Thursday, October 21, 2010

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.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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.
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)

Monday, October 18, 2010

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)