Redskins 9-7: Bank On It!

In a league where it’s possible for a 1-15 Dolphins team to win their division the next season and where the Lions are actually capable of winning two games at all, I don’t think it’s unrealistic to expect vast improvement in the Redskins this season. I think the Redskins have the potential to win nine games, and, with the new personnel that the team has on board, I think my prediction can be easily met.

Consider that, last year, seven of the Redskins’ losses came by a margin of a touchdown or less, with an additional loss coming by eight points. These are games whose results could have easily been shifted by having an experienced head coach and a proven quarterback, both of which we lacked in 2009. We have both of these elements in place this year, with Mike Shanahan as coach, one who has proven his coaching ability as a two-time Super Bowl winner and Donovan McNabb as quarterback, a player whose Eagles’ teams only missed the playoffs twice and had a losing record once in the past 10 years. With an all-time great coach and an all-time great quarterback at the helm, I don’t think the Redskins lose as many close games.

My projection is also borne out by statistical analysis. A Washington Post column by Brian Burke (Washington Post) postulates that, if we could place Donovan McNabb’s stats into the games of the Redskins’ 2009 season, even with all other factors being the same, the Redskins would have won 10 games. Even without McNabb, the team would have been expected to win 7.5 games were it not for statistical flukes, which may be attributable to being led by Jason Campbell and Jim Zorn.

Given these factors, nine wins don’t sound unrealistic at all. Of course, my projection is dependent on Donovan McNabb remaining healthy for the entire season and Mike Shanahan being able to regain the coaching touch that evaded him the last few years in Denver. However, both men have long track records of success and Shanahan’s handling of the Albert Haynesworth situation has proven that he remembers how to be a strong leader. Therefore, my 9-7 projection stands and I have every confidence that it will be achieved.