Jay Gruden deserves all the credit in the world for turning the Washington Redskins into contenders last season. This franchise has been marred with troubles for years and years, posting just one winning season from 2009 through 2014, but the '15 season was a banner year for sure with the NFC East title. That said, this club still hasn't won a playoff game since 2005 and hasn't been the NFC Championship Game since 1991. There's still plenty of work to do to get over the hump from here.
Washington Redskins Regular Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Redskins Over 7.5 Wins ( +105 )
Redskins Under 7.5 Wins ( -125 )
The Skins won nine games last season, but the oddsmakers are expecting them to take a big step backwards in 2016. Sure, things didn't go well for anyone else in the NFC East, something which left the division completely up for grabs. However, it's not like Washington is substantially worse now than it was last season.
Signing Josh Norman in free agency should go a long way towards helping this defense out, and that should immediately make Washington a lot better than the No. 25 pass defense as it was a season ago.
Kirk Cousins should also continue to improve in this offense, especially if Jordan Reed and DeSean Jackson stay healthy. This unit averaged 255.9 passing yards per game largely thanks to Gruden, and another year with this core together should only see better returns.
2016 Washington Redskins Schedule
Opening betting lines for the Redskins in parentheses
Week 1: vs. Steelers ( +3 )
Week 2: vs. Cowboys ( PK )
Week 3: @ Giants ( +3 )
Week 4: vs. Browns ( -7.5 )
Week 5: @ Ravens ( +2.5 )
Week 6: vs. Eagles ( -3 )
Week 7: @ Lions ( +1 )
Week 8: @ Bengals ( +4 ) ( London )
Week 9: Bye
Week 10: vs. Vikings ( +1.5 )
Week 11: vs. Packers ( +2.5 )
Week 12: @ Cowboys ( +3.5 )
Week 13: @ Cardinals ( +6.5 )
Week 14: @ Eagles ( +2 )
Week 15: vs. Panthers ( +3 )
Week 16: @ Bears ( PK )
Week 17: vs. Giants
Doesn't it feel like the Redskins are being disrespected here? They're favorites in literally just two games all season long, including some games against teams which they were beating handily last season. It helps that they only have seven legitimate road games with a game being played in London against the Bengals.
In fairness to Washington though, there's really only one horrifying stretch of the season, that coming when it has road games against the Cowboys, Cardinals and Eagles sandwiched by home games against the Packers and Panthers. Winning one of those four games would seem like a triumph.
Still, there are enough other games on the docket which seem like losses to us to give pause for concern if you really believe the Redskins can win the NFC East for consecutive years. Then again, it's worth remembering that Washington won eight games last season as underdogs, and they were only favored in two of their 16 games then as well.
QUICK PICK
The oddsmakers are rarely wrong about teams like this in situations like this. The Redskins are dogs in so many of these games for a reason. The Eagles were an unmitigated disaster last season, something which shouldn't be the case again now that the Chip Kelly experiment is over. The Giants no longer have Tom Coughlin to kick around for their mistakes. The Cowboys should have a healthy Tony Romo coming into the season, and they might even be able to keep him upright for a while this year.
Odds have it, good fortune is going to turn the other way this year in D.C. Just analyzing the talent of this roster suggests that this is a six-win team to us, and we think this team is going to go from first to worst in a hurry, just as it did the last time it won the NFC East crown. We don't think Washington will be 3-13 bad as it was then, but there's definitely not eight wins here as we see it.
NFL Odds: Washington Redskins Under 7.5 Wins
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