New Schedule Should Mean New Expectations for the Redskins
By Richard Rogers
t’s time for fans to embrace high expectations for our Washington Redskins. The 2017 NFL season schedule was released yesterday, and for me, at this point, they are just opponents on paper. I’ve seen fans and pundits alike foolishly attempt to make season predictions. Folks, at the moment, we have a 10 pick draft looming for the Redskins, free agency is not over, and inevitable injuries have yet to be factored. But this I do know, the Redskins are no longer playing a 4-12 schedule. The Washington Redskins are an average team looking to get better. It’s time our schedule reflect where we are as a team.
I’ve seen a ton of 8-8, 9-7 predictions already. Looking beyond wins and losses, I still see a fan base afraid to take a leap of faith to predict a double digit win total for the upcoming season. If you’re going to go out on a limb this early, why be conservative? Look, we all know that this defense was horrific last season, and with even a middling one, this was a playoff team. The Redskins won 8 games last season, so why are some predicting 8 to 9 wins? When the dust settles on the off-season, will this be a better team than the one that suffered a bitter home loss against the Giants last New Year’s Day?
In my opinion, the schedule has some tough opponents, but it’s much more favorable in terms of the way the games are laid out than last season. They only have one pair of back to back road games as they travel to Dallas and Los Angeles to face the Chargers. The Redskins have a third consecutive year where they open the season at home. They also have an early week five BYE with a home game to follow. All division games will be tough. We don’t need any expert analysis to know that. The AFC West and NFC West are tough divisions, but what’s to say the Redskins won’t be a tough out themselves? If we are to believe the Redskins will heavily address the defense in the upcoming draft, could the narrative change in that the Redskins could challenge as division winners? The answer is we don’t know. What I do know is we have Kirk Cousins back, we think, for his third season as a starter. Jordan Reed is still a Redskin, as is Jamison Crowder. The defense has huge questions, but I can’t see it being worse.
Shenanigans in the front office aside, this team has been a steady build for the past 5 to 7 seasons. There is talent on this team, and it’s young. If the Redskins keep all ten of their draft picks next week, we’re talking about the addition of more youth and talent. All may not make the team or contribute this year, but it’s another shot in the arm from a personnel standpoint. For me, rather than trying to predict wins and losses, I like to look at what needs to happen for this team to take a big leap. Gruden’s extension was huge. Cousins needs a long term deal, and for my money, the coaching hires on the defensive side of the ball is where the proof will be. If Tomsula is the teacher that he’s being touted to be, then things are looking golden. Yeah, we don’t know about health and injuries, but neither does anyone else. On paper, every team looks good right now, and everyone has high expectations.
It’s time for us as fans to raise the bar. An 8-8 prediction is safe. If you don’t expect this team to be better than average, then we’re not making progress. There’s not a team on this schedule that that Redskins cannot beat. They won’t win them all, but who is there to fear, the Seahawks…the Raiders…the Giants? Before we concede defeat, let’s get through the draft, training camp and the pre-season, then we can hedge our bets. I’m predicting that this will be a better football team than last season. How that shakes out in terms of wins and losses, I don’t know. But I’m not afraid to predict that this team will be good.