slides: What to Watch For: Redskins vs. Patriots

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

The New England Patriots (7-0) return to action after a 10 day break to host the (3-4) Washington Redskins on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. This is the first time the Patriots will host the Redskins since 2007, when they won 52-7 to go 8-0 that season.

See the 5 Things to Watch For Slideshow Below

New England is coming off of a 36-7 win over the Dolphins while the Redskins are coming off a bye week. Prior to that, they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-30 in come from behind fashion.

"There are a lot of impressive things that they do. I think that Coach Gruden and the rest of his staff have done a real good job with this team. They're tough, they're very competitive, they do a lot of things well and they give you a lot to get ready for. They're not an easy team to prepare for," said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in a press conference this week.

DeSean Jackson

DeSean Jackson

One player the Patriots will need to be ready for is Redskins receiver DeSean Jackson who appears likely to return to the lineup after missing the previous six weeks with injury.

"They led the league in big-play passes last year and he had a lot of them, so he's a very explosive player, just tremendous at all three levels. He can catch and run, he can get over the top of the defense, and he's a very good intermediate route runner who can get open and create space and take intermediate plays and turn those into big plays, too. He's big threat," said Belichick.

Jackson has only played on career game against New England and that came back in 2011 where he had four catches for 73 yards.

"We're going against the Super Bowl champs at their home field with their home crowd. All odds are against us. We don't really care too much about that. People in this locker room, coaches, we have a game plan and we're going to execute it. What better feeling then to go out and beat the Super Bowl champs. That's how we look at it," Jackson told the media earlier this week.

Staying Undefeated

The Patriots enter the game looking to get to 8-0 for the second time in franchise history. Interestingly enough, the last time the Patriots got to 8-0 was in 2007, and they beat the Redskins to get there.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

See the 5 Things to Watch For Slideshow Below

Related Slideshow: 5 Things to Watch For: Redskins vs. Patriots

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Who is Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins is the Washington Redskins quarterback and has started a career total of 16 games, including all seven games this season.

Patriot fans should also love Cousins because in a recent press conference, he said Tom Brady was the greatest quarterback of all-time.

So far this season, Cousins has thrown nine touchdowns, eight interceptions with a completion percentage of 69 and a quarterback rating of 59.

Cousins was drafted by the Redskins in 2012 behind RGIII and has taken over for him this season while RGIII continues to deal with injury issues.

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Offensive Line

Need to give credit to rookie center David Andrews and the Patriots offensive line so far this season. Especially Andrews who has seemingly been flawless under center.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens when Stork comes back in week 10. Andrews certainly does not deserve to lose his job.

The offensive line overall has done a nice job with all the movement up front and keeping Brady upright, for the most part.

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Pats D

In the last two games, the Patriots have limited the Jets and Dolphins to just two yards per rush, making them one dimensional.

This week, the Redskins come in with a run game that has been almost not existent, averaging only 2.25 yards over the last three games. In those games, running back Alfred Morris has put up 41 yards on 25 carries.

Expect New England to continue to keep their run defense on point and force Cousins to beat them through the air. That will largely depend on the health of DeSean Jackson, who is playing his first game in six weeks.

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Run Game

The Patriots have not been huge fans of running the ball so far this season, to be fair the run game hasn't been great, 3.8 yards per carry (28th in league), but this could be a game in which the run game is effective.

The Washington Redskins have given up 176, 221 and 190 yards rushing in their last three games.

Of course, an equal argument could be the made for the passing game because the Patriots have Tom Brady first of all and it appears the Redskins are unsure who exactly is going to be in the secondary.

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DeSean Jackson

Star Redskins receiver DeSean Jackson is expected to return to the lineup against the Patriots on Sunday. Jackson is officially listed as questionable for the game, as of Friday, November 6 but has been practicing .

Jackson has played only one game this season before getting injured.

Malcolm Butler will likely get the assignment on Jackson, depending on how healthy Jackson really is, it will be a another challenge for Butler.

DeSean Jackson has played one career game against New England (2011) and for what it is worth, had four catches for 73 yards.