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Slowing Patriots a tall task for Redskins

Oct 28, 2007 - 10:54 AM Washington (4-2) at New England (7-0) 4:15 pm EDT

FOXBORO, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Joe Gibbs is taking hyperbole to another level.

The coach of the Washington Redskins will be looking to find a way to slow down the rampaging New England Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Gibbs, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996, said his team will "probably be the biggest underdog in the history of sports."

That's obviously a stretch, but there's no denying the task awaiting Washington as it attempts to solve a juggernaut that has scored at least 34 points in each of its first seven games, tying an NFL mark set by the St. Louis Rams in 2000.

At least Gibbs has a slice of history on his side. He is 3-0 in his career against the Patriots and the Redskins enjoy a 6-1 edge all-time in the series.

The Redskins have held five of their six opponents under 20 points but needed a last-second miss on a 55-yard field goal attempt to withstand a late comeback in a 21-19 victory over the Arizona Cardinals last Sunday.

The problem for Washington has been on the other side of the ball. Aside from a 34-3 thrashing of the Detroit Lions, the win over the Cardinals represented the Redskins' highest point total of the season.

Quarterback Jason Campbell, a first-round pick in 2005, has struggled with consistency and too many drops by his receivers, while the running game has yet to get untracked. Clinton Portis scored twice against Arizona but managed just 43 yards on 18 carries.

"This is three weeks in a row where if we had caught everything that Jason (Campbell) threw, he would have been well over 70 percent (passing) these three games," Gibbs said.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is having no such issues with his receivers.

Brady set a franchise record by throwing a career-high six touchdown passes in a 49-28 batting of the winless Miami Dolphins.

The numbers for Brady have been staggering: He finished 21-of-25 for 354 yards and had a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 against Miami.

Brady already has 27 touchdown passes on the season - one shy of his career high - and is on pace to shatter Peyton Manning's single-season record of 49 set in 2004.

Randy Moss had just four catches but they were for 122 yards and two TDs, giving him a league-leading 10 on the season. The Patriots are outscoring their opponents by better than 22 points per game.

"I think they are on an all time pace to set records," Gibbs said. "We have been looking at them and it is hard to find anything there. There is no weakness that we can find."