Here is what you need to know on this Thursday, September 21, three days before the Washington Redskins play the Raiders at FedEx Field.

Timeline

Today’s schedule: Practice 1:00; Jay Gruden and Greg Manusky press conferences, open locker room after practice, approx. 3:00

Days until:



—Monday night Redskins @ Chiefs (10/2) 11

—Monday night Redskins @ Eagles (10/23) 32

—Cowboys @ Redskins (10/29) 38

Five Redskins who are under pressure against the Raiders

QB Kirk Cousins—He is a fixture on top of this list until he puts together a solid game. Let’s define that as something around 260 yards passing with at least two touchdowns and no interceptions. Cousins did that four times last year so that shouldn’t be too tall an order. Just FYI, the Redskins were 3-1 in those four games.

WR Terrelle Pryor—I was debating whether he should be included here for a second straight week. Then I saw this:

Pryor: “I am going to have a dominant season and it starts this week against Oakland.” — Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 20, 2017

He made that bold statement on a conference call with Oakland media. If the need to replace one of the two departed 1,000-yard receivers didn’t put enough pressure on Pryor, then a statement like this does. Through the small sample size of two games, he’s on pace for 775 receiving yards and no touchdowns. That’s not enough to replace the departed receivers.

RB Samaje Perine—Even if Rob Kelley can go on Sunday with his rib injury he probably can’t carry a full load. The team will rely on Perine early and perhaps often. The rookie will need to be to be productive sooner than he was against the Rams. He averaged 2.2 yards on 11 carries in the first three quarters of the game. In the fourth quarter, he had 10 rushing attempts for a 4.3-yard average. He needs that fourth-quarter production from the get-go.

CB Bashaud Breeland—Josh Norman and Breeland likely will play sides vs. the Raiders receivers Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper. It will be picking your poison. Breeland has been solid during the first two games but he will need to keep it up. Breeland is slated to be a free agent after this year and if he is going to get the payday he wants he needs to come up big in games like this one.

OLB Preston Smith—Yes, Smith is off to a strong start. But the Redskins have seen him flash in the past. What they want is week in, week out productive from him. That starts with him getting the job done for a third week in a row.

Stay up to date on the Redskins. Rich Tandler covers the team 365 days a year. Like his Facebook page Facebook.com/TandlerCSN and follow him on Twitter @Rich_TandlerCSN.

Tandler on Twitter

In case you missed it