Match-ups: The Best and Worst Possibilities from Redskins at Giants

When the Giants and Redskins meet later today, the Redskins' primary goal will once again be Brandon Jacobs and the Giants ground game. But considering that the Redskins were largely successful at that last year, and still lost both games to the Giants, there has to be a second part to the plan.Once the Redskins take away Jacobs again, they will have to do a better job of getting pressure on Eli Manning than in either meeting last season. Let's not mince words: Albert Haynesworth and Brian Orakpo are here because of what the Giants did to us last season. Jason Taylor could not have been more useless in those two games.So who will have the most sacks in this game between two titans on the defensive lines? I think the only player who gets multiple sacks in this game is Redskins DE Andre Carter. His one-on-one match-up vs. Giants LT David Diehl is the key one on one match-up in this game, the one that will correlate strongest to who wins and loses this game. Last year, Carter saw a lot of double teams and registered only 4 sacks. This year, he will see plenty of single teams and I'm predicting two sacks against Eli Manning today from Carter.However, knowing that there are two coaches making gameplans in this game today, we know that if the Redskins build their scheme around stopping the run and getting pressure on the quarterback, the Giants offense is going to try to establish the run and protect the quarterback above all. That means that the game may very likely be decided by the Giants' young receivers trying to get open against the very young secondary of the Redskins. I think most observers would say that the Redskins defense gets the benefit of the doubt here, but don't underestimate the Giants receivers abilty to create havoc. The Redskins secondary was the least impressive unit in the preseason, and though they have two pretty good cover corners, the safeties are both better at other things than covering. This last worry goes for every team we play: the more often a team can spread the field against the Redskins defense, the less prepared they will be to stop what's coming.The Redskins only defense against this is to FORCE the hand of offensive coordinators everywhere by making them block with 6 or 7 guys on all passing plays, which means only 3 receivers in downfield patterns. The Redskins can match up with that. That's what they will try to force the Giants into this afternoon. Key players this match-up: Brian Orakpo and Rocky McIntosh.There's another side of the ball here, and it's the Redskins offense against the Giants defense. Whereas the Giants offense figures to establish all the conventional things, and the Redskins defense will try to stop it conventionally, the Redskins offense could care less about how Clinton Portis performs in the first half. The writing is on the wall: Jim Zorn would love to use Portis as his closer starting tonight, not as his primary offensive weapon. If Chris Cooley is ready to accept the mantle of most dynamic weapon on the team, much like Jason Witten has done in Dallas, it's time to move the offense into Jason Campbell's hands.And frankly, why not start today? The Giants are a very banged up defense, and probably won't be all that concerned with getting pressure on Campbell until the Redskins offense can show it can complete some 15-20 yard passes down the field. If you look at the Giants' secondary, it's weaker than the Redskins' right now. Corey Webster is coming off a career year in 2008 and he's healthy at one corner, and he'll probably see a lot of Santana Moss in the cover two and cover three zone schemes employed by the Giants defense. Kenny Phillips, the second year safety from Miami, is the free safety who will be the enforcer who keeps the Redskins from going deep. But it's the rest of the secondary that the Redskins should be able to tear up in the first half today.Malcolm Kelly needs to have himself a game. He's the wild card. You know that Randle El and Cooley are going to combine for around 100 receiving yards and maybe a TD between them, and if you can get a 50-60 yard day for Moss, but that's not enough to carry the day if the Giants are successful in limiting Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts on the ground. So how does that change if Malcolm Kelly can get 5 catches against the shorter scrubs in the Giants secondary and go for 65 yards and a TD? It makes all the difference, in my opinion. Now we're talking about 3+ TD's prduced by the offense with little contribution from the running game. It's the difference between a 24-27 point day and a 10-16 point day.The way the Giants defense is injured, the Redskins offense really should be able to pass for 250 yards and 2 TDs on these guys, but that means little if Jason Campbell turns the ball over 2 or more times. He's got to hit his open receivers, but protect the football first and foremost, and don't put a defense that will have it's hands full in any tough situations.Given that I think an average Jason Campbell day is enough to win this game, I have a hard time picking against our Redskins today. Should be a good game either way, but I usually pick the team that has the better chance of blowing the other out to win, and the Redskins figure to, at very worst, be there in the 4th quarter. The match-ups suggest the Giants may be the NFC East team that starts their season 0-1.But what do you think? Can Jason Campbell finally overcome Big Blue for the first time in his career? We won't have to wait long to find out.