Vacchiano: Redskins blow by tough competition

On Opening Night against the defending Super Bowl champions, Jim Zorn looked like that proverbial deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming tractor trailer. To say he looked lost on the sidelines doesn’t do it justice.

He looked overmatched. His quarterback, Jason Campbell, looked ill-fitted for Zorn’s version of the West Coast offense. They didn’t even seem to have a two-minute drill in their arsenal, for crying out loud.

Now? The Redskins, in the toughest division in football, after having played three road games against division opponents, look nothing like the Redskins looked way back on Opening Night. They’re 4-1, a half-game behind the defending champs, and they’re about to head into the easiest stretch of their schedule.

Their turnaround has been remarkable and completely unexpected.

So, what exactly happened to this once-bumbling team?

“I’m not going to say I’m surprised or happy,” receiver Santana Moss told reporters in Washington. “We prepare ourselves week-in and week-out to go out there and play the way we’ve been playing.”

The easy place to start when breaking down their turnaround is at the top, where Zorn has proven to be a better coach than he seemed to be in his debut and Campbell has suddenly begun shining in his system. Zorn, in fact, has been hailed not only for his work with Campbell but for an aggressive coaching style that has re-energized his players.
 
As for Campbell, through five games, he’s the NFL’s eighth-ranked quarterback with a completion percentage of 63.4 and six touchdowns and no interceptions. He was just 15 of 27 for 133 yards against the Giants.
 
Ten days later, he was 24 for 36 for 321 yards against the Saints.
 
And despite the suddenly dangerous passing attack, which features three receivers who have caught at least 21 passes (Moss, Antwaan Randle El, and tight end Chris Cooley), the Redskins are far from a one-dimensional team. They have the NFL’s fifth-best rushing attack. And their defense is slowly moving up the charts, now ranked 13th in the league.
 
“We’ve always been a talented team,” said defensive end Andre Carter. “It’s just been a matter of putting those key pieces together.”
 
What’s most impressive about that is this: Look who they’ve done it against. They out-scored a New Orleans Saints team that some think has the most dangerous offense in the NFL. They beat a Cardinals team that is the by-default leader of the NFC West. And in a division that’s loaded with minefields, they went into Dallas and beat the Cowboys – a team so many thought was the class of the NFC – and into Philadelphia to beat and Eagles team that was supposed to be right on the Cowboys’ heels.
 
And here’s their reward for all that: Back-to-back home games against the 0-4 Rams, 1-3 Browns and a trip to Detroit to face the 0-4 Lions — all of which could leave the surprising, stunning Redskins sitting with a 6-1 record before the schedule gets tough again. Yes, they’ve still got games against the Giants, Cowboys and Eagles on their schedule.
 
But all of those games will be played at home.
 
In other words, a team that most experts thought was the clear favorite to finish last in the NFC East, has now perfectly positioned itself for not only a run at the playoffs, but to be a factor in the division race as well. At 0-1 they looked like they were on their way to a rebuilding season.
 
No one ever expected them to rebuild this fast.
 
“These have been really big wins, but we have to realize that our job isn’t done yet,” Moss said. “There are going to be a bunch of teams that are going to come into our place to try and destruct what we’ve accomplished so far. We’ll enjoy this, but know that teams will be coming after us.”
 
Imagine that. Five weeks ago, the only people coming after the Redskins were the critics. But just look at them now.

Ralph Vacchiano is the author of Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback, which is available for purchase here.

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