John Clayton on the Redskins' Playoff Chances

It is fun to read these predictions but the truth is it long season and there are so many things out of the team's control that who knows what may happen. I doubt any of us thought this time last year that the Cards would be playing in the Superbowl.

If we add 5 PPG and Zorn doesn't change his philosophy to do so, that would mean we would have a top 5 offense, a top 10 defense, and we would win 13 games without breaking a sweat.

So 21 PPG is by no means some magic mark that we have to make. At 19 PPG, this is a playoff team. That's just over 300 points in a season. And the defense and special teams might actually contribute as well this year.

If we add 5 PPG and Zorn doesn't change his philosophy to do so, that would mean we would have a top 5 offense, a top 10 defense, and we would win 13 games without breaking a sweat.

So 21 PPG is by no means some magic mark that we have to make. At 19 PPG, this is a playoff team. That's just over 300 points in a season. And the defense and special teams might actually contribute as well this year.

I agree. The 21 ppg mark is arbitrary and, as much as I'd like to score 21 ppg, we can win many games scoring less.

I also agree with the comments above about the red zone offense. That really needs fixing. If Cooley has the red zone TD's that he should have (but didn't last year), the Redskins are a much better team.

5 ppg totally rests with Jason's throwing arm and Clinton's health. We haven't done anything to help them.

So, i think we're a contender, but not a favorite to make the playoffs.

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.

Mike Sellers on the one-yard line last year!!! Who were we playing again?

It is fun to read these predictions but the truth is it long season and there are so many things out of the team's control that who knows what may happen. I doubt any of us thought this time last year that the Cards would be playing in the Superbowl.

It is indeed a long season. We averaged 20.6 points in the first eight games of the season last year and 12.5 in the last eight games of the season. Maybe this is where John Clayton got his 21 points from...

Suisham had a down year last year and if we only get 1 more fieldgoal a game that puts our average at 19.6. Zorn has worked on the redzone offense extensively this year and Fred Davis will actually contribute. Our offense will be better this year and score more points and our defense could realistically become "elite". Cooley will get more TD's and Thomas and Kelly will contribute. Yes, we're going to the playoffs.

Suisham had a down year last year and if we only get 1 more fieldgoal a game that puts our average at 19.6. Zorn has worked on the redzone offense extensively this year and Fred Davis will actually contribute. Our offense will be better this year and score more points and our defense could realistically become "elite". Cooley will get more TD's and Thomas and Kelly will contribute. Yes, we're going to the playoffs.

Suisham didn't miss 16 FGs beyond his normal miss rate. The best answer is to convert red zone opportunities into TDs, and leave Suisham on the sideline.

Suisham didn't miss 16 FGs beyond his normal miss rate. The best answer is to convert red zone opportunities into TDs, and leave Suisham on the sideline.

I agree and think we'll do a lot better in the redzone this year. I also expect Suisham to have a better year. I think we can expect at least 3 more points per game than last year.

Suisham didn't miss 16 FGs beyond his normal miss rate. The best answer is to convert red zone opportunities into TDs, and leave Suisham on the sideline.But there were at least 10-12 reasonably makeable FG situations that were passed on because the game situation dictated that 3 points wouldn't have changed the outcome.

Ergo, projecting an increase of 30-45 points due to improvements in the results of FG games is realistic. However, then any increase in the Touchdown projections would be worth 4 points per, because we can't double count the game situations in which we came away with zero points. We can add 3 points in those situations with no theoretical improvement, or 7 points with a small theoretical improvement, but under no situation can those be 10 point situations.

The bottom line is that a progression to the mean based on last year's talent should yield about 19 PPG. To get up to 21, and get those 6-7 extra touchdowns out of those FG attempts, the offense has to improve situationally, both in the red zone, and in the 30+ yd play categories.

I think we can extrapolate that if the offense simply isn't worse than last year, we're dealing with a playoff team. If it progresses just by 2-3 PPG (on top of the 2.5 PPG progression to mean yardage totals), we're talking about a SB contender. 2-3 PPG won't be easy though, and if we start trading in additional turnovers for points, we're going to cost ourselves more wins than the points will gain us.