NFL Schedule Release: Redskins 2018 schedule a tough one

The 2018 NFL schedule was officially released on Thursday, April 19. At a glance, the Washington Redskins’ is on the more difficult side.

The Washington Redskins were always going to have one of the more difficult schedules in 2018. After all, they play in the hyper-difficult NFC East, and they were scheduled to take on the NFC South as part of their schedule. Both of those division are loaded with potential playoff teams, and every matchup will be a difficult one.

That said, the Skins will have a chance to beat up on some easier opponents as well. There is a mix of lower-level competition from the weaker AFC South on the slate, and those times will provide some respite in between some of the tougher matchups. Or at least, that’s what many had hoped leading into the 2018 NFL schedule release.

At 8:00 p.m., the NFL began their schedule reveal show, and not long after that, the Redskins schedule was confirmed. However, some leaks throughout the day made it so that most of the matchups were already known. Regardless, here’s a look at what the Redskins schedule is going to look like, via Rudy Gersten.

At a glance, this looks like an unbalanced schedule. With a Week 4 bye, the team is going to have to be well-rested early in the season, but they will have the possibility of fading down the stretch as they did last year, especially if injuries pile up. It’s usually best to have a bye that is Week 9 or late, as that splits the season just about in half. Having a Week 4 bye is the earliest, and it will mean that the team will play 13 straight games without a week off. That could prove to be difficult.

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However, the team does pick up a pseudo-bye week after their last November game. They take on the Cowboys for Thanksgiving, marking the team’s third consecutive Thanksgiving game, and not playing again until Monday, Dec. 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Those two prime-time games will be tough, but that break could prove to be critical in getting rest towards the end of the season.

The other really notable prime-time matchup for the team is their Week 5 contest against the Saints. That game is on Monday night, and the Redskins will be coming into the contest off a bye week. Given that the Redskins almost beat the Saints last year but blew it in the final six minutes. So, that will be a chance for vengeance and for an early season win.

That said, the month of December is going to be hard on the Redskins. Of their five opponents, four made the postseason last year, and obviously the Eagles won the Super Bowl. Given that Carson Wentz will almost certainly be back from his ACL injury, if all goes well, that’s probably the worst time for the team to have both Eagles games.

Next: Comparing offensive and defensive Redskins mocks

At the end of the day, the Redskins schedule is tough. But it still has winnable games. If the team can start the season 2-0 and then get hot after the bye week, they make have a shot to qualify for the postseason. They just have to make sure they win early in order to offset what looks like a disproportionately difficult December.