Lions Aim To Snap Skid Vs. Redskins

NFL News - September 22nd, 2009 - Written by John

Redskins at Lions -- If you were looking at a chance to pull the trigger on the Lions, this may be the best opportunity to do it thus far. In the first two weeks of the season, Detroit was dealt a brutal two-game punch, starting the season with the Arena League New Orleans Saints, only to follow it up with Adrian Peterson and the Vikings.

The Redskins offense isn't quite the same. They haven't been able to find the end zone in the past four quarters, including last week's nail-biter against the lowly St. Louis Rams. In that game, both Devin Thomas and Mike Sellers dropped what would be touchdown passes and Santana Moss fumbled inside the 20-yard line. Those mistakes have put the heat on quarterback Jason Campbell, who has actually played relatively well. He is tied for sixth in the NFL, completing 69-percent of his passes, and has 453 yards and a score. But the problem isn't statistics, it's production. Points. And without them, his turbulant ride in the captain's chair is only getting worse. It's really early, yes, but the 'Skins rank second to last in points per game (13) and total touchdowns (2).

"It's frustrating," Campbell said on NFL.com. "You would like to score points. We had two dropped touchdown passes that would have put us up 14-0. That would have given us a completely different game."

The Redskins are an early favorite on the road, despite the trouble. BetUS is giving them a minus-six point start as of Tuesday, with a payout of -110 both ways. Both teams have struggled to put up a lot of points and Vegas has taken notice, setting the over/under at 38. Washington is 3-0 against the Lions since 2002, but, then again, who isn't.

The Lions have been competitive for the first half of both games. Against the Vikings, they actually led going into halftime, 10-7, only to be outscored 20-3 in the second. Rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford is going through the typical growing pains but finally threw his first career touchdown pass on a slant to Calvin Johnson. The possibilities of that tandem has coaches salivating and, if Stafford can cut down on the mistakes, might finally land them a win for the first time in 18 games.

The Lions did get some bad news after the Minnesota game, however. Head coach Jim Schwartz announced to the Associated Press that linebacker Ernie Sims, who is third on the team with 14 tackles, will probably miss a few games with a "fairly significant shoulder injury.

The Redskins also lost a starter due to injury this weekend. Right guard Randy Thomas ripped his right triceps clean off the bone and will miss the season, and maybe more. The injury is career-threatening if he doesn't fully recover.

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