Studs
DT Cornelius Griffin. Played pretty well up front, coming off blocks to make plays. Did get buried on one play by Leonard Davis, but for the most part was effective (and not just in short yardage). He applied some pressure. Overall, a nice job.
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WR Santana Moss. Aside from his pass interference penalty, he was pretty good. Actually, he was Washington’s offense as he caught eight passes for 92 yards (with a long of 29 when he cut back behind the line after a screen). Moss gained 42 percent of Washington’s offense Sunday night.
LB H.B. Blades. Came off the bench to replace the injured Rocky McIntosh and did a good job, finishing with seven tackles. Once, his size worked for him. As Leonard Davis pulled to the left, Blades came to fill the hole. But Davis seemed surprised to see him as he turned; Blades had been a little obstructed. So Blades got off the block and made the tackle.
DE Phillip Daniels. Clearly is slowing down when he has to sprint to the ball. But still does a mostly good job of holding down his side. He finished with a sack (helped by pressure from others), a tackle for a loss and a hurry.
Duds
LT Levi Jones. Actually started out OK and had some decent run blocks and pass protection. But as the game evolved, he got worse. By the end he was trying to get deeper sets to prevent DeMarcus Ware from getting around him, but this caused him to lunge at him a few times and leave his arms too far outstretched. Ware capitalized. He disrupted plays or altered them, much like a shot blocker who doesn’t always need to block a shot to impact the interior.
LG Derrick Dockery. Was pushed back too often in protection. Again, he’s one of two legitimate starters on the line, he must perform more consistently. The pressure he allowed led to Jason Campbell’s interception.
RG Will Montgomery. He came off the bench to replace Mike Williams, but he has played this spot before. However, it was a total mismatch, especially when he was paired a couple times vs. Jay Ratliff. He’s a backup center and that’s about it. He got shoved back too much and even if his man did not make the tackle, the penetration forced an early cutback into defenders. Or it would leave a narrow opening to run through.
RG Mike Williams. Has some good traits to his game, but when he has to move too much it leads to trouble. When a team averages 2.4 yards per carry, allows three sacks and a lot of pressures, no one along the line can feel good. On the first two series of the game, Williams allowed more penetration than desired. He received help from Casey Rabach on one play that resulted in a sack; Jay Ratliff got past Williams once Rabach left. Dallas got inside him on stretch runs, too. Another time, Dallas’ Marcus Spears swatted him to the side en route to a pressure. All this happened in the Redskins’ first four series.
DT Albert Haynesworth. If you’re gonna yap, you’d best produce. He had some moments, but not enough for a guy of his caliber. He was double teamed on most plays and was disruptive when left one-on-one. It wasn’t close. But he’s paid big money to not just take on double teams — Kedric Golston was doubled a few times as well — but to beat them. He excelled in short yardage. More is expected. He also can’t leave the game when the opposition is at the goal-line, as he did after the Jason Witten catch and run in the second quarter. Dallas ran a draw on the next play and scored. The play call was outstanding — and the defensive scheme suspect — so maybe it wouldn’t have mattered. But still.
DT Kedric Golston. That’s twice he’s played poorly vs. Dallas this season; maybe that front is just too big for him. But too often he got shoved back to open holes. He did have one pressure. The effort was there, the production was not.
DE/LB Brian Orakpo. Not one of his better games. Had a hard time getting off blocks as a linebacker — yes, I can hear what you’re saying, ‘Then put him at end!’ But he was ineffective there, too. He’d line up a little wider, sometimes two yards outside the tight end. But all that did was allow Flozell Adams to set wide and ride him out. One time, he tried to club him with his left arm and get inside. It stunned Adams for, oh, half a second but he recovered quite easily and prevented the rush. Orakpo also missed a couple tackles.
S LaRon Landry. Completely whiffed a jam on Jason Witten at the line of scrimmage and was beaten for a 69-yard pass. He missed the tackle, too, around the Redskins’ 34-yard line, allowing Witten to gain 31 more yards. Landry took on lead blockers when in the box and had one outstanding play. But the botched coverage hurt the Redskins big-time.
TEs Mike Sellers/Fred Davis/Todd Yoder. Could not handle the Dallas outside ‘backers and got knocked aside too often. Just as they did in the first meeting. Just a bad matchup for them. Each missed a few blocks.
