Redskins Fun By The Numbers

A little trip down memory lane......I definitely do not miss swinging gate...gate. Anyway, as we near the halfway point of the NFL season. I decided to take a look at some the stats to get an idea of how good the Skins have played, and also just some 'whaddya know' figures.

• Record: 3-3 = .500 = mediocrity
• Point differential: -9
• Offensively, rank 15th in total yards per game, 25th in rushing yards per game, and 9th in passing yards per game. We are 20th in points scored per game.
• Defensively, rank 32nd out of 32 teams (dead last) in yards per game, 31st in passing yards per game, and 24th in rushing yards per game.We are 14th in points against per game.
• Football Outsiders metrics have us as the 19th best team in the league through 6 weeks. FO also has the Skins as the 16th best offense, 23rd best defense, and 15th best special teams.
• Chris Wilson has 5 solo tackles and 3 forced fumbles. No, this does not mean if he starts he would force at least 3 fumbles per game. In related news, Roddy White has forced 2 fumbles, and so does Ryan Lindell?!?
• Brandon Lloyd leads the league in receiving yards. Wai...wha!?! He's averaging 110.5 yards per game.
• Santana Moss in on pace for 99 catches and 1,293 yards, which would be his best season since 2005, his first one in DC.
• Chris Cooley is on pace for 75 catches and 907 yards, which would be the best season of his career. The concussion will affect that line, but in closing, Pro Bowl.
• Joey Galloway is on pace for 21 catches and 371 yards.
• LaRon Landry leads the league in tackles, London Fletcher is 3rd, and D******* Hall is 13th. Hmm, you think teams might be picking on him? Hall has 43% more tackles than the next-highest CB.
• Brian Orakpo is on pace for 13 sacks, tied for 9th in the league.
• Devin Thomas is (was?) 8th in the league in kickoff return average.
• In his limited attempts, Brandon Banks is 2nd in the league in punt return average.

My new favorite NFL player. Notice how they talk right over his head.

• Antwaan Randle-El is dead last in punt return average amongst players with 7 or more punt returns.
• Donovan McNabb has the 24th best passer rating in the league, at 78.8.
• Jason Campbell's passer ratings the last 2 seasons were 86.4 and 84.3.
• McNabb is behind both Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb in QB rating, YPA, and interception rate.
• FO's metrics have not been updated to account for this past weekend's games, but going into the weekend, had McNabb as the 10th best quarterback overall so far (by DYAR), and as the 12th best on a per-play basis (DVOA).
• McNabb's performance level thusfar by metrics is similar to that of Joe Flacco and Carson Palmer last year. His mediocre performance against a bad defense indicates that his numbers will decline after the week 6 stats are included though.

For all the 'we should be 4-2' talk, the Skins have really played like a 3-3 or 2-4 team. McNabb has been mediocre, and the team has managed to stay relatively healthy; the offense would be a wasteland without Tana or D-Mac. The bright side is that 5 of our 6 remaining non-division games are against teams ranked lower than us in FO's metrics, so if we can just keep up current form and sneak out another game out of our 4 remaining divisional contests, we could be playoff bound.

(Image courtesy of washingtonpost.com)