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The Washington Redskins face the New England Patriots amid the turmoil that has embroiled the team which stands at 0-4 on the season. The Redskins are facing a fanbase that wants to see changes within the organization and a win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Patriots would go a long way to quiet the noise.
The Sunday contest will be the Redskins third home game of the season with FedexField losses already to the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears.
Washington will look to secure its first win of the season and victory over New England since Week 4 of the 2003 season.
The Patriots (4-0) come into the Week 5 contest unscathed on the season and after a brief stint with wide receiver Antonio Brown that didn’t work out, appear to be the front runner to repeat and win another Super Bowl.
While speaking to the media from the INOVA Sports Performance Center at Redskins Park after a recent practice, coach Jay Gruden spoke about what Patriots coach Bill Belichick does well to prepare his team.
“He’s got a smart football team, for sure,” Gruden said about Belichick. “He’s able to do a lot of things on defense: line up personnel groups, stunts on the inside, they line up in different fronts, different coverages, they play tight man-to-man. He’s a very good defensive coach, fundamental coach, and scheme coach. He can take your best player out of the game, whoever he thinks that is, and make other guys beat you and they can cover the heck out of them. They change up their coverages and give you different blitz patterns and stunts. It’s a disruptive defense, it really is, and you never know what exactly you’re going to get. You go through these walk-throughs and you line guys up where you think they’re going to be and on game day it’s going to be totally different. You have to adjust, so your rules have to be sound on offense. Then offensively, 12 [QB Tom Brady] runs the show. [Offensive Coordinator] Josh McDaniels does a great job calling plays for them and Tom does a great job executing.”
In the last meeting between the two teams on November 8, 2015, Washington loss to New England 27-10.
What would a win over the Patriots do for the Redskins from a statistical and historical standpoint?
A win would give the Redskins their first win over a defending Super Bowl champion since 2012.
Winning would give the Redskins their first win over the Patriots since 2003.
A victory improves the Redskins to 7-4 all-time against the Patriots.
A ‘W’ would improve the Redskins record to 3-1 all-time in home games against the Patriots.
Winning against the Patriots give the Redskins their first 1-0 start against AFC opponents since starting 1-0 against the AFC West in 2017.
A win would give the Redskins their first 1-0 start against the AFC East since 2007 when they opened up the season with a victory over the Miami Dolphins.
Finally, being victorious would mark the first time that the Redskins picked up their first win of the season against an AFC opponent since defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2 of the 2014 season.