Redskins Reality Checks after a Week 5 Win vs. Carolina

4. Reality Is, this Redskins defense still looks improved over last year.

What is there to say here other than “I told you so”? I predicted the defense would rally around its leaders. I said Josh Norman would have a bounce-back game and avoid the dramatic busted coverage. I said the Redskins would still have a top-10 defense in both yards and points per game after this week. I also said Preston Smith and Ryan Kerrigan would finally get a two-sack game between them. (Ok, three out of four isn’t bad.)

After the game, it was good to hear members of the defense talking about how they had renewed their commitment to playing for one another and trusting one another out on the field. It was apparent that they were communicating better in this game. The defense rallied this week, Norman came up with two key turnovers, and in spite of the offense again failing to display a killer instinct with a large lead, the defense managed to get that final, clutch stop to seal the win.

Reality Check: This defense will finish the week as a top-10 statistical defense.  The coaches will also have plenty of mistakes to show them on tape.  With the up and down nature of this season so far, that might be the best of both worlds. They got the win, but they should have plenty of motivation to work hard this coming week and not start feeling themselves too much.

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The lapses and tentative play on display by the defense during Carolina’s 8-point drive in the fourth quarter have to get cleaned up if this team is going anywhere this season. But the resiliency shown on the final series of the game should be very encouraging to Redskins fans. I’ll say it again…this defense is much better than last year’s.

5. Reality Is, Jordan Reed is still healthy and it’s time for him to eat.

Jordan Reed is an elite playmaker. His one-handed catch in Sunday’s game was incredible.  The Redskins did force the action to him a few times, and he came up big in several spots.  In addition, he was a primary reason Vernon Davis was wide open on his touchdown catch, and a primary reason the Paul Richardson came open on his touchdown catch, too.

Reed still only played in 67 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. I’d like to see him playing a much larger percentage, even if he’s only a decoy on a large number of plays. In fact, I’d like to see him line up as a WR in 20 percent of plays.  His presence clearly adds stress to the defense and forces them to make difficult coverage choices.  He’s as healthy as he’s ever been. His playing time needs to continue to rise.

Reality Check: I predicted Reed would finish with seven catches on eight targets for 80 yards and a TD. Reed ended up with five catches on nine targets for 36 yards. Several of those targets were essentially throw-aways from Smith where he gave Reed a tiny chance to make a play. But otherwise, the Redskins’ clear effort to push the ball Reed’s direction opened up some easy coverages for other players (Davis, Richardson, Quick, and Harris), which lead to the most balanced attack from the Redskins so far this year.

Without Thompson or Crowder, the coverage clearly tilted even more than usual toward Reed, and he still had a major impact. Reed must continue to be given the opportunity to impact the game both as a target and as a decoy in as many plays as possible.  He’s their best offensive weapon. They need him on the field more if they expect to win consistently.