Washington Redskins: 6 Things to Look for in Friday's Game vs Indianapolis Colts

Tonight we move one step closer to the regular season as the Washington Redskins travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts.

I don't want to say this game loses it luster with Peyton Manning being sidelined with an injury, but if the defense dominates the first-string offense, it makes it harder to read without Manning in the lineup.

Manning's absence aside, there are still plenty of things to look for in tonight's games. Here are a handful to keep an eye on.

The Offensive Line

Surprise, surprise, I'm focusing in on the offensive line once again.  Unlike those dopes up in Bristol (I'm sure one day I'll regret all the cheap shots I take at them), I don't focus in on the quarterback position as the sole reason why a team can or can't win a Super Bowl.

Why?

Because I'm not a mindless sheep that think that it only takes one man to win a Super Bowl.

No, I know the truth, the quarterback depends on his front five to keep him up right.  As I recall, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have not been very successful throwing from their back.

Anyways, last week the offensive line held their own against an aggressive and tough front seven from the Steelers.

This week, they take on a smaller but faster defensive line from the Colts.  It will be interesting to see how they hold up with this drastically different defensive mind set.

I honestly think the Redskins line will be able to bully the Colts front around, and we'll see a lot of holes for the running backs.

Ryan Torain

Last week with Ryan Torain being out with injury, Tim Hightower got to show what he could do, and man, did he impress a lot of people.

Now, we all know what Torain is capable of when healthy, but the key word there is healthy.

Torain has missed a significant amount of time due to injury through out his career.

Torain has been cleared to play, and in spite of coming into camp as the starter, I believe he's going to have to impress the coaches in the next three weeks if he wants to start Week 1 against the Giants.

Leonard Hankerson

Hankerson has been a stud during training camp. However, once he got into a game, he looked lost and confused.

I'm hoping after going over game film with his coaches this week, he's better prepared for the game in Indy.

I'll be looking, not necessarily at how many catches he gets but how he looks running routes and if it appears that he's in the right locations.

The kid has all the tools to be great, but he's just got to put them together on the field.

Defensive Front Seven

Even without Manning under center the Colts have historically had one of the better offensive lines in the league.

I'd like to see the Redskins get the same push and penetration that they got against the Steelers this week as well.

Getting after the quarterback and filling up running lanes are all things this defense needs to do.

One last thing to look for with the linebackers is to see if they stay in their lanes.  A couple of times last week, Steeler running backs had huge cut back lanes because linerbackers did stay with their assignments. 

Graham Gano

Right now the job is his, and all he has to do is make his kicks.

Last season, Gano was spotty at best for the Redskins, but he made all of his kicks last week unlike Shayne Graham who shanked a 29-yard attempt.

Gano isn't out of the woods yet, Coach Shanahan has said they'll still bring in competition if they see anyone they think can do the job.

Now that he's the only one on the roster Gano needs to buckle down and make the kicks he should make and hit a few that are on the difficult side.

He'll be kicking indoors, so that should help him.

John Beck

The day has finally arrived, the day that we get to see the self appointed savior of Redskins football take the field with the first-team offense.

OK, that might be a little over the top, but ever sense John Beck and the media assumed that he'd be the Week 1 starter, the NFL has been abuzz about him.

Some herald him as a great savior, though they've never seen him get an extensive amount of playing time.

Others have laughed and said the Redskins are doomed with him, but again, these same people have not gotten to seem him play extensively.

What I'm trying to say is what I've been saying all along, we don't know what we really have with John Beck,

We could have Kurt Warner and Tom Brady, or we could have Heath Shuler and JP Lossman.  We won't know until we see him actually play.

And even after this game, we still really won't know what we have in him.

What I'm looking for is good reads and accurately thrown balls, much like what we saw out of Rex Grossman last week.

Honestly, I still believe Rex will be the Week 1 starter, but if Beck really wants the job, his first step is Friday night.