Redskins Reality Checks Week 8: Giants provide different kind of check
By Tim Payne
The Redskins have the opportunity to exorcize demons for a third straight week as they go to New York to face the Giants.
The Redskins beat Carolina two weeks ago for the first time in the Cam Newton era while bouncing back nicely from their loss in New Orleans. Then last Sunday, the Redskins broke their four-game losing streak to Dallas as well as their streak of alternating wins and losses to start the season. But this week, they have an even more significant monkey to get off their back.
In 2015, the Redskins finished their season in the playoffs with a home loss to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. But the Redskins finished the next two seasons with disgusting losses to the Giants on the first and last days of 2017.
On January 1, 2017, the Giants rested many of their starters, having locked up a playoff berth. The Redskins came into the game with the playoffs in their sights. With a win, they would have punched their ticket to the playoffs as the final wild-card team, securing back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since the 1992-1993 seasons. Instead, they played the game as if they assumed the Giants would just roll over. They were sloppy, careless with the football, played with no sense of urgency, and ended up losing 19-10 to miss the playoffs.
Late on, 364 days later to be exact, they faced a Giants team that had tanked, were missing many of their best offensive weapons, had fired their head coach, and were simply looking to put the season behind them. And while the Redskins didn’t have much to play for either, finishing their injury-riddled season at 8-8 was a symbolic victory that the organization worked hard to put real stock into leading up to the game. But the Redskins managed to play even worse than they had the previous year, turning the ball over three times on the way to an 18-10 loss and a 7-9 record.
Largely due to those two results, Redskins fans have a tough time trusting that a bad Giants team selling off defensive parts at the trade deadline won’t somehow muster a winning performance against a Redskins side that has much, much more to play for this season.
On paper, there are several areas where it seems the Giants should be a dangerous opponent for the Redskins. But their 1-6 record along with the players they have traded away this week, make this feel like the kind of game a 4-2 division leader should dominate.
Can the Redskins get an important win over the Giants? Can they win a game they are “supposed to win” and take another step toward a successful season? Let’s take a look at the Week 8 Redskins Reality Checks: