“We’re able to do so much, so many different personnel groups, so many guys that have playmaking ability for us,” Smith said at his weekly media session Wednesday. “I think deciphering quickly what [the defense is] going to be that week [is the next progression].

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“Heading in, you don’t know how they’re going to play us [in] certain personnels. Who are they going to match up? Things like that. The ability to decipher that quick and to counter it.”

The consistency part, Smith said, comes into play in specific situations and involves being able to score touchdowns in the second half — something the Redskins haven’t done yet this season.

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"When we’ve been good, we’ve been good situationally,” Smith said. “We’ve been good on third downs. We’ve been good in red-zone, short-yard situations, goal line, those things. Situational football wins football games more often than not in the league. Continue to be good in those areas.

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“And then putting together four quarters. Consistent football. In our two wins, we played lights-out for a couple halves and then had some disappointing halves. … The consistency of putting together four quarters.”

The offense will need to function at a high level Monday night against the high-scoring New Orleans Saints. Players and coaches don’t like to put it in such terms, but recent history shows that the Redskins might need to match points with the Saints (3-1) in New Orleans. They have been held to fewer than 33 points just once this season. Washington (2-1) has scored 24, nine and 31 points in its three games.

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“I don’t think you can ever expect to go out there and not score any touchdowns in the second half and win ballgames against anybody,” Smith said. “Certainly [not] against good offenses and good quarterbacks like Drew [Brees]. Need to be better moving forward. Need to learn from it and grow from it.”

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On the flip side, the Redskins still have a challenge in knowing exactly what they’ll see from an erratic Saints defense. The unit looked gave up 529 yards of offense, including 417 though the air, during a 48-40 season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, it held the New York Giants to 299 yards, including just 65 on the ground, last week.

“Certainly played their best game, I felt like, this week,” Smith said. “Early on, they gave up some explosive plays down the field. Felt like they have been trying to iron it out as the season has gone on. They give you a lot to look at, a ton of different fronts up front, play a ton of coverages and they have the ability to do a lot.”

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The Saints' inconsistency has been a surprise considering they finished the 2017 season as the No. 10 scoring defense in the league. The porous pass defense showed up again when the Falcons gashed them for 407 yards, including 359 through the air, and 37 points in Week 3. The Saints rank No. 30 in the NFL by allowing 311 passing yards per game.

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“They didn’t play very well against Tampa Bay,” Coach Jay Gruden said. “They had their way. [Ryan] Fitzpatrick had a heck of a game against them, threw some very nice passes against them, had some big plays with DeSean [Jackson] and Mike Evans and their tight end O.J. [Howard]. They gave up some plays in that game, but they settled down a little bit.

"They have some young players back there. They lost Patrick Robinson, their nickel, so they had to move some people around. Their front seven is very good. They can rush the passer. [Cameron] Jordan is an excellent player, and the rookie [Marcus Davenport] they have is a strong player finding his way. I think they are very dangerous. They are strong up front, and their coverage I think is getting better and better.”

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