Washington Redskins

In their second stint with Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs as head coach, the Washington Redskins made it to the playoffs twice but never came close to becoming anything like those three-time Super Bowl champion Redskin teams of the first Gibbs’ regime. Washington won its last four games last year – using their 36-year-old backup QB, no less – to nab a wild-card berth. And they had a chance to win their playoff game at Seattle, leading 14-13 in the fourth quarter, before two Todd Collins' INTs went the other way for scores.

Gibbs could see the writing on the wall, and he retired shortly after the season. Washington had a bit of a tough time finding a new head coach, and finally settled on one without any head coaching experience. Jim Zorn, the former NFL pivot and most recently a QB coach, inherits an average offensive squad that ranked 15^th last year overall at 333 YPG and 12^th in rushing at 117 YPG, as well as a defensive unit that ranked 8^th overall at 305 YPG and 4^th vs. the run at just 91 YPG. Washington also ranked 7^th in average time-of-possession last year at +2:20 and 9^th in total yardage at +28 per game. But the 'Skins could only manage to beat the NFL betting odds seven times in their 17 games last year.

In his first season as the starter at QB, Jason Campbell hit 60% of his passes for a 12/11 TD/INT ratio before going down with a knee injury in Week 14. And while he's the likely starter going into this season, Collins performed well in relief – directing Washington to those four straight victories to end last season, including wins at the Giants and at Minnesota. In fact, in the three games Collins started, the Redskins averaged 27 points; in their other 13 games, they averaged 19.5. RB Clinton Portis returned to form last year, for the most part, running for a solid 1,200 yards. But an upgrade at WR was needed so two of the 'Skins top three draft picks went toward that position. And TE Chris Cooley has developed into a reliable weapon.

The defense kept Washington in a lot of games last year, and will be asked to do the same this season. The Redskins tried something new this offseason; instead of buy new (but old) talent on the free agency market, they made 10 picks on draft day. Coach Zorn is installing a version of the West Coast attack on offense and while that may pay dividends down the line, that kind of change often takes time to show results. Playing in the toughest division in the NFC won't help their playoff chances, either, as reflected in the current football betting lines.