins. Yes, Mr. Pessimistic thinks we'll take down the Saints (or at least cover). Here's ten reasons why.
- No Sean Payton. As Boomer Esiason mentioned on Holden and Danny's radio show this morning, Sean Payton was one of the best coaches in the NFL for in-game adjustments. Who's going to do that now? Brees? The interim coach to the interim coach? (Their pre-season head coach, Vitt, started his suspension this past week). The Saints new, active interim coach, Aaron Kromer, will take over these duties. He's never held a position higher than OLine/RB coach. I expect Haz to make things difficult here.
- Element of Playbook Surprise. How do the Saints gameplan for RGIII? The Redskins have not showed any of their cards...and that leads to...
- Weapons. WRs include Garcon, Morgan, Hankerson, Moss in the slot, Fred Davis at Tight End....the Saints basically have the same D as last year and that D ranked 24th. Good luck covering that.
- Skins always play the Saints close. And that was with Jim Zorn. Zorn beat the Saints at Fedex in 2008 and they should have won that game in 2009 despite all the flukes and Suisham shank.
- Large chunk of the country is betting Saints. Since when does Vegas take big hits? Almost all the bets were on the Giants Wednesday night, and sure enough the Cowgirls took it down. Keep betting Saints America. OK, the Redskins could still lose and cover, but at least we're looking at a close game.
- Continuity on the OLine. The Redskins are starting an OLine where every player was on the Redskins last year and started. That will make a difference in a loud stadium.
- Redskins defensive front 7. The Saints allowed the 2nd fewest sacks last season. What about their playoff loss to the 49ers? Brees had 3 INTs and 3 sacks. The Redskins have one of the best front 7s in the NFL....this will make Brees job tough...mainly because...
- Saints are banged up in secondary. Steve Spagnuolo is great at confusing QBs, but coordinators can't hide ailing players.
- Redskins secondary is not as horrible as we think. Sure, Reed Doughty playing deep all game is not his strong suit, but Madieu Williams and Dejon Gomes can get the job done. Atogwe was a wounded duck out there, so Williams is not a step down. Gomes was decent last year, so there's no reason to think he can't be just as good or better. Again, the front 7 need to help here.
- Redskins are 100% healthy. The wheels came off last season when we lost Lichtensteiger, Hightower, Cooley, and Moss all at basically the same time. Week 1 we have a full squad, Meriweather aside, who I don't consider a big loss.
