STATSBOMB: Week Seven - Washington Redskins 17, Chicago Bears 14

Pluck out my eyes! This performance looked like a couple of naked mole rats bumping uglies, but at the merciful conclusion, the victory was Washington's, and as they say - a win is a win is a win. In today's Statsbomb, I'm going to flip the script and start with the bad stuff, finishing with the positive stats.

• McNabb's Completion %: 53.1
• Possible Explanation: Donovan has a grudge against the ground and wanted to pummel it with footballs
• McNabb's QB Rating Advantage Over 4-pick Cutler: 2.5
• Points scored after D-Hall's 3rd INT at the Chicago 13 Yard Line: 0
• Number of balls put on the ground by Washington: 6 (5 recovered)
• Latest player infected with the Clinton Portis "Falling Sickness": Brandon Banks
• McNabb's Best Play: Delay of Game penalty, negating pick-six
• Offensive Points Scored: 10
• Best Coaching for the Redskins: Lovie Smith, failing to challenge Cutler's sneak at the goal line
• Consecutive Offsides Penalties Committed by Brian Orakpo: 2
• Number of Drives where Redskins Failed to Gain 10 Yards: 8
• Number of Drives where Redskins Gained 10+ Yards: 7
• Number of Drives Started in Chicago Territory: 4
• Points Scored From Those Drives: 3
• Washington 3-and-outs: 6
• Person Who Should Never Cover Redskins' Games Ever Again After Spending 20 Seconds Arguing that D-Hall's Pick-Six Should Have Drawn an Excessive Celebration Penalty: Troy Aikman
• Rank of Fan Rating for WSH-CHI on NFL.com among Sunday's Games: Last Place
• Candidates for Most Typical Play of the Game
• An errant Cutler throw ricochets off of the front of Landry's helmet, kisses the Goodyear blimp, and then falls complete into the arms of a Bears' O-lineman who catches a case of the falling sickness
• The aforementioned McNabb pick-six negated by a delay of game penalty
• Brandon Banks/Ryan Torain/Donovan McNabb/Chris Cooley fumble, then somehow prevent disaster from happening by recovering
• Donovan McNabb throws the ball at the ground, hard

There was at least one pretty moment on offense.

And the good...

• Number of Rushes Netting 10+ Yards by Torain: 5
• Number of Chicago Drives that Did Not Exceed 3 Plays:  8 (6 3-and-outs, 2 INTs)
• Redskins 2010 Turnover Margin: +8
• Ratio of 2010 Wins to 2009 Wins: 1:1
• Ratio of Total Turnovers Forced in 2010 to 2009: 1:1 (17 turnovers in each year)
• Interceptions by DeAngelo Hall:  F*CKING FOUR F*CKING INTERCEPTIONS IN ONE F*CKING GAME!!!!!
• Returned Prodigal Son: Albert Haynesworth
• Sequence of Chicago's Final Seven Drives Following it's TD: Fumble, INT, INT, Fumble, INT, Punt, INT (it's like Morse Code for "FAIL")
• Rank of D-Hall among Chicago Receivers: T-2nd (4 catches)
• Best Anecdote: In the locker room after the win, the coaches wanted to award the game ball to D-Hall, but he deferred and passed along the honor to Haslett for his scheme.

STATSBOMB: Week Six - Indianapolis Colts 27, Washington Redskins 24

Another excellent loss!  The Redskins made it a hell of a game, and the faithful believing that they can play with anyone (OK, maybe not the Steelers), and make plays in all phases of the game.  On to the stats:

• Best two game streak: Redskins win time of possession battle
• Ryan Torain's YPC: 5.0
• 360 Spins by Torain: At least one
• Redskins 2010 Turnover Margin: +5
• Result of Indy's Third Offensive Play: False Start (way to go FedEx!)
• Dropped or fumbled returns by Brandon Banks: 0
• Reasons to think Banks is NOT the real deal on returns: None
• % of Completed Passes to People Not Named Cooley or Moss: 55.2%
• Average # of Targets for Armstrong over the Last Two Games: 7
• Chris Cooley Catch Rate and YPC: 62.5%, 7.4
• Fred Davis Catch Rate and YPC: 75%, 7.7
• Rank of Santana Moss Among WRs for # of Receptions: T-4
• Clinton Portis' 2010 YPC: 4.0 (on 49 carries)
• Ryan Torain's 2010 YPC: 4.2 (on 61 carries)
• Best Playcall: 4th Qtr, 3:41 left - Following 9 consecutive passing plays, Keiland Williams rushes right for 14 yards to the Indy 5.
• Best performance on a single drive: Philip Buchanan vs. Reggie Wayne in the last 4 minutes of the 4th - two pass deflections

 From the Let's Not Make It A Trend Files:

• Holding penalties on Trent Williams: 2
• Worst Penalty: Illegal Wedge, nullifying 29 yard punt return
• Number of opponent's spectacular receptions that really cost the Redskins: 2

STATSBOMB: Week Five - Green Bay Packers 13, Washington Redskins 16

Hail yeah!  The Skins won at home in a manner that chased away some of the ghosts haunting this team's recent history - they came from behind against a strong opponent and won a close game by gutting it out.  On a day when Dallas reminded us that bad teams find creative ways to lose, Washington found a way to win.  This game was certainly not pretty, especially in the first half, but the Skins made some adjustments and hit Green Bay in the mouth over and over, until they were decimated.  By the end of the game, the Packers D had that disinterested hands-on-hips stance between plays that shows that they had resigned themselves to losing, and Washington seized the opportunity.  A good day for Redskins nation, and while this is exactly the type of game that can't be accurately reflected in statistics, I'll stick to the plan and drop a STATSBOMB:

• % of Redskins' Time of Possession vs. Green Bay: 51.2%
• Redskins' Time of Possession Battle Standings in 2010: 1-4
• Time that Washington held Green Bay scoreless in the Second Half and OT: 29 minutes, 24 seconds
• Green Bay's 3rd Down Conversion Rate: 15.4%
• Washington's 3rd Down Conversion Rate: 29.4%
• # of Redskins WRs with 3 or More Receptions: 3

• # of Punts by Hunter Downed Inside the 20: 5 (62.5%)
• # of Rushes Called by Washington (no QB scrambles): 19
• # of Rushes Called by Green Bay (no QB scrambles): 13
• Penalty Differential: Green Bay +5
• First Down Differential: Washington +4
• Washington First Downs by Penalty: 5
• Washington Season Turnover Margin: +4
• Number of Games Washington Has Had More Turnovers Than Opponent: 0
• % of Sub-50 Yard Field Goal Attempts Made by Graham Gano: 100%
• Average Green Bay Kickoff Return: 13.6 yards
• Rank of Redskins Among NFL Teams with Passes of 50+ yards: 1 (5 plays)
• Name of Team That Played More Physical Football on Sunday: Washington Redskins
• Rank of Laron Landry for Solo Tackles in NFL: 1 (41, + 11 assisted)
• Adjectives Appropriately Describing the Play of Brandon Banks: Electric, Explosive, Field-flipping
• Deafening Chant Begun By Fans in OT, Unprompted by A/V Cues: "DE-FENSE!"
• Approximate Number of Seconds Chants of "Go Pack Go" Lasted Before Being Drowned Out By Skins' Fans: 1
• Players That Are Amazing to Watch This Season: Brian Orakpo, Laron Landry, Anthony Armstrong, Brandon Banks, Hunter Smith, Graham Gano, Lorenzo Alexander, Trent Williams, Donovan McNabb, Chris Cooley, Santana Moss

From the WTF Files:

• Status of Offensive Guard Derrick Dockery: Inactive
• First Half Defensive Gameplan: Run to Spot on Field, Hope that Green Bay Receiver Also Runs to Same Spot
•  Steaks Eaten and Workouts Completed to Slow Jams by Laron Landry Within 13 Hours of Kickoff: 2, 2

STATSBOMB: Week Four - Washington Redskins 17, Philadelphia Eagles 12

It's a win in Philly!  Skins move to 2-0 in the division, but again showcase Jekyll and Hyde tendencies.  The ground game got going and the D played like 2008, but it would be inaccurate to say that this team is scaring anybody.

The bright spots:

• Redskins' rushing yards vs. Eagles: 169 on 35 attempts (4.8 ypc) 
• Chance that a Redskins playcall was a rush: 63.6% (including scrambles)
  
• # of quarters since a Redskins punt return went for 50+ yards: 108
• Ratio of hits by Redskins to hits by Eagles that made you wish Jacked Up still existed: 3:0 (Torain on Mikell, Alexander on Calvin, Hall/Moore on Vick)
• McNabb's first half QB rating: 156.2
• Average receiving yards by Eagles top 2 WRs through weeks 1 through 3:  155 yards per game
  
• % of this average allowed by Redskins: 22% (34 combined yards for Jackson and Maclin)
• Redskins' average yards per reception vs. Eagles: 15.6
• # of fumbles forced by Redskins: 4 (1 recovered)
• Redskins' 2010 Turnover Margin: +3
  
• # of sacks surrendered by Redskins' offensive line: 1
  
• Redskins' players who outperformed their statlines: Albert Haynesworth, Brian Orakpo, Stephon Heyer (for run blocking), Santana Moss (also for run blocking)
• # of holding penalties called on Orakpo's blocker: 2
• Best joke about Orakpo: Dude must not have been held enough as a baby.

 

The better-but-but-still-not-good stats:

• Improvement in % of time of possession from Weeks 1 through 3: +2.3% (45.1% possession vs 42.8%)
• Improvement in offensive play deficit to opponents from Weeks 1 through 3: +8 (Eagles ran 13 more plays than Skins, vs. average of 21 in Weeks 1 through 3)

 From the WTF files:

• Elapsed time in second half before Redskins were down to sole remaining timeout: 86 seconds
• Points scored on that 2-TO drive: 0
• McNabb's second half QB rating: 1.7
• % of total Redskins' points scored in 4th quarter and OT: 4.1% (3/73)
• % of opponents points scored in 4th quarter and OT: 35.4% (28/79)
• # of WRs who had a reception that gained yardage: 2 (Armstrong and Galloway)
• # of times Santana Moss was targeted: 1
• # of plays that could have turned out differently that would result in an 0-4 record: 2
• Nominees for most typical Redskins play:
A)  Donovan McNabb scrambles for crucial first down with less than four minutes left, but runs out of bounds instead of sliding   B)  Carlos Rogers prolongs another game with a dropped INT   C)  The game ends with the other team having a shot to win   D)  Shanahan burns his second TO in the second half with over 28 minutes left   E)  Armstrong gets jacked up by the turf monster