1 How do they rebound? This might be the toughest question of all because that was an embarrassing game. But teams recover from horrible outings all the time. It was one loss, albeit an ugly one. Look at last year: they won at Tennessee with a banged-up team a week after losing by 31 points to Philadelphia. 2 How long is John Beck’s leash? He had one decent game in Carolina and one bad game in Buffalo. Should we really be talking about a possible benching already? He needs more help from his teammates; they also need more from him. But if they’re struggling Sunday vs. San Francisco — a good defense — and if Beck is off again, then change is fair. Beck deserves to see how he recovers — that was only his sixth NFL start — but he needs a good outing.
3 What can spark a turnaround? Playmakers. The Redskins don’t have them on offense, so it must come from the defense and special teams. They have numerous playmakers on defense: corner DeAngelo Hall, safety LaRon Landry, etc. Somehow they must come up with more plays to put the offense in good situations. You know, like they did in the first half vs. Buffalo. Oops. Also, Brandon Banks needs a big return. This team needs a major spark, and he can provide one.
4 Will they be able to run the ball? San Francisco’s defense ranks sixth in yards per carry allowed. The Redskins could not run against a defense last week that ranks 30th in that category. If that continues Sunday it’ll be difficult. This offense revolves around the running game. Want to know how much? See what happened last week. The Bills had three or more defenders behind the line of scrimmage on six of Ryan Torain’s eight runs.
5 Can the offense improve? Sure, the return of left tackle Trent Williams would be huge, providing at least a strong anchor on the left side — and someone who can help the stretch zone get wide. Also, rookie wideouts Leonard Hankerson and Niles Paul should keep improving and that will help. The play-calling could be better, but it was not the issue at Carolina, for example. The first step is putting the right players in the right spots to make plays.
– John Keim
