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Factual Evidence of Redskins Success
By Jamie Mottram | November 5, 2007
At some point during Washington’s 23-20 comeback overtime victory against the Jets, Chris text messaged me from a bar in Charlotte saying that, “We are not even close to a playoff team.”
Despite needing every one of Shaun “Shazzam!” Suisham’s five field goals and a two-point conversion to get by a one-win team, I respectfully disagree. I do so because the facts, as they are, suggest otherwise:
1. Beatpaths has the Redskins at No. 7 overall, No. 4 in the NFC. And that’s before the win at New York. I’ve written about this site before, but, basically, their rankings are based on “wins, losses, who beats who, and nothing else.” It doesn’t care that a win came in overtime or a loss was by 45. Just wins and losses, and, by that measure, the Skins are damn near elite. Update: The Skins hold strong at 7.
2. Football Outsiders has the Redskins at No. 13 overall, No. 7 in the NFC. Again, that’s before the win at New York, where Washington outgained the Jets by nearly 100 yards. Their rankings are based on all types of statistical measures — nothing subjective — so they’re sure to move up this week. Update: They actually dropped a spot.
3. The three teams Washington has lost to are awesome. The combined record of New England, Green Bay and the Giants is 22-3. There’s no shame in losing to them, especially with two of the games being on the road and two of them going down to the wire.
So yeah, while the Redskins certainly don’t look like a playoff team, they’re actually playing like one. As a fan, I’ll take 5-3. Double it up, and you’ve got 10-6, a record that would likely result in wide open NFC postseason action.
What’s funny is I could’ve posted these same three items before the Jets game, but I didn’t for fear of jinxing yet another DC team. Such is life when rooting for fragile, yet irrefutable, contenders.
Topics: Stats Are Cool, Redskins |
6 Responses to “Factual Evidence of Redskins Success”
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November 5th, 2007 at 11:08 am
I was in an extremely emotional state when I sent that text. They’re totally winning the Super Bowl.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am
“Depression is closely followed by delusions of grandeur.”
November 5th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Now the jinxing can commence, uninterrupted.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
In thinking about this more (because, really, that’s all I can do on Mondays), the Redskins finish 10-6 if they beat the teams that currently have worse records than them (Philly, TB, Buff, Chi and Minn) and lose to the teams that currently have better records than them (Dallas, NYG and Dallas again).
November 5th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
I love your “double it up” mathematical formula for determining how the Skins will fare in the second half of the season.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:06 am
FanHouse has a decent midseason report bringing up two good facts: 1. They’ve matched their win total from last year (god last year sucked) and 2. Aside from the NE game, the defense is only giving up 15 per.