Redskins and Cowboys Renew the Greatest Rivalry in the NFL

This Sunday, on national primetime TV, the NFL regular season concludes with the biggest rivalry in the league with the NFC East title on the line. In a win or go home game, the 8-7 Dallas Cowboys face off against the 9-6 Washington Redskins, who are riding a six game win streak. The winner hosts a playoff game next week, while the loser watches the postseason from home.

DC has never hosted this rivalry game with as much on the line before. The cheapest tickets on Stub Hub start at $200 and I have been wearing my sweet t-shirt all week. Not only did Sports Illustrated vote it the biggest rivalry in the NFL, but the two clubs are the most valuable in the league and top five in the world. The Cowboys were “America’s Team” but after 15 years since their last Super Bowl, the country has grown tiresome of the hype, as witnessed by the map below of who viewers want to win the game:

Will rookie sensation RGIII lead the Redskins to their first division title since 1999 or will Tony Romo avenge his recent end of season struggles? Will two of the top five offenses in the league put on a shootout or will the nerves and the moment get to the teams in a low scoring grudge match? I cannot wait for Sunday Night!

Browns and Redskins Fighting for the Playoffs?

This week, my two favorite NFL teams square off for the first time in four years at a crucial time in the season. Being in separate conferences, the Redskins and Browns rarely face each other. The last time they played each other was back in October 2008 as Washington hosted Cleveland in a 14-11 win while I sat in the nosebleeds. This Sunday, they meet both still in playoff contention this late for the first time in several seasons.

The main story line this week will be the health of rookie of the year/MVP candidate RG3, but the Redskins and Browns also sport several other key rookies. Washington’s Alfred Morris has 1,228 rushing yards, kicker Kai Forbath is 14 of 14 on FGs so far, while backup QB Kirk Cousins won the game for Washington last week. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s rookie trio of Brandon Weeden, Trent Richardson and Josh Morgan are the first rookie QB, RB, and WR combo to start for a team since 1970. Weeden has the most wins for a rookie in team history, Richardson has the most touchdowns for a rookie, even surpassing Jim Brown, while Gordon leads NFL rookies in yardage.

Here are some other quick facts for the match-up: 

• The Redskins have won four straight for the first time since 2008, including three in a row against NFC East rivals
• The Browns have won three straight for the first time in three seasons
• Washington is #5 and #7 in offensive yardage and points in the NFL
• Cleveland unfortunately lost three games by four points or less, but is #9 in defensive scoring
• The Browns and Redskins are +8 and +12 in turnover margin, both top ten in the league
• Washington’s six 30+ point games so far is their most in a season in 16 years
• Cleveland’s 23 point victory last week was their largest margin in nine seasons

Neither team has been in the playoffs in the past four seasons, but they both are still mathematically alive, and the winner of this game will be one step closer. 

RGIII for MVP

Could the Washington Redskins new superstar rookie actually be in the running for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award? Before you entirely scoff at the notion, think about what type of player should win the award? Is it the best player on the team with the best record, the one with the best stats, or the player who is the most valuable to their team’s success?

Clearly, the biggest critique of Robert Griffin being considered the league’s MVP at this point in the season would be the Redskins’ losing record. However, given DC’s defense and schedule so far, RGIII should not be penalized for their 3-4 record. Washington’s defense is currently ranked 29^th in yards allowed per game, 28^th in scoring, and dead last in passing yards. All four of their losses were decided within the last two minutes of the game and by seven points or less.  Their last three games were against teams with a combined record of 16-4.  There have been instances in the past where the MVP came from a losing team or a pitcher won a Cy Young award with a losing record due to a lack of run support, so the feat has some precedent.

Maybe in this fantasy football/videogame driven era of the NFL, all the MVP voters would care about would be numbers and statistics. Well, Griffin is third in the NFL in passer rating, ahead of the likes of Brady and Brees. He is first in yards per attempt and at 70.4% has the highest completion percentage of any quarterback in the league. His mere three interceptions are also tied for fewest in the league.  With RGIII, the attention is obviously focused on his running abilities as well. He is currently 12^th in the entire league in rushing yards and second in rushing touchdowns. His 468 rushing yards are more than the Saints and Raiders have as a team and his six rushing TD’s are more than 24 entire teams.  In fact he is leading the NFL in yards per rush and yards per pass attempt, the first player in history to do so. (While Cam Newton and Michael Vick have also recently had outstanding dual threat seasons, Newton was 15^th in passer rating last year while Vick’s career year in 2010 was still only 10^th in the league in completion %.)

Those impressive stats mean even more to the team, illustrating his immense value. His 2,069 combined yards account for 73% of the Redskin’s total offense and he has had a hand in 13 of the 19 offensive touchdowns. DC’s offense is ranked sixth in scoring per game, fifth in overall yards, and first in rushing yards. The last time they finished the season ranked this high in these categories was 13 seasons ago. Amazingly, the Redskins have scored 30 points or more three times already this season, which is the same amount of times they achieved that in the past four entire seasons combined.

           Given all his numbers and value to the team, RG3 should not lose out in an early MVP race to similar rated quarterbacks Peyton Manning, Rodgers, Big Ben, Brady and Brees, who already have hardware and only have a combined record of 16-16 themselves anyways. 

NFL Rookie Quarterback Party!

This week, Russell Wilson, the rookie quarterback for Seattle, was named the Week 1 starter for the Seahawks. He joins Indianapolis’s Andrew Luck, Washington’s Robert Griffin III, Miami’s Ryan Tannehill, and Cleveland’s Brandon Weeden as rookie signal callers starting the season opener. That means an astounding 16% of NFL teams are going into the season with their most important position never having taken a NFL snap.

Since the historic Peyton Manning/Ryan Leaf draft back in 1998, there have only been 13 rookie quarterbacks to start the season opener, compared to five just this year alone. None of those previous 14 seasons had more than two rookies starting in Week 1. During this time frame, 39 QB’s were taken in the first round and only 11 started the opener, or 28%, compared to five of the first six QB’s drafted this year. Meanwhile some star quarterbacks held the clipboard their entire rookie seasons, like Daunte Culpepper, Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers, and Aaron Rodgers.

How did these brave young passers fare? Well, not surprisingly, they struggled. Of the 13 rookies who started the openers, only 5 or 38% of them had winning records for the season; 38% threw over 3000 yards, 23% threw more TD’s than INT’s, and only 15% had more than 20 TD’s. Unfortunately resting the prized QB does not seem to help either. Of the 37 rookies who started at least five games, only 37% had more TD’s than INT’s, 24% had winning records, 18% threw over 3000 yards, and only 10% had more than 20 TD’s.

Does this mean teams should shelter their face of the franchise to the film room all season instead? Not necessarily.  Some rookies clearly struggled and never recovered, like Leaf (3-7, 2 TD, 15 INT), Akili Smith (1-5, 2 TD, 6 INT), Jimmy Clausen (1-11, 3 TD, 9 INT) and David Carr (4-12, 9 TD, 15 INT). Meanwhile some were able to grow from their difficult rookie seasons like Eli Manning (1-6, 6 TD, 9 INT), Michael Vick (1-4, 2 TD, 3 INT) and Matt Stafford (2-8, 13 TD, 20 INT). Not all rookies stumbled out of the gate though as evidenced by Matt Ryan (11-6, 18 TD, 13 INT), Big Ben (14-2, 20 TD, 16 INT) and Joe Flacco (13-6, 15 TD, 15 INT).  But beware the early successes as well since some rookies careers did not take off after enjoying a solid rookie season like Jason Campbell (10 TD, 6 INT), Shaun King (5-2, 8 TD, 7 INT) and Vince Young (8-6).

Even though rookie quarterbacks are such a mixed bag, five teams are resting their future on them due to the ever shifting passing oriented dominance of the NFL.  Of the nine signal callers drafted in the past two seasons that started, only two of them did not throw more TDs than INTs and those two (McCoy and Clausen) have already had two 1^st round draft picks take their place. Meanwhile last year, Andy Dalton (9-7, 20 TD, 13 INT) lead his team to the playoffs and Cam Newton (4,051 yards, 21 TD, 17 INT, 14 rushing TDs) broke all kinds of records.

With opening weekend only a week away, we will soon find out whether these rookie quarterbacks will make their coaches and GM’s geniuses or unemployed.