Peter King Hates the Skins

6-10? Really, Peter?

If Peter King is right, let's just call off the season now. The great one (is that a size joke?) has spoken, and Danny's boys are going 6-10. PK's prediction puts the Skins fourth -- a.k.a. last.

But, but, but Haynesworth! And Campbell! What exactly is in Petey's venti Starbucks Latte?

Keep in mind that this is a guy who foresaw great things for Danny Wuerffel, so take it with a grain of salt. Heck, take it with an entire salt lick.

In an excellent interview with Hogs Haven, the SI writer who wrote the Skins preview backed away from PK's projection, but provided the context for it.

"I think people are a little too high on the division in general. (Media = East coast = Giants fans?) But mostly, yes, I think disappointment in how Washington finished last year has to be a big part of it. That team showed no guts. And a gutless team is a hard team to pick."

So the 2-6 el foldo carries more weight than anything else.  That's typically true of football projections; most analysts tend to pick the same group of teams to do roughly the same as the year before.  Maybe they'll pick one or two teams to rocket in the standings (or free-fall), but generally, what happened last year holds.

In the Skins case, maybe it shouldn't.

While optimism reigns when it comes to Campbell and the offense, Haynesworth and Orakpo do represent upgrades on a defense that put far too little pressure on teams, leading to far too few turnovers.  And more turnovers should equal more offense.

But, as pointed out in that interview, the schedule is a huge factor.  The Skins get Detroit, St. Louis, Denver, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland.  Those are all winnable games.  (Of course, those winnable games weren't quite so winnable last season.)

If they can split their divisional games -- as they did last year -- they're set up for 7-8 wins, minimum.  They sweep those lowly teams, and they're playing meaningful regular season games through week 17... or beyond.

Maybe 6-10 happens, but basing a projection on last year's performance isn't the way to do it.  It's a new year, and a different team.

At least Skins fans hope so.

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