The Washington Redskins take on the Miami Dolphins in a game that pits two winless teams.
The Sunday contest at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will be the first game for the Redskins (0-5) since the firing of former coach Jay Gruden. Bill Callahan was promoted to take the reigns as interim coach for the team. The game will mark the first time Callahan’s been an NFL head coach since his tenure with the Oakland Raiders [2002-03], which included an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII.
One of the first big decisions for Callahan was to name a starting quarterback among Case Keenum, Colt McCoy, and rookie Dwayne Haskins.
Earlier in the week, the new interim coach ruled out Haskins as a starter for the immediate future and said he would wait to name one between Keenum and McCoy until later in the week.
Well today, Callahan named a starting quarterback for Sunday’s game and announced it from his daily press conference at the INOVA Sports Performance Center at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia.
“In terms of our quarterback situation, [QB] Case [Keenum] will be the starter and [QB] Dwayne [Haskins Jr.] will back up for this game,” Callahan said. “So that’s where we’re at heading into the weekend.”
Callahan mentioned why he feels Keenum gives the Redskins the best chance to win over the Dolphins as opposed to Haskins and Colt McCoy.
“There’s so many reasons,” Callahan said. “He’s well-prepared first off. He has the makeup of a solid starter. He prepares like no quarterback I’ve seen or comparable to the quarterbacks I’ve seen. Just his demeanor on the field and around the building. ‘First one in, last one out’ type of guy. He’s always watching film. He’s always inquisitive, always curious, asking questions about the game plan. He wants to do well so he’s really focused hard on his preparation going into this weekend so I just love everything about what he’s done. How he’s handled his adversity with his injury, how he’s come back and how he’s prepared himself for this [coming] game.”
Surprisingly, Haskins is the backup signal-caller which could be a sign of his closeness to retaking the field.
Keenum will face a Dolphins squad coming off of their bye week and entering the contest with an 0-4 record. Similar to the Redskins, the Dolphins have not had a close contest in their losses. First-year coach Brian Flores has made quite a few changes in Miami and is looking for his first-ever win as a lead coach.
A win over Miami would improve the Redskins all-time series record against the Dolphins to 6-9.
In the last meeting between Washington and Miami on September 13, 2015, the Dolphins defeated the Redskins 17-10 in the Week 1 season opener at FedexField.
After facing four 2018 playoff teams to start the season (Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and New England Patriots), Washington enters a more manageable portion of their schedule, but one that will be challenging nevertheless.