John Clayton on the Redskins' Playoff Chances

If the defense plays to its potential, there will be more scoring opportunities. I would like to see offensive improvement by everyone. The offensive line needs to protect for Campbell better and be more consistent run blocking from game to game. They had some outstanding games, some let downs and some games where they couldn't convert in short yardage situations. I expect improvement. I want Clinton Portis to remain healthy and I'm looking for more contribution from Ledell Betts. The wide receivers need the most improvement on the entire team. Santana Moss and Chris Cooley carry too much of the load. Need Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly and Fred Davis to step up and contribute. Special teams need improvement, especially the punter and punt returns. Coaches need to step up as well. The offense and defense playcalling was conservative at times and I would like to see the team attack more.

Reasonable take by Clayton. If the offense improves to even an average one I would fully expect us to be in the running for the playoffs.

If my calculations are correct we're talking about scoring about 70 more points (or 7 TDs) more than we did last year to get to 21 points, which could be a tall order...but my math has never been good.

Still, 21 points a game seems like something most NFL teams should be able to achieve with some regularity.

Clayton is generally pretty positive about the Redskins. He usually thinks they have the talent to be at least a solid Wild Card team

When I watched the redskins last year the biggest issue was in the redzone. They just would constantly breakdown within the 20's. Also it seemed that Zorn lost his aggressive nature in the second 8 games. It was like the league caught up with his playcalling and he didn't adjust.

The defense should get better and hopefully cause more turnovers. which would mean shorter fields for the offense. My hope is that not only does Thomas steps up this year but also Fred Davis steps up as well. That way we could use more 2 TE sets.

The biggest problem the Redskins have is BIG PLAYS(20 YRDS PLUS) & SHORT YARDAGE
More down field passed and a RB(aka Anthony Aldridge) that can take it the distance.
I love Portis for 5-10yrds , but hes not goint to take it to the house. Take it to the house backs, like M.Turner,A. Peterson,W.Parker, they can change a close game.

5 points a game can be a lot. BUT...the addition of Haynesworth and Orakpo should help us with field position. You'd have to think that is worth a point or two a game alone(as long as our kicker can make field goals). The advancement of the offense in general and health along the OLine should be worth another two or three points (although health could go up in smoke of course). That leaves just a shade of need that our WRs improve. So yeah I have some hope that it can come together to get us up into the 20's.

Well even with good field position we weren't able to capitalize enough. Coaches and players have both pointed out our red zone performance as being sub par; to me that means that we need WR and O-Line production. Even with good field position if we walk away with 0 or 3 most of the time, it was only that, good field position.

So you mean half the teams with a lower PPG than us had more turnovers and half didn't? That's not much of a stat. No doubt turnovers could greatly help, but lets not disguise the real issue. Our red zone offense. When you get 7 instead of 3, 21 becomes much easier. Between the 30s our offense looked great. Inside the 30s... not so much.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I think you misunderstood me -- or perhaps I'm misunderstanding you...

We were 17th in *picks* -- not ppg. So, the 16 teams ranked above us -- in picks -- all scored over 21 ppg (with the exception of 2 teams).

If my calculations are correct we're talking about scoring about 70 more points (or 7 TDs) more than we did last year to get to 21 points, which could be a tall order...but my math has never been good.

Still, 21 points a game seems like something most NFL teams should be able to achieve with some regularity.

Clayton is generally pretty positive about the Redskins. He usually thinks they have the talent to be at least a solid Wild Card team

Yeah your math is terrible, LOL. 7 TDs translates into 49 more points, not 70. You need 10 TDs for 70 points.

But it's not quite as simple as just coming up with 10 more TDs throughout the year, because to do so you need a ton more opportunities. The other way to get more points is to come away with fewer field goals, and instead convert to TDs.

If we converted 10 FGs to TDs, we'd be one of the best red zone teams in the NFL, and it would still get us only 40 additional points (7-3) x 10 = 40.

Then we could get more opportunities by getting more turnovers on the defensive side. And the other way is to turn offensive series that never were real opportunities into TDs by way of the huge big play; for example when you're on your own 20 you don't really consider it a scoring opportunity, but if you hit on a long bomb for 80 yards, then you have a chance to make it happen.

To get 70 more points I think you need all 3, which is a tall order. You need to punch it in when in the red zone (hopefully Dockery helps, but he can only do so much). You need to capture more turnovers, which Haynesworth should help with. And you need to hit on the big play, which is where pass protection comes in for the 7 step drop.

You can't get to 70 without all of the above taking place.

The biggest problem the Redskins have is BIG PLAYS(20 YRDS PLUS) & SHORT YARDAGE
More down field passed and a RB(aka Anthony Aldridge) that can take it the distance.
I love Portis for 5-10yrds , but hes not goint to take it to the house. Take it to the house backs, like M.Turner,A. Peterson,W.Parker, they can change a close game.

I agree to an extent, but it's sort of what we've molded CP into. That and our downfield run blocking hasn't been so great in the past few years.

Yeah your math is terrible, LOL. 7 TDs translates into 49 more points, not 70. You need 10 TDs for 70 points.

But it's not quite as simple as just coming up with 10 more TDs throughout the year, because to do so you need a ton more opportunities. The other way to get more points is to come away with fewer field goals, and instead convert to TDs.

If we converted 10 FGs to TDs, we'd be one of the best red zone teams in the NFL, and it would still get us only 40 additional points (7-3) x 10 = 40.

Then we could get more opportunities by getting more turnovers on the defensive side. And the other way is to turn offensive series that never were real opportunities into TDs by way of the huge big play; for example when you're on your own 20 you don't really consider it a scoring opportunity, but if you hit on a long bomb for 80 yards, then you have a chance to make it happen.

To get 70 more points I think you need all 3, which is a tall order. You need to punch it in when in the red zone (hopefully Dockery helps, but he can only do so much). You need to capture more turnovers, which Haynesworth should help with. And you need to hit on the big play, which is where pass protection comes in for the 7 step drop.

You can't get to 70 without all of the above taking place.

LOL. I'm the Firstdown of Math :)

Definitely agree about converting field goals to touchdowns, that is a huge factor