You can take Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys two ways. One way would be to say Washington played a great game, but came up short. Or the other way would be to say Dallas made just enough plays to win. Either way, Dallas won 27-24 in OT. Tony Romo made plays at critical times during the game to secure the win. Never mind the fact that their best WR, Miles Austin, didn’t even play. If Romo can continue to play the way that he played Sunday, Dallas can make a run deep into the Playoffs. As for Rex Grossman, he played well, but he just came up short. Washington falls to 3-7 and all but eliminated from Playoff contention, if it weren’t already obvious.
Washington could barely muster up 60 Rushing yards through 6 different ball carriers. Roy Helu led the way with 35 Rushing Yards. Graham Gano, who 2 weeks ago booted a 59 yard-FG, missed two FG of 50+ yards. One FG could have won the game in Regulation and the other could have won it in OT. Washington had their chances to win this game, but just could get it done when the opportunities presented themselves. Dallas was 8 of 17 (47%) on 3rd down. That is too high of a percentage if you want to be considered one of the best Defenses in football. You have to get the other team off of the field on 3rd down. You also have to win the Turnover battle. Dallas won that 1-0. Sure Washington would have had to play perfect, but with one turnover, 2 missed FGs and a 3rd down efficiency of 53% on Defense (Dallas converted 43% of their 3rd down opportunities), they had to a chance. That’s all I am saying.
Dallas started off looking like a dominant team, then they hit a wall. But, time and time again, when they needed a timely 3rd down conversion, they got it. Tony Romo extended a few plays to buy himself time and hit open WRs. The one play that sticks out he long TD catch and run by Jason Witten. That was the signature play for the Cowboys. They just found a way to break the Redskins Defense’s back. You’d think 3rd and Long means drop back don’t give up anything long, try to tackle them short of the 1st Down marker and force them to punt. Unless, of course, Dallas opts to go for it and run it right down their throats like the Cowboys did on one 4th Down conversion. Dallas is playing the way everyone expected at the start of the season. The sad thing is… so is Washington.
Mike Shanahan, no matter how well he prepared the Redskins for Sunday’s game, should be on the hot seat. The problem is, Washington still owes him $21M of guaranteed money. Dan Snyder has already had his fill of paying retired players and coaches. So in the best interest of his pockets and the organization, they will give Shanny at least another year, maybe two. So Redskins fans, we may have to live through another abysmal (a Brotha had to break out the big word for this one) season.
This weeks game ball goes to Tony Romo for this clutch performance completing 23 of 37 passes for 292 yards and 3 TDs. Good job Tony.
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