Redskins Halftime Takeaways: Ground and pound offense continuing to be effective

The Washington Redskins have taken a 10-7 lead into the locker room. This is largely thanks to the efforts of their run offense and defensive ability.

Not many people expected the Washington Redskins have a chance to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. Then again, few thought that they would beat the Oakland Raiders. After one half of play, the Redskins are continuing their solid play and sport a 10-7 lead over the Chiefs. They are playing well thus far, but they do have some areas to improve.

The Redskins immediately came out on offense and were able to get the ball moving against the Chiefs. Rob Kelley was utilized a great deal on the opening drive and he was able to run for positive yardage on most plays. The strong run game opened things up for the passing game, as Kirk Cousins was able to launch a beautiful 44-yard touchdown pass to Terrelle Pryor. It was a play that wouldn’t have been possible without a commitment to the running game.

As time went on, the Redskins continued to stick with the running game and got solid results. Though Kelley went down with an ankle injury that kept him out for most of the second quarter, he was effective enough on most of his carries. Chris Thompson and Samaje Perine have mixed in with good results as well. This will continue into the second half, and the Redskins have to be happy with the formula that they have figured out.

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The only area that the Redskins can improve in is their third down effectiveness. They allowed the Chiefs to stop them in a couple of situations, and Cousins was under pressure in a couple of instances. They had a chance to move into field goal range at one point, but Cousins didn’t have enough time to throw a good enough pass. Part of that was due to the fact that Trent Williams had left the game with an injury and T.J. Clemmings was unable to get the block on the Chiefs edge guys.

The team also needs Cousins to improve his accuracy. He had a couple of throws that were a bit off at the end of the half, so he needs to get back into rhythm.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Redskins have continued to be excellent. Their pass rush in particular has been strong against the Chiefs. Three players have stood out thus far for them. Preston Smith, Ryan Kerrigan, and Matt Ioannidis. The first two are no surprise, as they were the starting outside linebacker duo coming into the season. Kerrigan has long been one of the league’s most underrated players while Smith has finally been able to put all his athletic ability together. They came screaming off the edge on multiple occasions and should continue to play well.

Ioannidis’ success is a bit more surprising. Last season, he was an afterthought despite being a fifth round draft pick. This year, he has been significantly better and looks like a rotational pass rusher. On one play, Ioannidis broke into the backfield with Smith and they were able to bring down Alex Smith and force the Chiefs to punt. The sack knocked the team out of realistic field goal range and it was a huge moment for the team.

In addition to creating a strong pass rush, the Redskins continued to tackle well and make plays when necessary. On back to back plays, Josh Norman and Bashaud Breeland put big hits on the players they were defending. Norman broke up a Travis Kelce pass while Breeland was able to make a huge hit on Albert Wilson despite being blocked. This is a big positive for the defense as their fundamentals have continued to be very good under Greg Manusky.

Next: Redskins live game blog NFL Week 4

The defense just has to keep doing what they’ve been doing. While they did allow a touchdown at the end of the half, it wasn’t a bad drive for them. They were without Norman and that hurt them. The defense continues to be an overall strength for the Redskins, and that is huge considering how bad the unit was last year.