Can the redskins beat the lions without portis and moss

The way Moss has been playing this year though, its hard to see us taking a step backwards on offense because he's out.

I always figured that the offense would get a lot better once he picked it up, but it looks like this could be a very lackluster year for Moss. With Cooley and Randle El out there, we should be alright, but Campbell will struggle this year if he can't find guys open ever.

He's still our homerun hitter and has had catches of 48 yards or more in two of the three games so far. Regardless of his struggles so far he's still on a 1000 yard pace too.

Take him away and all of a sudden teams can put their #1 corner on Randle El. And perhaps the bigger question is who steps in and scares anyone at the #2? Caldwell? Lloyd? Thrash?

Yikes.

I think that the right side of the line has played very well with the situation they are in and will get better as he year goes on. I'm not real concerned with Moss and Portis as it seem that both will be OK and the skins site said that Moss could be going in practice on Wednesday. I feel the key to the game is JC finding the open WR and stop hitting short stuff as he did against the Gmen.

I disagree with your line playing very well comment.
Our line is in the crappiest condition it has been in for years...yes ....years...
If they dont get their act together really soon, we will continue to lose winnable games.

What happens to a running team when the line goes down?....hmm.

no portis or moss? damn thats bad news...i still think we have this game though

I disagree with your line playing very well comment.
Our line is in the crappiest condition it has been in for years...yes ....years...
If they dont get their act together really soon, we will continue to lose winnable games.

What happens to a running team when the line goes down?....hmm.
We are averaging around 134 yards a game and 4 yards per carry which ranks us 10th in the NFL and have only given up 5 sacks so its not all that bad. Yes we let the Gmen stuff the run in the 2nd half but if JC would have hit some of those wide open WR's maybe the running game could have been more effective in the second half.

Randle El can get deep, but obviously losing Moss would hurt since he's one of the best deep threats in the game today. Also, it would be nice if we could get Cooley more involved with the passing game and less involved with blocking.

Glad someone said it, because I was going to if not. With the injuries to the O-line Cooley is being kept in more to block, and consequently his numbers will decline.

Unfortunately this is the nature of the beast when your offensive line takes hits with the injury bug.

So if Moss dos not play, you might as well say that 2 weapons are neutralized, Moss due to injury and Cooley beacause now he has not our running routes, he is protecting Campbell.

To win this game the Redskins have to have a very effective running attack that consumes the clock and keeps the Lions offense off the field.

Well, this is sort of blasphemous I suppose, but I agree with you sandtrap. And I think ChiefX alluded to this as well. The key is not going to be can we beat Detroit in a shootout, it's going to be can we control the clock and prevent the Lions from engaging us in a shootout.

That said, I have a feeling the Redskins will come out the gate with a couple of deep plays and then settle things down

No Moss means Randle El becomes non-existant. Randle El's big plays this season have come because he is playing opposite of Moss. Without Santana, you have Caldwell, Thrash or McCardell (or perhaps Cooley at the slot) playing, none of which are speedsters like Moss is.

No Portis means more carries for Mike Sellars. While Betts will take a bulk of the carries, you will see more Sellars in on short yardage situations.

While both are important, the Skins have a better chance without Portis than without Moss.

Can the Skins win? Absolutely. The defense is finally going on all cylinders, and will give Kitna and their Receivers fits. As Smootsmack et al. said before me, the key for the Skins offense will be to control the clock, and grind the ball with Betts, Cartwright and Sellars.

If Kevin Jones is finally 100%, he could be the factor. Give the Lions another dimension to their offense.

Glad someone said it, because I was going to if not. With the injuries to the O-line Cooley is being kept in more to block, and consequently his numbers will decline.

Unfortunately this is the nature of the beast when your offensive line takes hits with the injury bug.

So if Moss dos not play, you might as well say that 2 weapons are neutralized, Moss due to injury and Cooley beacause now he has not our running routes, he is protecting Campbell.

To win this game the Redskins have to have a very effective running attack that consumes the clock and keeps the Lions offense off the field.

Exactly.

Everyone wants the Skins to put up the ball 50 times "open it up", when that has never been the Redskins style of winning football games.

Run the ball effectively, chew up some clock, take some shots down the field = W

Oh yeah, and the defense needs to do it's part...

Exactly.

Everyone wants the Skins to put up the ball 50 times "open it up", when that has never been the Redskins style of winning football games.

Run the ball effectively, chew up some clock, take some shots down the field = W

Oh yeah, and the defense needs to do it's part...

don't you have to win consistently to have a "style" of winning? Right now, with the injuries, I'm not sure what you can say this team's strength's really are

Judging by Gibbs v 2.0, this game will likely resemble the Cleveland and Cinci games from 2004, the Oakland game from 2005, and the Tennessee game from 2006.

Games that we should win easily but won't, for whatever reason. If we don't win this one, season's pretty much done.

I count 2 losses to Dallas, 1 more to the Giants up in the Meadowlands, 1 to New England, 1 to Greenbay. That's 5, and adding the home loss to NYG and Lions will make it 7, which will cause us to rely on late season math to have any hope of making the post-season.

Of course, predictions mean nothing and that's why the play the games.