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Quinton Dunbar watched in middle school as Larry Fitzgerald caught passes in the NFL.

Years later A.J. Klein Jersey , Fitzgerald was patting Dunbar on the helmet for a job well done.

Dunbar helped shut down Fitzgerald and other receivers in Week 1, picking off Sam Bradford and looking like the kind of player the Washington Redskins envisioned when they converted him from wideout to cornerback. His next challenge is Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts' passing attack as the Redskins look to start 2-0 for the first time since 2011.

"Tough matchup," Dunbar said. "He's up there with the best of them in my opinion. You watch him, you see a guy who's tough, smart, understands defenses."

Dunbar has already intercepted Carson Wentz, Eli Manning and Bradford in his career, evidence his instincts are worthy of the coaching staff's faith. He had to embrace the "heart and mentality" of being able to make tackles, and he had five at Arizona.

"I think it was one of his better games as a pro here," coach Jay Gruden said. "He's got to continue to make strides to get better and keep studying the game and the people he is covering."

Dunbar should continue to get plenty of playmaking opportunities because he's starting opposite 2015 All-Pro cornerback Josh Norman. Luck, who missed all of 2017 with a shoulder injury, is coming off a 39 of 53 passing performance with 319 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the Colts' season-opening loss to Cincinnati.

Luck 鈥?and then Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers in Week 3 鈥?are significant tests for Dunbar, who insists he looks forward to every matchup and doesn't take anyone lightly. What he does is trust what he sees on film, combined with what coaches have taught him about the position. He's has gotten to the point where he's not a work in progress anymore.

"I've been comfortable for a while," Dunbar said. "(I'm) just trusting what the coaches wanted and the vision they had for me."

Some things to watch when the Colts visit the Redskins:

HURRICANE READY

Hurricane Florence shifting south is likely to spare the Colts and Redskins from even rain on Sunday Lee Roy Selmon Jersey , but players and coaches are prepared.

Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri is three field goals away from tying Morten Andersen's career record of 565 and is ready in case the conditions aren't ideal.

"I don't know if you get a lot of practice in those types of conditions, you just have go out pregame, try and work through some stuff, kind of find out what the parameters are, and then the game dictates your attempts anyway," said Vinatieri, who won two Super Bowls with last-minute kicks and helped the Patriots win their first Super Bowl by making two kicks in the snow of a divisional-round game following the 2001 season. "The game sometimes dictates that you've got to go out and try a kick that normally, maybe, you wouldn't."

Redskins QB Alex Smith has likewise played through everything during his NFL career, but doesn't have any secrets about dealing with wacky weather.

"It's tough: fundamentals, attention to detail when you handle the ball every single play in weather, and obviously that's a premium, you know, ball security, ball handling, in the pocket and things like that Mark Ingram Jersey ," Smith said. "I wish I had some kind of secret sauce or something, but I don't. I just try to do the best I can."

PROTECTION PLAN

Luck was sacked twice last week and took seven additional hits.

While offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni was impressed with the effort, the Colts' offensive line was not at its optimal. Longtime left tackle Anthony Castonzo missed the game with an injured hamstring, forcing Joe Haeg to move from the right side to the left, and veteran J'Marcus Webb played right tackle.

This week, Castonzo is expected to be back and Haeg is likely to swing back to the right side 鈥?where he spent most of his first two NFL seasons. Webb went on injured reserve with a hamstring injury Tuesday.

"It's extremely tough because you want to be out there, helping the team," Castonzo said. "So I'm looking forward to getting out there, yes."

DOUBLE THREAT

Washington's 182 rushing yards in Week 1 led the NFL as Adrian Peterson and Chris Thompson put together the mix-and-match, one-two punch Gruden hoped they'd be. While Thompson is a weapon in the passing game and can turn on the speed outside, Peterson has the straightahead style and ability to bounce runs anywhere.

"When he's on time, he's great," left tackle Trent Williams said. "When he's not on time, he improvises and is still able to do some great things. He's just a Hall of Fame back and he's one of the best to ever touch the football, so he's going to allow you things like that where he just makes plays."

AP Sports Writer Michael Marot contributed.

NEW ORLEANS — Before the 2017-18 regular season began, any conversation regarding the New Orleans Pelicans and brooms had something to do with the possibility the team would clean house.

That would have meant parting ways with coach Alvin Gentry and general manager Dell Demps if the Pelicans missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year despite having one of the NBA’s best players in Anthony Davis.

But now Russell Wilson Jersey , the broom means something very different.

Energized on both ends of the court, the Pelicans have the broom ready Saturday at the Smoothie King Center to sweep the faltering Portland Trail Blazers out of the Western Conference playoffs with a fourth consecutive victory in the first-round series.

With a win Saturday, the Pelicans would become the first playoff team seeded sixth or lower to sweep a first-round playoff series since the 2001 Charlotte Hornets swept the Miami Heat 3-0 in a best-of-five series.

“Closeout games are the hardest,” said New Orleans guard Rajon Rondo, a 32-year-old veteran who is the Pelicans’ second-oldest player, someone who has served as an on-court coach to his younger teammates. “That’s what I’m going to try to explain to these guys. The first three might have been tough, but this last one is going to be very tough.”

In routing the Blazers 119-102 on Thursday to take a 3-0 series lead, the Pelicans fed off a raucous sellout crowd and led by as many as 33 points in the second half, allowing Gentry to rest his starters. Davis finished with 28 points and 11 rebounds while nursing a sore left thumb, and forward Nikola Mirotic, acquired after center DeMarcus Cousins went down in late January with a season-ending Achilles injury, scored a career-playoff-high 30 points, with 14 in the first quarter.

Even though Portland’s normally potent guard tandem of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum had their best game of the series — combining for 42 of the Blazers’ 102 points — Lillard had trouble shaking free of the Pelicans’ trapping defense, which forced the ball out of his hands. Lillard made just 5 of 14 shots, including 3 of 9 from 3-point range.

“They whooped our butt,” said McCollum. “They beat us in every facet of the game: loose balls Justin Houston Jersey , rebounds, free-throw line, energy plays, 3-pointers in transition. … You name it, and they did it.”

The Pelicans have made a conscious decision to swarm Lillard and McCollum at every opportunity, daring other Blazers to beat them. Portland hasn’t adjusted properly to the strategy. Lillard has shot 32.7 percent in the three losses.

“I don’t think (defensive assistant coach) Darren Erman has gotten the credit that he deserves,” Gentry said. “He put together a great defensive game plan. It was him that brought the game plan to me and said, ‘This is what I want to do against them.'”

“You have to continue to mix it up and give them different looks,” Gentry added. “Even doing that, those guys got some shots off and made some real difficult shots. We’ve just got to make sure that we stay locked in and not let them get into one of those zones when it starts to go in and it doesn’t matter what kind of shot they’re shooting that it’s going to go in.”

Making matters worse for the Blazers is their injury status. Both Moe Harkless (left knee) and Evan Turner (right toe) are questionable for Game 4.

Portland coach Terry Stotts said the Pelicans have been tough to handle because a different player each night has shredded the Blazers’ defense.

“Going into the series, those four guys (Davis, Jrue Holiday, Mirotic and Rondo) have played extremely well,” Stotts said. “(Mirotic) is the third different guy who’s had a 30-point night. He’s very efficient, and he made a lot of smart basketball plays as well.”

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