Recovering from a loss to the Cowboys, the Washington Redskins are ready for a divisional match against the New York Giants on Sept. 25, 2016.
The Redskins enter their third game of the season against the 2-0 Giants without a victory, but know exactly what they must do to buck that trend and gain positive momentum on the road.
According to defensive end Trent Murphy, gaining control of the pass rush and stopping Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be the key for success.
"It's important this week more than ever," the third-year veteran said. "Eli [Manning] gets the ball out fast. He's a great quarterback. He's very poised. The more you can disrupt somebody like that, the more success you're going to have on defense."
While Eli is a great concern, the Redskins have a history with the Giants' strongest assets: their receivers.
Cornerback Josh Norman, knows this all too well, having dealt with Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. previously. While their heated faceoff was during Norman's time with the Carolina Panthers, the fans and the media are looking forward to what the two will bring to their matchup.
Norman, however, is simply excited for Sunday, and isn't really feeding into last year's issues with Beckham or the "media frenzy".
"I am looking forward to playing the New York Giants, man," he said. "I think a lot has been said from -- the last time we played each other, so I'm sure they're going to be ready just as much as we are. Media frenzy that week [last year], both of us were going in at it, top of our profession. What you see is what you got. I didn't think it was going to be to that point, but it did."
Norman isn't the only cornerback who can't wait to play on Sunday.
Cornerback Bashaud Breeland is also prepared to move forward by ignoring the outside chatter. He also claims that the entire team is fired up for the game.
"We're all fired up," the third-year veteran said. "[You] get beat, you get back up and do it again. If they beat you 100 times, they'll beat you 100 times, you still have to do it again. And that's what my mentality is. I've been in this position all my life. People talk about me -- but that doesn't bother me, I don't lose no sleep."
The team is indeed fired up to play, and amid reports of locker room frustration after last week's loss, quarterback Kirk Cousins isn't living in the past, but looking forward to Sunday's bout with the Giants.
"You know, people can say what they want, they have a right to do that," Cousins said. "I have an opportunity every Sunday or Monday night or whatever the day may be, to go out and play well and try to reverse that trend or those opinions. But what I've learned in this league is that it's a marathon, not a sprint. No one's making big, big decisions after two games. You know, we're going to play this whole season out, see where we are at the end of it. But, I'm excited about the challenge we have this week, and really I have enough of a challenge that I don't need to look much further forward or further back than just the Giants this Sunday."
