For Redskins, Saints-Giants game is a must-watch matchup in Week 4

The Redskins will have some recent tape to watch this coming week.

From a projection standpoint, it’s hard to predict how the Washington Redskins will fare after the bye week. In the last five years, Alex Smith is 3-2 after the bye, and Jay Gruden is 2-2 over his tenure with Washington, with the two losses coming in 2015 and 2016.

Trends won’t help predict the outcome of the game for Washington, but there is a matchup set to take place later today that would do that and more.

The New Orleans Saints play the New York Giants at 4:25 PM eastern time later today. The Saints are currently 2-1, while the Giants are sitting at 1-2, clinging to relevance early on in the 2018 season. The Redskins play the Saints after the bye week. They play the Giants in Week 8, and again in Week 14.

The NFL season is a long one; the circumstances will have inevitably changed when those future games arrive. But for the Redskins, this Week 4 matchup provides them with an opportunity to get a close look at two of their opponents, how they match up against one another, and how the Redskins might work toward stopping them.

The Saints are viewed as the favorite; Drew Brees has the offense humming with Michael Thomas as his primary weapon, and Alvin Kamara is still serving a purpose as the team’s versatile weapon. The defense hasn’t been nearly as good as advertised, however, and multiple injuries have put the state of the secondary into question.

The Giants, meanwhile, have clear issues at hand. Their offensive line is subpar, and Eli Manning has looked pedestrian at best this season. That said, some teams improve over the course of the season, and the Giants could fall into this category down the road.

Not too far down the road, however, the Redskins play both teams. Later today, the Redskins can get an idea of what to expect when the two teams play each other; see how they compare, and start the preparation process.