The Washington Redskins' Top-Five Questions for the 2008 Season

This article is the third in a series of articles I have decided to write. Each article presents the five biggest questions for each team in the NFL. This article goes to the Washington Redskins, the surprise playoff team last season.

1. Can Clinton Portis stay healthy and produce?

Clinton Portis, the Redskins' starting halfback, is known to have a history of injuries. During his six years in the NFL, he has only played in three full seasons.

Portis has proven that he is one of the league's premier backs, rushing for 1,500 yards in three seasons, while having only one season where he did not rush for 1,000 yards. He has also scored 10 or more touchdowns in four of those seasons.

However, the last two seasons have not been good to Portis. He has missed eight games and rushed for only 1,785 yards, an average of 4.2-yards per carry. These numbers may not seem too bad, but compared to Portis' high performance in his first four years in the NFL, he is not performing to his full potential. 

I personally think Portis could see fewer carries this year, considering Jim Zorn is a quarterback coach. If we learned anything from the preseason game, he has incredibly accurate quarterbacks. Between the three quarterbacks that received minutes, there were two incomplete passes and no interceptions.

However, Washington ran the ball 31 times. Portis could see a similar season as last year if he stays healthy.

2. Can the receivers help Jason Campbell improve?

We all know that Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El are two of the NFL's most inconsistent receivers.

For example, Moss had 1,105 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns on 74 receptions in 2003 when he played for the Jets. The next season, he put up 45 receptions, 838 yards, and five touchdowns, which qualifies as slightly over half of what he did in 2003. He only missed one game in 2004, so it's not like he missed significant playing time.

For another thing, Chad Pennington only missed three games in 2004, as opposed to the six he missed in '03. Moss happened to do the same thing in 2005 and 2006 with the Redskins. So is it Moss's turn to start producing again? Nobody knows.

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