How the Redskins stack up against their final 5 opponents
Week 15 vs. Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals came into the 2017 season as a potential Wild Card contender. Armed with versatile offensive weapon David Johnson, veteran wide-out Larry Fitzgerald, and a solid looking defense, the team was expected to compete. Of course, this all hinged on the health of their quarterback, Carson Palmer.
Palmer was notorious for having health problems over the course of his NFL career. In four years with the Cardinals, he had stayed relatively healthy, playing in 53 of a possible 64 games. However, he broke his arm this year and will not return off IR. Additionally, David Johnson went down with an injury in Week 1, and he too is slated to miss the rest of the season.
Those injuries mean that the once solid looking Arizona offense is more or less kaput. Currently, Blaine Gabbert is the starter, filling in for injured backup Drew Stanton. Gabbert had a solid performance against the Texans in his first appearance, but it’s fair to wonder if he can keep that up. Especially considering the Cardinals mediocre offensive line.
To stop the Cardinals, all that the Redskins will have to do is get pressure on Gabbert and contain Fitzgerald. Gabbert has proven to perform poorly against pressure, and Ryan Kerrigan figures to be a big weapon against John Wetzel and the ineffective Jared Veldheer.
On the opposite side of the ball, the Redskins should be able to find holes in the Cardinals defense. While they have a few stars including Chandler Jones and Patrick Peterson, the defense is beatable. Notably, the No. 2 corner isn’t very strong and if Trent Williams can go blow for blow with Jones, Cousins will have enough time to find the open man.
This looks like a win for the Skins. The Cardinals offense is just too banged up to keep pace with the Redskins offense. At most, the Gabbert led unit would be able to put up 21 points. That won’t be enough to beat the Redskins, unless the injury situations change drastically before the game.