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It's time again to take a look at where the Redskins stand among the various media Power Rankings. As expected back-to-back losses didn't help the Redskins standing, but here's how they fared:
A pretty good range this week, which I think shows to you just how bad the NFL is outside of the 10-15 teams. I think 19th is a bit too optimistic and 28th is a bit too reactionary to bad loss (with extenuating circumstances mind you with the injuries), but I get it. Look around the league and there is a lot of bad football being played. The Ravens and Lions were playoff teams a year ago, and combined they have two wins through about 40% of the season. The Seahawks were a play away from being back-to-back Super Bowl Champs and they have just a 2-4 record and are in trouble with making it back to the post season.
The Redskins have some positives, through six games. For one thing they have led at half in five of their six games. Of their 4 losses, two of them the Redskins played well enough to win and were with in a TD, which is better than last year considering they only had that in 3 of their 12 losses. They are better at 3rd downs this year and have been better on defense as a whole. And they have done all of this despite the fact that they have had serious injury issues unlike some past seasons.
Things of course aren't all rosy as partly the Redskins numbers sit where they are due to playing well in 3 of the first 4 games. The last two weeks the Redskins haven't been as good (though they did have a chance to knock off the Falcons). The biggest concern with the Redskins might be their loss of an identity over the past couple of weeks. In the offseason through the first couple of weeks, the Redskins were clearly going to be a run first team that stuffed the run on defense to force poor passing situations. The early results were pretty positive despite the Redskins just having a 2-2 record over the first four weeks. In weeks 2 and 3, there were some growing concerns about this identity as the Redskins struggled to run the ball, but overall it wasn't a major concern. These past two weeks the story is much different as the Redskins just haven't been the same. They can't run the ball at all, and their run defense is getting shredded.
This is the biggest concern for this team going forward, as they right now just seem lost. With them struggling in these two key areas that were considered their strengths, the rest of the team isn't talented enough to compensate. The Redskins are going to be in big trouble if they can't turn these two areas around.
While some of the issue in these areas (particularly with running the football effectively) stems from some key injuries, some of it is just lack of effectiveness as well, and that just isn't acceptable. The problem is it just isn't one player on either side of the ball that is struggling, but rather a number of players who are liabilities. On top of the players failures the coaching staff isn't helping matters with their play calling, game plan and use of personnel. If the Redskins have any hope of turning their season around, they need to get these two areas right.