What Cowboys Game Really Showed

[Bulldog]

1.The effort with a lengthy list of injured players in this game and the one against Denver goes a long way to showing that the Redskins simply failed to show up and account for themselves in earlier games against Detroit and KC.

2.The injuries along the OL continue to mount and really call into question the decision of the team to spend the #3 pick after Orakpo on yet another corner.

3.Offseason and practice habits do in fact have an effect on performance as shown by Albert Haynesworth's constant shuttling in and out of the lineup with nagging injuries since the opener.He and Portis started the season out of condition and that helped contribute to the slow start.

4.Shaun Suisham is not a pressure kicker. The team failed to bring in legitimate competition in the offseason and while Suisham makes the kicks when the score is 0-0 or the Skins are down 27-10, he blinks in crunch time with the score close. We sign Dave Rayner to challenge Suisham while the Colts merely sign money kickers like Vinatieri and Stover.

5.Rock Cartwright might have been the third down back the team was looking for all along as a guy to run low and catch the ball out of the backfield. While he lacks top end speed, he is more elusive in space than Betts and doesn't need 20 reps to get going.
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[wildbill]

Also shows that this offense continues to struggle regardless of who is at QB, OC, HC, OT, OG, or RB-it's just painful to watch. As a "treat", I decided to watch the Monday Night Miracle game again prior to the game this week. You know what I saw? The same group of guys struggling to produce big plays or consistently move the ball. We won that game, as luck would have it, but year after year we simply cannot produce on offense.

Everything is a struggle and has been for quite some time. Last time we looked good on O was 1999 when BJ, MW, AC, and SD put up big numbers.......

It's the QB IMO. The worst thing that happened was CB going on the IR. Is he a franchise QB who can win games for you? Don't know. I do, however, know that JC can't, and he had a pretty good game this week all things considered. We have noone on the roster right now thats worth throwin' in for a looksie......

 

[Aston Gambino]

Before this game, I laughed at the idea that we were #1 in pass defense, having played the Rams, Chiefs, Panthers, the Josh Johnson Bucs and the Chris Simms Broncos. When you factor in that Albert was out, I thought the secondary was in for a pretty long day.

I'm still a bit skeptical, but I think the Dallas game showed me that our pass defense is capable of shutting down a top ten passing attack on the road.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Zorn is coaching scared. A HC of a 3-6 team who has nothing to lose does not kick the field goal on 3rd down with 15 seconds left.

 

[Neophyte]

Before this game, I laughed at the idea that we were #1 in pass defense, having played the Rams, Chiefs, Panthers, the Josh Johnson Bucs and the Chris Simms Broncos. When you factor in that Albert was out, I thought the secondary was in for a pretty long day.

I'm still a bit skeptical, but I think the Dallas game showed me that our pass defense is capable of shutting down a top ten passing attack on the road.

We get a real test in a couple of weeks when Brees comes to town. I will let you know then.

 

[The Burgundy Ghost]

Our secondary played pretty well, although when Dallas really started attacking with the pass, they folded.

The FO made huge mistakes by not having guys who could start as depth when they knew the situations with Samuels, Thomas, Heyer (many injuries) and even Rinehart (shoulder, now a broken leg. Same thing with our DTs. When you bring in Haynesworth, even the FO knew this (b/c most fans knew this), they knew he'd miss probably 2-4 games. Yet where is the line clogger to replace him?

Griffin and Golston are better at holding the line and rushing the passer than push in the pocket. And the team has fallen out of favor with Anthony Montgomery

Cleary the FO didn't address needs in the draft.
Again, if you draft Kevin Barnes with a 3rd rounder, you damn well better have him at minimal active and playing teams......yet, Marko Mitchell, Eddie Williams and even Edwin Williams has been active ahead of Barnes.

Draft a OL or a DT or a LB or even a RB there. You can't tell me that there wasn't a player on the board that would be starting had we gone in a different direction. Stupid.....just stupid.

 

[Henry]

4.Shaun Suisham is not a pressure kicker. The team failed to bring in legitimate competition in the offseason and while Suisham makes the kicks when the score is 0-0 or the Skins are down 27-10, he blinks in crunch time with the score close. We sign Dave Rayner to challenge Suisham while the Colts merely sign money kickers like Vinatieri and Stover.

Feh. When the score was 7-6 against the Rams he made the go-ahead kick.

Last week he kicked to tie the game up at 17, and then again at the end to put us up by two scores.

The guy's been perfect all season. Yesterday he missed a couple. Unless you've got Mark Moseley from 1982 in cryostasis, it's gonna happen.

Of all the problems we face with this 3-7 team, our kicker finally missing a kick in week 10 is probably not in my top five.

 

[Sarge]

We get a real test in a couple of weeks when Brees comes to town. I will let you know then.

Brees will torch our asses

 

[Neophyte]

The FO made huge mistakes by not having guys who could start as depth when they knew the situations with Samuels, Thomas, Heyer (many injuries) and even Rinehart (shoulder, now a broken leg. Same thing with our DTs. When you bring in Haynesworth, even the FO knew this (b/c most fans knew this), they knew he'd miss probably 2-4 games. Yet where is the line clogger to replace him?

Griffin and Golston are better at holding the line and rushing the passer than push in the pocket. And the team has fallen out of favor with Anthony Montgomery

Cleary the FO didn't address needs in the draft.
Again, if you draft Kevin Barnes with a 3rd rounder, you damn well better have him at minimal active and playing teams......yet, Marko Mitchell, Eddie Williams and even Edwin Williams has been active ahead of Barnes.

Draft a OL or a DT or a LB or even a RB there. You can't tell me that there wasn't a player on the board that would be starting had we gone in a different direction. Stupid.....just stupid.

Interesting that you mention DT...Anyone else see Antonio Dixon push the line and block that FG last night for Phillie against Chicago. Hurt to watch that after seeing Golston man handled by the Dallas OL yesterday afternoon. He sure would have been better than a Montgomery whom is almost never active anymore.

Gotta wonder why we kept Montgomery and not Dixon...

 

[redskns21]

2.The injuries along the OL continue to mount and really call into question the decision of the team to spend the #3 pick after Orakpo on yet another corner.
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Especially since he's not been active at all this season IIRC. Don't know what, if anything, was expected from Tryon this season and he's been a surprise, but I still don't get drafting him when you had plenty of OL candidates available.

Couple that with the past misses on drafted offensive lineman like Wilson and Molinaro and now you see a real lack of ability in locating mid to late round offensive lineman with this regime.

They've hit on some late round players for sure, but they all seem to be on teh defensive side of the ball.

 

[The Burgundy Ghost]

Interesting that you mention DT...Anyone else see Antonio Dixon push the line and block that FG last night for Phillie against Chicago. Hurt to watch that after seeing Golston man handled by the Dallas OL yesterday afternoon. He sure would have been better than a Montgomery whom is almost never active anymore.

Gotta wonder why we kept Montgomery and not Dixon...

I was very high on Dixon in the preseason and actually thought they should have kept him over Wynn (not active) and Montgomery (injured and lots of rumblings about him not happy here, also hardly active).

Heck, they should have kept him over Mike Williams......

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Losing Antonio Dixon is just another entry on the long-list of screw-ups from Cerrato.

 

[Bulldog]

I thought keeping Mike Williams on the active roster was a huge Mistake given his state of fitness and propensity to injury coming back from a 3 year layoff.
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[Lanky Livingston]

Well, when you don't draft offensive linemen in the first 2 rounds for 9 years straight, you're left grasping at straws to fill those depth spots.

 

[Bulldog]

But Williams did not perform in camp or the preseason at a level where there was any indication he could hold up during the regular season.

He was in and out of the lineup with the same nagging injuries that hit him over the summer.
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[Bang]

Before this game, I laughed at the idea that we were #1 in pass defense, having played the Rams, Chiefs, Panthers, the Josh Johnson Bucs and the Chris Simms Broncos. When you factor in that Albert was out, I thought the secondary was in for a pretty long day.

I'm still a bit skeptical, but I think the Dallas game showed me that our pass defense is capable of shutting down a top ten passing attack on the road.

When they can run right up the middle for 7 or 8 yards a pop, there really isn't any need to throw.
We're first in Pass D, and 25th in Run D. Quite a telling statistic.

We still employ that ridiculous Bend but Don't Break philosophy. You see we're #1 in Pass D, but how often do you see the other team in 3rd and long as opposed to 3rd and short enough to run for it? We consistently give up 7 or 8 yards on first and second down. Teams average 4.5 yards a carry against us.

There's no reason to pass. However when someone wants to, they do it all damn day.

Blache and his entire staff have to go. This defense is LITTERED with top ten picks. They should dominate games. And they just don't. 19th in forced fumbles. 32nd in interceptions. This defense statistically is good, but it's not because of anything the coaches do. Our talent level keeps it there.
Our "coaches" have our cornerbacks giving 20 yard cushions, safety's lined up 30 yards deep. DEs playing linebacker, and blitz schemes that never seem to get there. When was the last time we saw a bona-fide jailbreak into the opposing backfield? Seems like you see the Ravens or Steelers do it seven or eight times a game. They attack.
We sit back.

Our pass defense was good against Dallas because they had no need to throw the ball. And when they did want to throw the ball, well they marched right on down and scored. Their scoring drive... 9 passes, 1 incompletion. 8 completed passes in a row.

~Bang

 

[Lanky Livingston]

We still employ that ridiculous Bend but Don't Break philosophy.

I've been screaming about this for the past two years. I hate hate HATE Blache's defensive philosophy. I so miss the days of blitzing from all over the field; another reason why I want GDubb back in DC.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

But Williams did not perform in camp or the preseason at a level where there was any indication he could hold up during the regular season.

He was in and out of the lineup with the same nagging injuries that hit him over the summer.
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Exactly...grasping at straws, like I said.

 

[Bang]

I've been screaming about this for the past two years. I hate hate HATE Blache's defensive philosophy. I so miss the days of blitzing from all over the field; another reason why I want GDubb back in DC.

Lets face it.. GDub's blitzes usually resulted in a CB running right into the block. We certainly weren't terrorizing any QBs then, either.

For my money I say kill the quarterback. As often as you can. Press the hell out of the QB and he'll hand you the game. As it is now when we do harrass the QB (which we've done a lot of this year, thank you Mr Haynesworth) when we do force them into early throws or throws on the run our secondary is usually so far away from the receiver that it hasn't mattered.

To best illustrate my frustration with Blache and Grey...
We've gotten SIX INTs. Dead last in the league. And yet tied for 8th in sacks.
If that doesn't show how clueless Jerry Grey and Greg Blache are, I don't know what will.

Signing Albert was supposed to pound QBs and force turnovers resulting in shorter fields for the offense to work with. (AKA Steelers football) And we finally DO, but thanks to our "stand in the next county" style of pass coverage, we look like rank amateurs.
Even with the injuries to the OL we could put up a LOT more points if the defense could at least catch the INTs that hit them in the hands. (Our offense avg starting field position.. our own 24 yard line. Don't even get me started on our return teams. There's 32 teams in the NFL.. Randel El ranks 51st in punt return average. He ranks 29th in total number of balls he's actually returned, and FIRST in fair catches. Ugh, ugh, and double UGH)

~Bang

 

[Neophyte]

To best illustrate my frustration with Blache and Grey...
We've gotten SIX INTs. Dead last in the league. And yet tied for 8th in sacks.
If that doesn't show how clueless Jerry Grey and Greg Blache are, I don't know what will.

Come on Bang, that isn't all on the Blache and Grey. Sooner or later the players have to step up too. Fletcher has dropped at least 2 and maybe 3 easy INTs, McIntosh dropped one for a sure 6 in Dallas, Landry has dropped a couple and so has Old Stone Hands, Carlos Rogers.

Those alone would double our INT figures for the year and move us from tied for last in the league to tied for 6th in the league. Sometimes the players need to play.