Into the Void

Just as the thought of sitting through one more week of baseball and summer Sportscenter's round-the-clock coverage of Tim Tebow's living room threatened to erase any remaining will to live, football is back to fill the void in your life like nothing else can.

The Redskins' season begins on Monday night at home against the favorite out of the AFC: the Pittsburgh Steelers. While maybe this isn't he ideal team to start off the season against, like say the Cowboys would be, Pittsburgh is no cause for alarm.

Contrary to franchise history, the Steelers of 2016 look to win through quite possibly the NFL's best offense and a serviceable defense. The Steelers are also without Martavis Bryant and Le'Veon Bell, because apparently Pittsburgh weed is just too good to learn from your first suspension. With those two immediate factors out of the game, expect the offense to be slightly more pedestrian. this will lead to an even more interesting Antonio Brown-Josh Norman matchup.

Offensively, look for Kirk Cousins to embrace Pittsburgh's weak secondary with arms wide open. Anything that the Redskins can do to exploit this backfield, while also easing a recovering Matt Jones into his workload for the season will lead to success, not only in this game, but for the rest of the year. To assume that Pittsburgh's defense can be overlooked is because of a weak secondary is a dangerous game. The line really relies on whether or not the Redskins can get a healthy Josh Doctson on the field.

This matchup has all the makings of a high scoring game. Even with the suspensions, Pittsburgh's offense is electric and with Ben Rothlisberger at the helm, the passing game is more dangerous than a night out with Aquib Talib. Conversely, with a healthy Doctson, the Steelers don't really have a sure-fire way to shut down the Redskins passing game.