Redskins Fans: Hold Your Heads Up High

Where are the Skins in the NFC East standings right now? As the Skins have slid to 3rd place in the division, at least we can holds our heads up high as true fans, and not some front-runners like many of those supporting our rivals:

This reminds me of a time when Dallas had Super Bowl aspirations and then limped out to a 1-4 start, managing more unsportsmanlike endzone celebration penalties than wins in the process.

So where are the Skins in the standings right now? Ahead of Dallas.

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)

Week 6: Colts 27, Redskins 24: Knee Jerk Reactions

Football season is nearing the halfway point! The hair pulling, TV-screaming, remote control throwing and furious cigarette smoking are in full swing. Before I let rationality cloud my judgment, here are my knee-jerk reactions from the sixth game of the season:

One of 4 dropped INTs

One the one hand I never should have doubted we would take this to the wire. On the other hand, I have had this one in the loss column ever since the schedule came out, so this doesn't hurt that bad. It's late and I have a Mad Men finale to attend to, so without further adieu here are my other thoughts:

• Adam Vinatieri
  
• McNabb was the same as ever, just no big plays. He is very mediocore - FO had him as the 10th best quarterback going into this week, and on a per play basis has been equivalent to Vince Young. I'll still take that 2nd round pick back......
• Colts just dominated us, but made a lot of mistakes, 5 fumbles, 3 near Manning INTs, and Vinatieri missing a FG inside 40 yards.
• Did they throw Justin Tryon out there on a kick return just to rub it in our faces that we shouldn't have cut him?
• I think we needed Fat Albert more than ever today. Yes, I know his conditioning is suspect, but how about the fake injuries? I am dead serious when I say that a couple fake injuries might have done wonders for our D.
• I am tired of hearing that our defense isn't awful, because it is. Bend but don't break sounds okay, but keeps our offense off the field. This business with us being good in the red zone is likely fluky and a trend that won't continue given that our defense stick all over the rest of the field.
• Make no mistake, Peyton Manning is the best player in the NFL. In addition to just being good throwing the ball, his excellence in calling the offense and protection means that he literally makes every player on his offense much better. Addai seemed to have a nice game, but that was because Manning's passing forced the Skins into nickel/dime D, and only then was Addai deployed in full.
• Ryan Torain>Clinton Portis
• Silverback has played well under with some tough matchups, but the injuries and now penalties are a concern. He is going to make a run at the title of most penalized player at this rate. He's averaging more than 1 holding call per game I'm pretty sure.
• Call be a believer, but the Bears are a team we should beat without going down to the last play.

(Image courtesy of www.statesman.com)