St. Louis Rams vs. Washington Redskins: Complete Week 14 Preview for Washington

Count it as another 2012 NFL draft storyline that won't come to fruition. The two teams involved in the infamous Robert Griffin III trade, the Washington Redskins and St. Louis Rams, will face off as opponents in Week 14.

With their designated franchise savior watching from the sidelines, the Redskins remain in last place in the NFC East after their Week 13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

As for the Rams, they're coming off a 52-0 demolition of the Oakland Raiders. The NFL's resident giant killer, is there any chance that St. Louis will overlook the Redskins?

Let's find out. Here is the Week 14 preview for Washington.

Week 13 Recap

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Despite receiving a career day from Colt McCoy, the Washington Redskins lost their fourth consecutive game in Week 13, 49-27 to the Colts.

In his first start since Week 8, McCoy threw a career-high three touchdowns and 392 yards. His chief targets, DeSean Jackson and Jordan Reed, also had banner days. Before exiting with an injury, Jackson had five receptions for 84 yards. Slowed by a variety of injuries all year, Reed had a season-high nine receptions for 123 yards.

A contest that featured over 900 total yards offense, the Redskins' porous defense made their contributions null and void.

Throwing for 370 yards, Andrew Luck set a career high with five touchdown passes, many of which were to wide-open Indianapolis receivers. Behind poor tackling and blown assignments, the Skins allowed four touchdowns of 40-plus yards. In the third quarter alone, despite running just five offensive plays, the Colts still managed to score 21 points.

With injuries already forcing his hand to some extent, you can expect head coach Jay Gruden to usher in a youth movement in the weeks to come as he turns his attention toward the 2015 season.

News and Notes

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Can Colt McCoy Avoid Another Slow Start?

Completing over 75 percent of his throws and averaging 345.5 passing yards per game, on the surface, McCoy's numbers indicate that he's turned in two of the best performances at quarterback for Washington in 2014.

In reality, though, it was just two of the better halves. According to ESPN.com, McCoy has thrown for 206 yards, one touchdown and completed roughly 64 percent of his passes in the first half of games this year. Relatively average, right?

Well, in the second half, these numbers jump to 564 yards, four touchdowns and a completion percentage of 78.6.

Speaking to ESPN.com's John Keim, McCoy acknowledged his slow starts:

"

Maybe a little rust. But I certainly would like to start faster. Not just me, but everybody. We were flat coming out in the beginning of the game. Maybe our approach this week is we do a little more of the things we'll do earlier in the game. I'm not sure. I'm not going to get too worried about it, but ... we need to start a little faster.

"

With St. Louis sporting both the pass rush and rushing attack to hold a lead, McCoy can ill-afford to start off slow this week.

Where Has Pierre Garcon Gone?

If a matchup with his former team didn't spark Pierre Garcon to get out of his season-long slump, what will?

As has been the case most of the 2014 campaign, against the team that drafted him with the 205th overall pick in the 2008 NFL draft, Garcon was invisible. The Redskins' record-holder for receptions in a season had nine yards on three catches in Week 13.

Speaking on Garcon's struggles after the game, via the team's official Twitter account, McCoy expressed a need for the team to get him more involved:

"

McCoy: "We need to get Pierre [Garcon] the ball as much as we can." Said the team wants to get him more involved throughout a game.

— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 3, 2014"

Believe it or not, though, Garcon is actually tied with Jackson for the team lead in targets. So what's the issue?

Well, for starters, he's not garnering the same amount of yards after the catch. Last season, Garcon averaged nearly six yards per reception after the catch. In 2014, that average has dropped to 4.6 yards.

Piggybacking off that, he's also seen a decline in his amount of big plays. A player that tallied 16 catches of 20-plus yards in 2013, Garcon currently has five. 

With it critical for McCoy to get the ball out quickly against St. Louis' pass rush, similar to Week 1, Garcon should be featured heavily in the team's passing attack this week.

Struggles on Third Down

Washington struggling on third down has been a narrative all season. Despite the change the team made at quarterback, not much was different on this front in Week 13.

Against the Colts, the Skins converted just five of 15 third downs. Sad as it is to say, this showing was actually an improvement from what we've seen from their offense this season.

For the year, the team is converting an NFC-worst 32.7 percent of its third downs. Going against a Rams defense that's only allowing a 38.8 percent conversion rate, there's not much room for improvement here for Washington's offense.

With ESPN.com's John Keim citing the team's inability to protect the passer on third downs as a chief reason for the offense's struggles here—it's allowed an NFC-high 17 sacks—it'll be crucial for the Redskins to win on first and second down.

Injury Report

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Player	Position	Injury Status
Chris Baker	DL	Questionable
Ryan Clark	S	Questionable
Will Compton	LB	Questionable
Kedric Golston	DL	Questionable
Jason Hatcher	DT	Questionable
E.J. Biggers	CB	Questionable
DeSean Jackson	WR	Questionable
Ryan Kerrigan	LB	Probable
Brandon Meriweather	S	Questionable
Chase Minnifield	CB	Questionable
Silas Redd	RB	Probable
Keenan Robinson	LB	Questionable

From the looks of this injury report, it's apparent games aren't the only thing Washington is losing. Already down DeAngelo Hall and Brian Orakpo, the rest of the team's starting defense is seemingly on this list.

While the Rams' passing attack isn't entirely too threatening, it's hard to overlook the injuries the Skins have in the secondary. With a stroke of bad luck, the team could enter this game with a secondary featuring the likes of Phillip Thomas and Trenton Robinson in starting roles. 

Looking at the cornerback position specifically, even if Brandon Meriweather and Ryan Clark are able to start at safety, Robinson and Thomas could be forced to play corner with Greg Ducre, Bashaud Breeland and David Amerson the lone healthy corners on the roster.

Factor in the injury statuses of Ryan Kerrigan, Keenan Robinson and Jason Hatcher, and stopping the run could be a troublesome task for this team. All told, the Redskins are fortunate to be facing the NFL's 25th-ranked offense.

All injury statuses from CBSSports.com.

X-Factor and Matchups to Watch

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Washington Offensive Line vs. St. Louis Pass Rush

Pay little attention to where St. Louis currently ranks in sacks. Its 28 sacks on the year aren't indicative of the pass rush Washington will have to deal with on Sunday.

This is because the Rams have tallied 22 sacks the past five weeks alone. This is because Chris Long is back from injury! Most importantly, this is because the Skins have allowed 39 sacks in 2014, second worst in the NFL.

Oh, and need us not forget, the lone competent pass-blocker the team has, Trent Williams, is recovering from a knee injury.

With that said, Gruden really has little choice but to keep his passing attack short and sweet. Facing a Rams defense that surrenders 14 receptions and over 90 yards per game to opposing running backs and tight ends, according to Football Outsiders, McCoy can't hesitate to hit his checkdown receiver in lieu of taking a sack.

Redskins Secondary vs. Rams Receivers

The Rams' passing offense hardly resembles the "the Greatest Show on Turf" of the Kurt Warner years, going against Washington's secondary, though, that hardly matters. Just ask Josh McCown or Donte Moncrief.

Technically 15th in the NFL in passing defense, the Redskins have been marred all season long by gaffes in coverage. While there's no shame in getting shredded by Andrew Luck, the relative ease with which he tallied 370 yards is unacceptable.

Relaying his disgust with the secondary postgame, Ryan Clark sang a similar tune:

"

#Redskins safety Ryan Clark on continued secondary miscommunications: "It’s embarrassing. It’s not frustrating. It’s embarrassing. Period."

— Brian McNally (@bmcnally14) November 30, 2014"

With St. Louis already struggling to manufacture big plays in the passing game, it's 26th in the NFL in gains of 20 yards or more, this is a week Washington needs to shore up this weakness.

X-Factor of the Week: Alfred Morris

As stout as the Rams' front seven is, it's had its moments of vulnerability against the run in 2014. Not only is it allowing an average of 111.3 yards per game on the ground, but St. Louis has allowed the third-most runs of 20-plus yards, with 11.

Enter Alfred Morris. It's worth noting that he hasn't been the same back without Griffin under center—of his four outings north of 90 yards, RG3 was the starter in all of them—but Morris does have seven gains of 20-plus yards, which is third in the NFL.

While you can expect the Rams to load the box in an effort to stop Morris, it'll be important for Gruden to stay committed in the running game if Washington is to stand a chance.

Prediction

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A matchup of teams out of the playoff hunt, who both happen to be on their third-starting quarterback, the Redskins and Rams have their share of similarities entering this bout.

Even with that said, the talent level of these two teams isn't similar and it shows. After taking its lumps early, St. Louis has shown marked improvement the past month of the season and is currently hitting its stride. Simply put, the same can't be said about Washington.

Behind the type of miscues and dysfunction one would associate with a bad football team, the Skins have lost their past four games.

Considering that neither team boasts a great offense, this is a contest that will be decided by turnovers. While on one end, you have a Washington team that's forced three turnovers in back-to-back weeks, you can't overlook that it's only scored 15 points off turnovers for the year, according to sportingcharts.com.

With the Rams converting their 21 takeaways into 76 points, the odds are in their favor to win this battle. In a low-scoring affair, look for St. Louis to win this game handily.

Prediction: Rams 22, Redskins 10