1. Man, this will be a difficult week for the Redskins. It’s not just that they lost to Dallas; it’s that they’ll now be playing a bad team on the road. Of course you want to play a bad team, but it’s always tough facing a team that’s coming off an ugly loss like St. Louis, which now will play at home. But keep this in mind: While there is much to question about the Redskins, leadership and mental toughness are not among them. This appears to be a resilient bunch; they’ve been that way in games and they are a tough-minded team. That bodes well for recovering from a game like Monday. And it helps that the coach in charge, Mike Shanahan, is able to stay on point as well as anyone. It might drive some people (read: reporters) nuts at times, but that’s how he is. And it will help in the recovery from this game.
2. Have to stay consistent with this and see no reason not to, but I didn’t think that losing one game would necessarily hurt the Redskins; thought a win would help them more than a loss would hurt them. Still feel that way. But they also wasted a great opportunity, facing a wounded team and having them down by a touchdown in the fourth quarter. They could have jumped to a two-game lead over Philly and Dallas and blew it.
3. The easy thing to do is go overboard and rip everyone in sight. But you knew before this game that: Rex Grossman was a flawed quarterback; the Redskins do not have a complete roster; they give up big plays on defense. And that’s what they are exiting the game too. Nothing changed about the outlook for them; they just reminded everyone that they’re far from a finished product. Are you surprised? Through three games they have the feel of a 7-9, 8-8 type team. Which is what many predicted before the season.
4. Have to get to the third-and-21 call now. Um, wow. A couple weeks ago Troy Aikman questioned the Redskins strategy of blitzing near the end of the win vs. New York. They had a two touchdown lead at the time. He said that sort of thinking would hurt them in another game. Well, it hurt them. Washington is an aggressive team on both sides of the ball and that’s one reason why, when the roster improves, it has the chance to become an excellent team. And this is how Jim Haslett calls a game; Shanahan knew that when he hired him. It’s Haslett’s reputation to be aggressive. It’ll always be that way. And when you’re aggressive, you have to know that at some point it will hurt you; and you have to live with it. Certainly corner DeAngelo Hall did not seem too pleased with the play selection on that one; that is, if you consider F bombs a way to express yourself negatively.
“Sooner or later someone will figure it out,” he told reporters afterward. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out after a while.”
Apparently not.
5. On the failed blitz, Dallas did a nice job adjusting to what they had seen for two straight plays. Unlike the first two, the Cowboys kept two blockers in the backfield with Tony Romo. Both backs picked up blitzers on the Dallas right side, with one back taking Oshiomogho Atogwe and the other picking up Ryan Kerrigan. Romo rolled away from the overload and bought himself time. Atogwe and Kerrigan both sort of slowed and adjusted their rush when Romo rolled out, with Kerrigan then dropping into coverage. But with no safety deep, it was an easy throw to Bryant.
6. Hall complained about the facemask, but he definitely grazed it on the play. But the officiating was terrible all night. They seemed to miss offsides; holding penalties; false starts and I still don’t get the penalty on Alan Ball for the hit on Santana Moss. This was not a one-sided affair by the refs. They seemed to stink all over for both teams.
7. Anyway, back to the game. If someone wants to blame the officials, fine. I say: get the snap down on the field goal; convert in the red zone; don’t give up the big play; take care of the ball; don’t let a team that hasn’t run well snap off a 40-yard run. Capeche? Going back to the third and 21; without the facesmask, Dallas would have been at the Redskins’ 40. Not the best spot, but certainly they could have held. The facemask, regardless of whether anyone thinks it was a good call, capped off the collapse. By the way, Romo got unbelievably lucky/fortunate on the first and 10 bad snap by Phil Costa on that fateful drive. Romo caught the ball on one bounce just as he was hit by Ryan Kerrigan. If that ball hits the ground any different, we could be talking about a much different outcome. That’s how close this one was.
8. Nobody should be surprised at what Grossman did. This is who he is; he is a good passer who makes mistakes. Period. He didn’t sell a pump fake on his interception and inside linebacker Sean Lee made a terrific read to drop into coverage. Heck, if Lee doesn’t get that ball a teammate might have. The play wasn’t open. At all. The late fumble by Rex Grossman is a guy running while caught between trying to make a play downfield and needing to tuck it away. Anthony Spencer showed incredible closing speed on the play (it helps that Grossman can’t run of course). But Grossman didn’t keep his eyes downfield; instead just before the sack he looked to his left. If you’re doing that, then put the ball away. He did not. Grossman always gets away with a couple other throws, using poor mechanics, and it happened again Monday. He nearly had a pass intercepted in the flat inside the red zone. He sometimes relies on using all arm; sort of hard to throw a pass to wide that way; no zip equals dangerous throw.
9. Welcome back LaRon Landry, huh? Did you notice any rust? Maybe his timing and angles were off on a couple runs. That’s tough to say. But he’s clearly a difference maker and he helps the defense be even more aggressive. The closing speed and then the hit on Laurent Robinson reminded many, I’m sure, of Sean Taylor. When you have a safety with that speed it opens the playbook. With most safeties, that play is a completion. Landry made a good read on his fumble, quickly changing directions and stripping the ball from behind. He made an impact.
10. Now for a couple quick hitters: They ran the ball twice out of 16 plays in the fourth quarter; yes they had some problems and that’s why they used a couple screens in this stretch. A bit too one-dimensional for me. One run I did not like was the second fullback dive to Chris Cooley; it was a surprise to Darrel Young last week; it was a surprise to Cooley a couple series earlier Monday. Yes, they were expecting something like this. By the way, give Cooley credit for what he did at fullback. Thought that was better blocking than they had received from that position in a while; he’s quicker to the defenders and he helped in protection big time. And give the tackles credit for a terrific effort for three quarters. It’s a shame how it ended for Trent Williams and Jammal Brown because they played well for the most part. Brown did a good job vs. DeMarus Ware in the first three quarters. Seemed like his feet were much more active than normal; he was bent more at the knees and not the waist, allowing him to move quicker and react better. At times Brown attacked Ware and didn’t let him get into his move. Other times he was patient and let Ware tip his hand before reacting. He and Williams also had good help on the times when Ware beat them inside. Williams used his athleticism to help slow Ware.
Plus 1: Losing Anthony Armstrong didn’t help; took away their primary deep threat. And losing Brian Orakpo for a couple spells because of cramps could have been an issue. Thought on Felix Jones’ long run that his replacement, Rob Jackson, lost sight of the ball. I don’t know his assignment on the play; he took on the fullback so I’ll assume that’s what he was supposed to do. But he also didn’t locate the ball and make an attempt. But it’s also not like that one miscue, if it was one, should result in a gain that long, right? Also, Jackson forced a fumble a couple plays later.
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