Redskins Statistics: A Lack of Offensive Touchdowns and Field Goals Spells Doom

In 2012, the Redskins offense was a touchdown factory with 52 touchdowns. Alfred Morris and Santana Moss were both major offensive contributors in 2012. Morris had 13 rushing touchdowns and Moss had 7 receiving touchdowns. Morris and Moss were both huge threats in the red zone. In 2013 however, the Redskins offense only scored 39 touchdowns. Alfred Morris only had 7 rushing touchdowns and Santana Moss only had 2 receiving touchdowns. Their combined touchdowns dropped off drastically from 20 to 9. Kai Forbath was 33/34 on PAT’s and 17/18 on Field goals in 2012 and 26/26 on PAT’s and 18/22 on Field goals. Even Kai scored less points this season.

The Redskins scored an average of 20.9 points a game in 2013 (including 5 defensive touchdowns) and 27.3 in 2012. That is almost one less touchdown a game on average. The Redskins were ranked 4^th in average points per game in 2012 behind Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and New Orleans Saints. The offense is ranked 23^rd in average points per game in 2013, only ahead of Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. That is quite the drastic drop off in one season.

This difference in scoring is troubling from 2012 to 2013. Alfred’s touches did drop from 335 to 276 in 2013. Roy Helu only scored 4 touchdowns in 2013. Alfred and Helu are a good team (both do well in yards per carry with Alfred at 4.6 and Helu at 4.4), but the rushing touchdown numbers are down (from Alfred’s and Royster's 15 in 2012 and Alfred’s and Helu’s 11 in 2013). Robert Griffin III also had 7 rushing touchdowns in 2012 and 0 in 2013. This definitely impacted the Redskins offense. And Robert’s touchdown targets were severely lacking with Santana Moss dropping off from 8 to 2 touchdowns in the year. Perhaps a bigger receiver in the Red zone is needed for the 2014 campaign. Logan Paulson caught 1 TD in 2012, but 3 in 2013. A healthy Jordan Reed would also help improve the Redskins offense.

The Offense will hopefully improve under new Head Coach Jay Gruden. Gruden is known for his effective offense in Cincinnati. Hopefully, Gruden can bring the right combination of receivers and rushing attempts to bring the Redskins offensive numbers closer to the 2012 standard. If there is one silver lining from this drop off in offense in between 2012 and 2013, the scoring rankings cannot get much worse.