Redskins Week 2 Reality Checks: Here we go again

By Tim Payne | Sep 12, 2019

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 08: Terry McLaurin #17 of the Washington Redskins runs for a second quarter touchdown after catching a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 08, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

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PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 08: Case Keenum #8 of the Washington Redskins throws a pass in the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on September 8, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

1. Reality Is: Case Keenum may be a better fit than Alex Smith for Jay Gruden’s offense.

Though Alex Smith had a good first half of his opening game last season in Arizona (and though the team came out with a win last year), any careful observer could tell that Case Keenum seemed to have a better feel for what Jay is trying to do with his offense than Alex showed at any time last year.

Even without Jordan Reed on the field, and with Derrius Guice apparently gimpy, Keenum had a better statistical first half against the Eagles than Alex Smith had at any point last year, and ended up just one missed deep-ball short of an “A” performance. Alex Smith never had one of those last year. Specifically, Keenum’s willingness to take his progressions from deep to short, rather than from short to deep is a significant indicator that he’s more of a Jay Gruden-type of guy than Smith is.

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