 Preseason NFL Pick - Washington @ New England - 8-26-06
Washington (0-2 SU and ATS) at New England (1-1, 1-0-1 ATS)
Off to an ugly start to the preseason, the Redskins look to turn things around when they head to Foxborough, Mass., for tonight’s game against the Patriots.
Washington not only has gotten blown out in both of their exhibition games against the Bengals and Jets, but Joe Gibbs’ squad also lost starting running back Clinton Portis with a separated shoulder in the opener. With Portis banged up, and the offense managing just 114 rushing yards in two games, the Redskins this week acquired T.J. Duckett from Atlanta. Duckett will play in tonight’s game.
Gibbs will let his starters play for at least the first half. That includes quarterback Mark Brunell, who has completed just 46.7 percent of his passes for 111 yards, no touchdowns and one interception this summer. In fact, Brunell and backups Jason Campbell and Todd Collins have combined for just one touchdown pass versus five INTs, and none has completed more than 59 percent of his passes.
Washington is thin in the secondary with several players out of this game, including star CB Shawn Springs.
New England dominated Arizona 30-3 last week as 3½-point favorites. Both of the Patriots’ quarterbacks looked sharp, with Tom Brady going 15-for-20 for 149 yards and backup Matt Cassell completing 14 of 20 throws for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Coach Bill Belichick said his starters will play into the third quarter tonight.
The Pats are hurting at linebacker, with Teddy Bruschi out the entire preseason with a broken wrist, and Monty Beisel and Chad Brown banged up. Newly signed Junior Seau and veteran Mike Vrabel got most of the reps at inside linebacker this week.
These two teams met every preseason from 1998-2003, with the Patriots going 4-2 SU and ATS. The under was the play in four of those six meetings.
The Patriots are 8-3 (7-4 ATS) in their last five preseasons at home. Meanwhile, since Gibbs returned to the Redskins’ sideline in 2004, he is just 1-4 SU and ATS in exhibition road games.
ATS ADVANTAGE: NEW ENGLAND  | 
