You can't play a better game than the Redskins did in Arizona. They dominated the Cardinals in every phase of play. Twice as many yards, twice as many first downs, only six points allowed, four times as many points scored. Not too shabby.
A win in Sunday's home-opener against the Indianapolis Colts would give Washington its first 2-0 start since 2011. I get that Arizona isn't very good and the Colts might be worse, but you can only play who is on your schedule. If the Redskins are able to beat two inferior teams, and potentially handily, it would be a great sign that Washington might actually be formidable.
Let's get to it. Here are my slants for Week 2.
I really liked what I saw from Payne in his NFL debut. He was disruptive as a block-attracting, havoc-inflicting presence in the middle of Washington's defensive front. On some plays he battled double teams and on others he shed blocks to penetrate the backfield. In the end he made three tackles, two solo, making an immediate impact on a much-improved run defense.
Payne would have been more noticeable if he played more. The Redskins defense was on the field for just 14 first-half plays and 51 total snaps last weekend, and Payne and company only defended 15 rushing attempts. As ideal a workload as that is, seeing that little action is not repeatable. Keep an eye on Payne as he gets more chances to take a game over.
A week after catching his 23rd career touchdown, Jordan Reed is now just two scoring grabs away from cracking the Redskins' all-time Top 10. That's crazy, right? Reed is 28 and has only played in 51 games and he is already on the verge of cracking the organization's Top-10 list in touchdown grabs.