Dr Bob opinion
Some models suggest a Washington cover tonight at home against Philadelphia, but Dr. Bob finds the current spread too close to call when the Redskins host the Eagles.
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder is so desperate that he pulled former Green Bay Packers' offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis out of retirement to call plays.
Lewis has been out of the game for four years, which may cause a problem given the ever changing NFL landscape, but Lewis can't be any worse calling plays in the redzone that head coach Jim Zorn was. Washington has averaged an above-average 5.5 yards per play with starting quarterback Jason Campbell in the game (against teams that would allow 5.6 yppl to an average team) yet the Skins have managed to score just 13.2 points per game.
The Skins won't move the ball as well as normal in this game against a stingy Eagles' defense (4.4 yppl allowed to teams that would average 4.8 yppl against an average team, but they should have a few opportunities to improve their redzone efficiency.
Washington's defense is decent too, allowing just 4.7 yppl to teams that would average 4.9 yppl against an average defensive unit and they match up pretty evenly with an Eagles' attack that has been 0.3 yppl better than average this season (worse than that with Donovan McNabb at quarterback).
My math model does favor Philly by 6 points while my second math model favors the Eagles by 10 points. There are some favorable situations that favor Washington in this game, but I'll pass.
Projected Final Score: Eagles-22 Redskins-15