Monday Night Football: 3 Things We Will Find out About the Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins play their third game of the regular season this evening against the Dallas Cowboys.

The Redskins’ NFC East rivals have gotten off to an indifferent start at 1-1 and look to avenge a first week loss to the NY Jets with their first divisional game of the season.

The Cowboys come into the contest quite banged up with quarterback Tony Romo and wide receiver Dez Bryant both listed as questionable for the contest. Also, leading receiver Miles Austin will not play.

With those injuries, tonight’s game presents a tremendous opportunity for the Redskins to jump out to a 3-0 start—the first time that has happened since 2005.

With tonight being a crucial divisional contest, let’s take a look at three things we hope to find out after Monday Night Football.

Rex Grossman

DC fans have been subjected to a quarterback controversy that began midway through last season and finally ended at the end of training camp this year.

What has emerged is a confident and resurgent Rex Grossman. Grossman once took the Chicago Bears to Super Bowl XLI but fell off the radar a few seasons afterward.

Grossman started a few games with Washington last year but failed to impress. However, his start to this season has inspired Landover faithful. 

We could possibly find out if Grossman is the real deal and will be the Field General to lead the Redskins to the next level with his performance under the Monday Night lights in Jerryworld this evening.

Defense

This may be conditional based on the number of snaps we see the aforementioned Romo and Bryant.

With an injured Miles Austin, the Cowboys are left without their most reliable wideout. However, there are still a number of weapons left at Head Coach Jason Garrett’s disposal to test any defense the National Football League can offer.

The Cowboys have scored over 20 points in their first two games, and with a healthy Romo there is no reason that should not happen this evening. If the Redskins were to hold Dallas to fewer points and limit the damage done by reliable tight end Jason Witten and potentially Dez Bryant, that would certainly be an accomplishment.

Effort

One thing that has changed between this season’s team and Washington teams of the recent past is that the 2011 Washington Redskins look like they are playing to win.

In his second year, it seems as though Head Coach Mike Shanahan is instilling the work ethic in his team that the two-time champion Denver Broncos possessed under his leadership.

The Game

Talk to any Washington sports pundit and it would have been very unlikely they would have said the Redskins would have started 2-0.

However, that is the case and this evening is a great chance to get to 3-0 while knocking a divisional road game away from your schedule with a 'W'.

We’ll see what more we can find out about the Redskins after their surprising start to the season, and with a win this evening Redskins faithful might even start looking forward to higher aspirations.