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Alan BallsNonetheless, the Cowboys eked out a 27-24 win in Washington yesterday, a pivotal game as it is a division and conference win and with the New York Giants stinking it up against Philadelphia (no one's playing uglier games than the NFC East), the Cowboys are in a tie for the division lead.
I think it will take the division to get into the playoffs for the Cowboys. They will need to fend off the Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions and, maybe, the Philadelphia Eagles for the wild card, and currently the Cowboys are without head-to-head tiebreakers against two of those teams.
The entire game, Kenny Albert and Daryl "Moose" Johnston kept commenting on every Washington turnover, mistake and penalty, and saying that it was "just one of those seasons when nothing goes right." Maybe. Or maybe the Redskins just suck.
Dallas-Fort Worth -- and every city for that matter -- has teams that have "just one of those seasons when nothing goes right." Isn't that code for "shitty team?" The Redskins are a shitty team, and it's a little mystery why. You can blame the owner Dan Snyder. But that defense is good. They swarmed the Cowboys and Tony Romo. They have very little offensively, but some team was going to get stuck with Rex Grossman at quarterback eventually. Why not the Redskins.
Maybe what Washington has in Snyder is not unlike what Dallas has in Jerry Jones: A meddling owner that seems to fuck shit up. The difference is that Jones -- the blindest of blind squirrels -- finds a ton of nuts. Seems like Snyder just finds nuts.
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The Dallas Cowboys have played 10 games with Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator. When is the last time you said to yourself or others, "Man, the Cowboys' defense has really adjusted to what the opponent is doing to them"?
I haven't said it once and I thought it was going to get the Cowboys beat. After the Redskins scored on the short field in the second quarter, Grossman turned into Slingin' Sammy Baugh and all of a sudden the Cowboys had to contend on defense and it didn't seem like they could. After halftime, it was more of the same.
The middle of the field was wide open (Grossman continually missed on most sideline routes) and it gave them big chunks of yardage relatively wide open. It seems -- clutch the pearls! -- that Grossman was picking on Terence Newman, who appeared to be 10 yards off Jabar Gaffney, who I would not consider a speed threat.
On offense, the Redskins are a team of cast-offs, former arena league guys, waiver-wire all stars and Roy Helu (who barely touches the ball). They ate the Cowboys' lunch. Worse is that the Cowboys defense was unable to adjust (jam receivers at the line, something) as the game went along.
Not saying it's a "thing." Just an observation from this lowly blogger.
Grades:
Quarterback -- B+
I thought Tony Romo was really good. Not great. I didn't think a lot of those hurries and sacks were solely on the offensive line. Maybe coverage, but that ball sat in Romo's hands a long time. Also, he was erratic early in the game particularly trying to get the ball to Laurent Robinson. Granted, Robinson's pretty new, but he's been around long enough to be in the right place, something he's done right. I think Romo was just missing him. Several of those throws get picked off in most games. Still, Romo's putting up stellar November numbers. All this is doing is setting Romo's failure in December, which will be a kick in the balls for everyone.
Running Back -- C+
How do I know when Felix Jones is in the game instead of DeMarco Murray? More often than note, Jones will miss a hole or cut-up and go down about 10 yards before he should. The most physical game for Murray and I thought he stood his own. He was getting popped. There was far less space to run and still the Cowboys were able to scratch out some yards and keep the Redskins honest.
Wide Receiver -- D
Where, physically, does Dez Bryant go from the first drive of the game to the last? Is he on the sideline? Locker room? Chilis? He's the biggest disappearing act since Josh Howard, and it's not remotely funny. Robinson and Romo had their issues all day. Two gigantic catches from Kevin Ogletree and Jesse Holley. Gravy.
Tight End -- A+
Any time you get three uneventful catches from Martellus Bennett, it is a good game. Biggest play by a tight end in the game: Not Bennett's one-handed catch or Witten's big touchdown run. How about Witten hustling to get his fumble back? It put the Cowboys at their 41-yard-line and it not only kept the Redskins (up 17-10) from having a short field. Graham Gano would miss a 49-yard field goal the next possession.
Offensive Line -- C
At times, they were brilliant. Other times they looked overwhelmed. It felt the Redskins constantly blitzed. Considering they were playing on the road against an aggressive defense, I thought they held up well. Barely good. No where close to great.
Defensive Line -- B
Better than they've been in the past. Jay Ratliff, Marcus Spears and Jason Hatcher all made plays of note. The Redskins had zero room to run. Grossman seemed to be always throwing the ball before he wanted. A ton of pressure up the middle.
DeMarcus Ware -- F
OK, I typically judge all the linebackers here, but I want to cast the spotlight on Ware because, on the whole, he's been persona non grata for the last four games. He'll make a sack early in the game and disappear, not unlike Bryant. Yes, maybe they are double teaming him and that stinks. However, shouldn't that open things up elsewhere on the field. For the first time in a long time, the linebackers had a pretty mundane game.
Secondary -- D
Rough day. Terence Newman was not good. Orlando Scandrick had a bad penalty that kept a Washington drive alive and an awful tackle attempt. Although, they also caused the two Washington turnovers and almost had another on the Grossman fumble (which was really, really must closer than the announcers would lead you to believe).
Specials Teams -- F-
What went right, outside of Dan Bailey, who had his first iffy field goal of the year? Two bad punts from "Drop Foot" Mat McBriar, AWFUL kick coverage, penalties. And could there be a guy in the NFL with less energy than Akwasi Owusu-Ansah? It's almost like the Cowboys are intentionally trying to screw up the return game with that guy. He has zero spark. Zero speed. He almost completely screwed a punt return faking a catch and it nearly hitting him. He has no value whatsoever.
Coaching -- D
I go back to my rant above: It seems the defense is incapable or unwilling to adjust to the opponent, which is scary. I felt Jason Garrett got too far away from the run game too early. Still, give credit for having the fortitude to win that dumb game. The Dallas Cowboys of the past four years lose that game.
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