NFL
If you’re a believer in trends then…if the six-year trend in the NFC East continues this season, the Washington Redskins will win the NFC East.
Washington’s modern-day Over the Hill Gang is a far cry from George Allen’s famously grizzled 1971 roster that averaged 31 years of age. But this year’s Redskins are 4-2 and atop the division with a roster that includes 30-somethings Trent Williams (30), Ryan Kerrigan (30), Josh Norman (31), Adrian Peterson (33), Vernon Davis (34) and, of course, Kirk Cousins’ successor, Alex Smith (34).
While Cousins has wowed an adoring new fan base as the leader of the 3-2-1 Minnesota Vikings, Redskins Nation shares a so far, so good feeling about Alex Smith’s first six starts.
Washington also is enjoying something the Vikings saw an awful lot of: Adrian Peterson is on pace for the eighth 1,000-yard season of his Hall of Fame career.
“I think Adrian enjoys not being pigeonholed in a role,” Alex Smith said of Adrian Peterson’s receptions this year. “I think that can happen to old guys. You get told what you can and can’t do.”
The Redskins lead the NFC East despite a six-game stretch that looks like this: Win, loss, win, loss, win, win.
But that’s the kind of inconsistency – and trend, one finds in the NFC East. Every year since 2012, the division has crowned a champion that didn’t have a winning record the previous season.
Once thought to be a shoo-in to repeat the Philadelphia Eagles are struggling and the NFC East is now shaping up to be a much more wide-open race. And that will benefit the Redskins.
Before the season began, if you were to ask any NFL fan who they thought would be in first place in the NFC East in the month of October, I’m willing to bet the house that nobody said Washington.
The fact is that the division is wide open and it’s really there for the taking.
The Philadelphia Eagles don’t look quite as strong as they did last year en route to their Super Bowl victory.
The Dallas Cowboys have been solid on defense, but their passing offense has been a mess.
And as for the New York Giants, their team is virtually a non-contender.
So, it goes back to the Redskins. The team has put two solid wins together, they have a strong defense, but they do not have a strong group of wide receivers.
At the end of the day, it’s not out of the question for any team to go on a run and really start to pull away from the pack, but this season it feels like the NFC East is going to be more of a close race than last year.
It’s defiantly shaping up to be very interesting and the Washington Redskins have a fighting chance.
And that’s what matters.
Written by Julio Olmo – The Voice of One!
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