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A weekly look at what the Washington Redskins must fix:
The Redskins’ defense has done an excellent job stopping the run, especially the past two games when opponents have managed a combined 79 yards on 36 carries. It has improved as a unit and ranks fourth overall, so there’s reason to feel good early on for the defense.
 But the Redskins absolutely need to do a better job of creating turnovers, having forced only three this season. If there’s a way to re-energize a team on a short week and when it’s nursing numerous injuries, it’s with big plays on defense. Some of that needs to stem from the pass rush, which produced 10 sacks against Jacksonville but none in games against Houston and Philadelphia. Some, but certainly not all, of that can be explained by game situations.
And now with corner DeAngelo Hall sidelined, there’s even more of a need to pressure the quarterback. Of course, the problem is that Hall was one of Washington’s best ball hawks, a corner who knew how to execute a well-timed trap and read the quarterback. It sometimes got him in trouble; it sometimes forced turnovers. The Redskins have been close on a handful of other plays. Their pressure led to errant throws by Jaguars quarterback Chad Henne two weeks ago. The Redskins sent an extra rusher on only 15 pass attempts against the Eagles, wanting to keep the screen game in check. They should be able to do that more against the New York Giants. However, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has a 105.6 passer rating against a five-man rush or more this season. The way to handle him is by creating pressure with the front four, which means more success by outside rushers Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo and inside rusher Jason Hatcher. Three of Manning’s four interceptions this season have come against a four-man rush. And that's where it will get interesting. The Redskins have an NFL-best 8.9 percent of their sacks from a four-man rush, but they're 31st in opponent passer rating (97.3) from this look.
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