5 NFL teams on upset alert for Week 13

2. Washington Redskins

Despite all odds or conventional logic, the Washington Redskins took the lead in the NFC East with a win over the New York Giants last week. Kirk Cousins and the Washington offense were able to move the ball consistently and well and the Redskins defense looked quite good in stopping Eli Manning and company, including picking him off three times on the day. Yet, this game has the feeling of one that Washington needs to win, but winds up getting upset regardless by the lowly Dallas Cowboys.

No one is debating the fact that the Cowboys are far, far worse on the field when it’s Matt Cassel instead of Tony Romo on the field. However, that’s the situation that the Redskins will be going up against on Monday Night Football when they take on their bitter divisional rival. As has been the case in previous starts by Cassel, you can almost surely expect a ton of short, dink-and-dunk type passes and a heavy dose of Darren McFadden for the Dallas offense.

However, the biggest reason for thinking that Washington needs to be on upset alert in this game is the simple fact that this is the type of games fans have become conditioned to them losing. They are a better football team than the Cowboys without Romo on the field and they have also been playing better as a whole regardless in recent weeks. Yet, this is the game that they’ve traditionally let everyone down with after taking the division lead. It’s unfortunate, but it just has that feeling of a letdown game for the Redskins in Week 13.

Next: No. 1 Arizona Cardinals