Sometimes taking a step back is a good thing. Redskins fans have spent the preseason fretting about so much — a vulnerable offensive line, Jason Campbell‘s development, talented, but inconsistent, wide receivers — that it’s easy to forget that this flawed roster still has a reasonable chance to make the playoffs. At least one national analyst thinks so, anyway.
“The Redskins are one of those teams that if at the end of the season they finish first in the [NFC East] it would not totally shock me,” NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth told The Examiner during a media conference call earlier this week. “And that’s because of the way they play defense.”
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Collinsworth noted that a team that allowed just 288.8 yards per game in 2008 added defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth and took impressive linebacker Brian Orakpo in the first round of this year’s NFL Draft. But is that really enough to overcome what many analysts see as the NFL’s toughest division?
The Giants won a Super Bowl in 2007 and had football’s best regular-season record last season. The Eagles reached the NFC title game in 2008. The Cowboys have underachieved, but still have talent. Can Washington’s offense improve to the point it can contend with those clubs through six division games?
“It’s not like the Redskins don’t have weapons,” Collinsworth said. “They can make some plays. I know they averaged 16.6 points per game [in 2008]. But in the second year under Jim Zorn they’re going to be better than that.”
These are some serious “ifs.” But, according to Collinsworth, if that aging offensive line does hold up and a young receiver does develop into a legitimate second or third option and Campbell does make strides then everything else is in place for a playoff run. And that hasn’t always been obvious to local fans during a shaky preseason prior to last night’s finale at Jacksonville.
“I don’t know how good the Redskins are going to be this season,” Collinsworth said. “Maybe really good. And maybe scary good on the defensive side of the ball.”
