Better without Jordan Reed

Blasphemous, right? On the other hand, here is why saying that the offense is better without Reed makes sense. In the passing game, Jordan Reed is a security blanket. If he's out there, offensive coordinator Sean McVay is more likely to call plays for him (McVay was formerly the TE coach) and Cousins is more likely to look to throw to Reed. Without Reed in the game, McVay needs to distribute the ball more and defenses won't key clamp down just on the Skins' best TE.

In the running game, Niles Paul is a better blocker. Witness the Matt Jones touchdown right before halftime. Not saying that Reed may not have made the same block at the point of attack but Paul definitively made the play that enabled the Jones sprint outside.

The other notable difference on offense is at Center. Spencer Long has been playing in place of the injured Kory Lichtensteiger. I'm not someone who watches game film so I can't definitively said Long is an upgrade but here are the facts:

• Long is six years younger (25 vs. 31)
• Long is bigger (6'4" and 315 vs. 6'2" and 292)
• Long has been injury-free (vs. Lichtensteiger's seond consecutive year on IR and a torn ACL that led to IR in 2011)

Long had a nice pulling block against the Browns to spring Chris Thompson free for a big gainer. He was also in position to make a key block during Jamison Crowder's screen pass TD against the Giants although Trent Williams ended up taking out that defender as well as Keenan Robinson.