In every game The Dallas Cowboys have played this year, they have had more turnovers than their opponents have had. Not a very comforting thought even though they've been getting away with it (up until yesterday at least).
Even though their turnovers were down yesterday (only 1) the Redskins didn't turn the ball over a single time.
Offense:
I've mentioned in the past that Defenses playing against the Dallas Offense usually have to pick 2 of the following 3 options, and can't do all 3:
1 - Pay attention to T.O.
2 - Don't give Witten anything in the middle of the field.
3 - Rush Romo
The Redskins had a very unique strategy and chose to go with options 1 and 2. They didn't focus on the pass rush that much. Turns out, it worked. Romo wasn't sacked but often times had to settle with trying to squeeze something into the tight coverage. The Washington safeties did a good job of keeping the play in front of them.
Credit does need to be given to the Redskins secondary. I haven't seen a team do this good of a job taming T.O. Period. He pretty much wasn't a factor until the second half (after all of our short passes forced them to change their coverage.
T.O. ended with 7 catches for 71 yards and a TD. Again, most of that was in the second half. Witten had 7 catches for 90 yards and a TD. Patrick Crayton had his best game since Week 1 against Cleveland, catching 7 passes for 87 yards. Miles Austin had the other TD.
All in all, Romo passed for 300 yards, 3 TDs and an INT. He completed 28 of his 47 pass attempts.
It might be worth mentioning that T.O. dropped a pass late that possibly would have given Dallas a win. For being such a star receiver (and having the ego to go with it) he sure does drop a lot of passes
Now, let's talk about our run game. I might be biased when I say this, but I believe that Jason Garrett is one of the 3 best offensive coordinators in the game. But I really question his use (or lack therof) of Marion Barber and the run game. It's understandable late in the game, when we needed a lot of yards fast due to the Redskins 7 minute clock eating drive.
But for Marion Barber to only get 8 chances in the entire game is inexcusable. It almost makes too much sense, "Hey, the Redskin corners and safeties are really tight on Witten and T.O, let's run the ball to get them out of their rhythm." But no. 8 attempts. Felix had no attempts. Marion had 8. Garrett was calling plays like we were down 3 touchdowns. No wonder the Redskins knew exactly how to play defense against us, they only had to worry about the pass.
Washington knew exactly what to do. Still, we scored 24 points, and 24 points is enough to win many ballgames. Romo's INT/game is getting frustrating as it was the difference in this game.
Defense:
Terence Newman is getting paid a lot of money to be a bigtime defender in the Dallas secondary. I'm about ready for him to step it up and start doing that. I counted 4 times where Newman was nowhere near where he needed to be. Santana Moss owned him. 4 times Moss shook him and caught a bomb with Newman 10 yards away from Moss. When Newman was drafted Dallas was looking for a big time corner with speed (The Deon Sanders of this decade). Like Sanders, Dallas was wanting someone quarterbacks would fear throwing at.
Jason Campbell was not afraid to throw at Newman. I wouldn't be either. He needs to step up his game, especially at that salary.
But I don't think that was near as costly as our run defense. The Redskins offensive line owned the Dallas front 7. How many times have you seen a running back run directly at Ware and Canty? Not many, normally that side is the no run zone. Not yesterday. Clinton Portis ran the ball 21 times for 121 yards. Although I don't have the numbers, I would guess that most of those attempts were to the left, right towards Ware and Canty, and eventually past them. The Washington fatties completely pushed us backwards all night long.
Coincidentally, Ware and Canty had the only sacks of the game.
Closing Comments:
I've probably made it sound like we were completely dominated. While some of the stats lean heavily in Washington's favor, the game was never out of reach. Dallas made some mistakes and didn't execute. One dropped pass could have won the game. We came about as close as you can come to recovering our own onside kick. He had it but lost it.
It was close. We have some things to work on, particularly on defense. I guess this loss is best summed up by saying, "Well...That's life in the NFC East for ya"
It's difficult to say how much this loss will end up hurting us. True, the Redskins beat us, but last year we beat the Giants twice in the regular season, but it was the playoff game between the two that seemed to matter more. But a regular season lost must be noted. After all, last year the only NFC East team not in the playoffs (The Eagles) went 8-8.
To coin what Parcells would always say, "you are what your record is" and we are 3-1.
That's a .750 win percentage and I'd take that for any of my teams in any sport at any level.
But there is always room for improvement, which we must to do be a Super Bowl threat.
Monday, September 29, 2008
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