Friday, November 2, 2012

My Panthers-Redskins prediction and some pregame notes


For a game between two losing teams, Sunday should be a lot of fun. That's primarily because we can watch two young quarterbacks -- Washington's Robert Griffin III, shown above, and Carolina's Cam Newton -- as they try to one-up each other.

Griffin and Newton have very similar skill sets, although Newton is a lot bigger. Griffin's hype very much matches Newton's from a year ago -- there's nothing like a rookie coming in and dazzling people to get ESPN all aflutter. Watching him play against a Panther defense that is very used to mobile quarterbacks, having faced Newton every day, will be cool. Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly will be particularly important for Carolina Sunday, because he's one of the few people in the Panthers' front seven who can keep up with Griffin in the open field.

-- There is far more at stake Sunday than a simple football victory. According to the "Redskins Rule" -- which has proven true in 17 of the 18 presidential elections contested since the Redskins moved to Washington in 1937 -- a Redskins win in the team's final home game before Election Day has meant a win for the incumbent party occupying the White House. A Redskins loss has meant a victory for the challenging party.

The rule didn't work out in 2004, but has every other time. Remarkable, isn't it? So if Washington wins, the "Redskins Rule" says that Barack Obama wins another four years on Tuesday. If the Panthers win, expect Mitt Romney to become the next president.

-- You've gotta love this: According to a story in The Washington Post, Redskins rookie running back Alfred Morris still drives a silver 1991 Mazda 626 with 124,000 miles on it. The pastor at his church sold it to him for two dollars.

-- Expect a high-scoring game, because that's the kind the Redskins usually play. The short version of the Washington scouting report: great offense, terrible defense. The Redskins are dead last in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game, and if Steve Smith doesn't get 100 yards receiving Sunday I will be very surprised. But the Redskins have a strong offense and one that is a lot more balanced than Carolina's because the run is mixed in so effectively.

-- The 1-6 Panthers have made an art out of losing close games this season, having lost their past four by a total of 12 points. I foresee the trend continuing. My predictions haven't been very good this season on the Panthers -- I am 3-4 picking their games because I have trusted them too often. Not this time: Washington 27, Carolina 24.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As someone who lives in DC, is a Panthers fan and will be at that game I can say this about the "Redskins Rule": people can make statistics mean anything. The system broke down so they adjusted it to work.

Panthers: 34, Deadskins 12

Keith said...

Panthers fans aren't the only doomers and gloomers in the league. Check out the comments on this story from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2012/11/01/how-often-do-the-redskins-lose-to-a-team-they-should-beat/

Anonymous said...

You forgot the single most important aspect of this game...COACHING!

Anonymous said...

Newton and RG3 are not close to eachother in style. Outside of their skin color they are very different. RG3 is a much better passer and much faster. Cam is more like Ben in that they are both huge and have some speed. Cam and Luck are even more similar than RG3 and Cam.

Anonymous said...

"Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly will be particularly important for Carolina Sunday, because he's one of the few people in the Panthers' front seven who can keep up with Griffin in the open field."

Seriously? Kuechly is fast, but he could not keep up with RGIII in the open field. And who are these other FEW people in the Panthers front seven that could keep up with him?!

The Panthers might have 1 or 2 guys that are as fast as RGIII on their entire roster.

Jay Hanig said...

Kuechly runs a 4.5 second 40 yard dash; RGIII has done it in 4.38 seconds. Is a tenth of a second meaningful on the football field? I have my doubts.

Anonymous said...

Can we have on dang article without mentioning the presidential election please???

Anonymous said...

Good Point, Jay H. Running with the football should slow RGIII down enough for Luke to catch him.

Anonymous said...

n"...Kuechly...he's one of the few people in the Panthers' front seven who can keep up with Griffin in the open field."

Keep up means staying the 2 or 3 or 4 steps behind him all the way to the end zone.