Here is what you need to know on this Wednesday, September 27, five days before the Washington Redskins play Chiefs in Kansas City.

Timeline

Today’s schedule: No media availability

Days until:



—Monday night Redskins @ Eagles (10/23) 26

—Cowboys @ Redskins (10/29) 32

First look at Redskins vs. Chiefs

—The Chiefs are 3-0 and are at the top of many power rankings. They have a win at New England on their ledger and they are in the top 10 in the NFL in both scoring offense and scoring defense. They average 9.2 yards per pass attempt and 6.8 yards per rush. Do the Redskins stand a chance? Well, they weren’t supposed to have much of a shot against the Raiders and they came out of that one OK so we will see.

—Quarterback Alex Smith is rolling sevens. He has completed 77 percent of his passes with seven touchdowns and no interceptions. His QB rating is an absurd 132.7. Smith has been sacked 12 times so there is a chink in the armor. The former first overall pick in the draft will not go all year with such a high passer rating and completion percentage. But he could do it one more game and that’s what matters to the Redskins.

—Rookie running back Kareem Hunt is starting off his NFL career on a roll. He has over 400 yards rushing in three games with an average of 8.5 yards per attempt. Hunt has 12 runs of 10 yards or longer and a touchdown run of longer than 50 years in each of the Chiefs’ three games. The Redskins will need to tackle as well as they did against the Raiders to keep Hunt under wraps. Like with Smith, he can’t keep it up all year (he’s on pace to run for 2,139 yards) but as far as the Redskins are concerned all that matters is him not getting it done next Monday.

—Defensively, the Chiefs do not appear to be that imposing. They are 23rd in passing defense and 18th in rushing. But they do a good job of getting off the field so they are a very respectable seventh in scoring defense.

—If the Redskins are going to upset another unbeaten AFC West team they probably are going to have to find a way to get the Chiefs to turn the ball over. Kansas City has lost only one fumble and, as noted, Smith has yet to throw an interception. It is doubtful that the Redskins will be able to get away with a multi-turnover game as they had in Weeks 1 and 3. The Redskins arguably have the best defense the Chiefs have faced this season and they should be able to move the ball against that defense. If they can hold onto the ball they should have a shot in this one.

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

Vs. OAK Cousins became the first #Redskins QB to throw for 350+ yards, 3+ TD, 0 INT and complete 80%+ in a game. https://t.co/rsi1j2XiKy — Rich Tandler (@TandlerNBCS) September 26, 2017

In case you missed it