The Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers will clash on Sunday in Week 11 of the NFL 2015 regular season. The Panthers will be expected to maintain their perfect record in front of their home fans at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, however, the Redskins know if they can get a surprise win today they will pull level with the New York Giants at the top of the wide open NFC East division. Today's big game has a scheduled start time of 1 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox network, or online through live stream via the link below.
The Panthers come into today's game on 9-0 and will be very confident that their win streak can continue for another week.
However, the Redskins seem like a team renewed after putting on a spectacular performance last week, demolishing the New Orleans Saints 47-14. That was by far and away the best performance of Kirk Cousins' NFL career so far and he will want to build on that with another solid display today. But he comes up against a fair greater challenge in the form of the Carolina Panthers.
Impressive as last week was, the Saints' do have the unwanted label as the NFL's worst defense this season. This week, the Redskins face one of the NFL's strongest defenses, and it will be a good measure of just how far Cousins has come. But there is a sense of optimism in Washington as last week's crushing win saw them put on their best offensive display in 24 years as they piled on 514 yards - the most they've achieved since way back in 1991 when they put on 559 yards against Atlanta. Last week's 47 points was also their highest points total in a single game since 2005 when they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 51-17.
Cousins completed 20 of 25 throws for 324 yards and four touchdowns, which gave him a perfect 158.3 passer rating - the first in the NFL this season.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden said, "He's answered the challenge and he's done a good job. You know, he's just making good decisions. That's what that position is all about."
He also highlighted the importance of stringing some wins together: "We've had a bad habit around here of not being able to follow up a victory with another victory. So it's very important for us to get our frame of mind set that, 'Hey, this is what we can do. We're capable of doing this'."
The Redskins win last week moved them to 4-5, which is just half a game short of division leading New York Giants, who are on 5-5, and who have a bye week in Week 11.
Earlier this week in the NFL the Tennessee Titans took on the Jacksonville Jaguars on NFL Thursday Night Football. A tight game that went back and forth ended with the Jaguars claiming an important 19-13 victory over their rivals.
The climax of the game came when Rashad Greene returned a 63 yard punt to set the stage for Blake Bortles 5 yard touchdown pass to Julius Thomas with just 3:30 remaining on the clock.
That result means that the Jaguars managed to win two straight games for the first time in more than two years, and allows them to gain some traction in a mixed up AFC South division. The second win in a row moves them to 4-6, and only just marginally behind the Indianapolis Colts and the Houston Texans, who are both on 4-5 coming into Week 11.
The loss for the Tennessee Titans leaves them in the basement of the AFC South on 2-8, and now in desperate need of a string of wins to get them back into contention. However, most see them as irrelevant now, especially considering that they've lost eight of their last nine games.
It will be a tough loss for the Titans as they had looked like they would snatch the win for large portions of the game, but they could not hang on and when Greene stormed away down the near sideline before finally getting brought down at the 5, Bortles and Thomas took care of the rest to get the Jaguars' noses in front 16-13 and they never looked back.
Tonight's big game between the Washington Redskins and the Carolina Panthers has a scheduled start time of 1 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the Fox network or online through live stream by clicking here.
