On the first day of Washington Redskins training camp, wide receiver Pierre Garcon said the ‘Skins offense has the potential to be the best in the history of the NFL. When asked to clarify his statement — surely he meant the best in team history, right? — Garcon stood firm with the declaration.
“We have the potential to be the best ever,” Garcon said.
Oh, Pierre.
Pierre, Pierre, Pierre.
Let’s momentarily put aside the folly of making preseason declarations of grandeur and get to the idea of Robert Griffin III and the Redskins offense being the greatest in the history of the NFL. I guess it’s technically possible. The Redskins scored 27.3 point per game last season, which was the 145th best average in league history. But when that total is adjusted to account for the era, it becomes the 291st best and only the eighth best in Redskins history. That’s nothing to scoff at, but it shows the Redskins have a loooooooong way to go to become the best ever.
Any potential super-season for the Redskins offense would depend on RG3 staying on the field, Alfred Morris not going through a sophomore slump, the offensive line avoiding injuries and the receiving corps finding a fountain of youth. It also suggests RG3 will make the big leap — think Neil Armstrong — from rookie sensation to MVP caliber in just his second season. That’s a lot of ifs.
To be the best ever, the Redskins offense would have to be as explosive as the 2000 St. Louis Rams (No. 1 in the standard score metric), as efficient as the 1994 San Francisco 49ers (No. 2) and as prolific as the record-setting 2007 New England Patriots (No. 3). To merely become the best offense in Redskins history, Garcon and company would have to improve on the 1983 team, which held the record for most points in a season for 15 years and still stands as the sixth-most prolific offense in league history. For the 2013 team to top the 1983 version RG3 and Co. would have to score 106 more points than last season or, essentially, one touchdown per game.
All that aside, even if the Shanahans have spent the winter figuring out how to convert tanning bed energy into offense and Garcon truly believes the Redskins will be the greatest scoring team in history, why say it? It’s not like making illogical pronouncements in the preseason ever comes back to bite players, right Vince Young?
Whether the Redskins’ offense succeeds or fails will have nothing to do with Garcon’s brash pronouncement. But if it’s the latter and the team does struggle, why provide fodder for the press?
The bullseye is going to be on the Redskins regardless. There’s no need to draw it yourself, Pierre.
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