Redskins at Cowboys: The Morning Star

Washington Redskins (5-4) at Dallas Cowboys (8-1)
4:15 p.m. Texas Stadium
Following an impressive touchdown drive that put the Redskins up 22-13 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, there was a feeling in the press box that even the Redskins couldn’t blow this kind of lead. Sure, the Redskins had already choked away two games, but they had lost most or all of their leads in the third quarters of those games. A solid scoring drive to make it a two score game in the fourth against the hapless Eagles should have been enough. When the press box, containing some of the most cynical people on this planet, feel encouraged by a nine-point lead, then it’s usually safe to assume the Redskins would win.

Twelve minutes and twenty points later, the Redskins were on the wrong end of another come-from-ahead loss. For the second time this season, it was against a division opponent at home. That puts three of four losses this season in the choke column. In addition to those three losses, the Skins surrendered a huge lead to Arizona in a two-point win and allowed the pathetic Jets to drive down the field for the game-tying field goal in an eventual overtime victory. So it’s not like any of this is new.

What the Redskins did do for the first time this season is lose a game they couldn’t afford to lose. Going into their game in Green Bay, the Redskins had to beat Detroit to go 3-1 and avoid heading into a road game with a chance to fall under .500. Same thing with the win against Arizona before their game with New England. And you had the feeling going into this weekend’s game that the Redskins would have to beat both the Jets and Eagles. Since they didn’t, the Redskins almost face their first real must win of the season. I say almost because both the Giants and Lions lost last Sunday, and since they play each other this week, one of them will lose again. Even if the Redskins lose this weekend, they’ll still be no worse than one game out of the playoffs. So it’s not quite dire straights on Sunday. But the Redskins should be 6-3 heading into this game.

There isn’t much to say regarding the loss to Philly. The same problems the Redskins have had all season closing games came back and bit them in the butt again. Failure to score touchdowns instead of field goals. Failure to make field goals instead of coming away with no points. Failure to get first downs instead of going three and out. Failure to stick to the defensive game plan that had worked so well in the first half of the game. Failure to hold on to the football. Failure to capitalize on the mistakes (and the Eagles made plenty of them) of the opponents. Failures in clock management. They were all there. And on top of the problems on the field, the injury toll continues to mount.

The Redskins don’t have a lot of injuries. It just seems all their injuries are at the same position. So the Redskins are going to have third and fourth stringers at some positions for the foreseeable future. The offensive line was decimated early in the year. In the last couple of weeks it’s been the secondary and the receiving corps. Santana Moss, Brandon Lloyd (who didn’t do much when healthy) and James Thrash will all be sidelined this weekend. Antwaan Randle El is still suffering from a variety of injuries. The receivers this weekend will be a banged up Randle El, followed by Keenan McCardell, Reche Caldwell and Jimmy Farris. Farris signed with the team earlier this week. Not exactly the most fearsome group in the world. And with all the injuries on the offensive line, Dallas-killer Chris Cooley has been forced to be more of a blocker this season, which takes away another threat. All this is happening when the Redskins were finally starting to open up the playbook the last couple of weeks.

The worst injury is to safety Sean Taylor. Taylor has been, by far, the best safety in the NFL this season. He is finally living up to the potential that he came into the league with. He has been so versatile for the Redskins, lining up near the line of scrimmage on one play then lining up 20 yards downfield on the next. Along with London Fletcher, Taylor has been the driving force of the Redskins resurgence. Now it appears Taylor will miss at least two games, probably more.

On top of the escalating problems for the Redskins this week is their opponent. The Redskins must travel to Irving to face a team that is red hot, playing with a purpose, and generally looks unstoppable. As the greatest rivalry in sports renews, the Redskins are going to be against a wall in Dallas and are going to be facing a very good team. And you know how much it pains me to write that about that team with the stupid little star on its helmet.

As is my policy, I don’t like writing about what ESPN and other networks hype up beyond belief. So I’m going to glance over the Cowboys offense. Tony Romo is not a top tier quarterback. He makes just as many mistakes as quarterbacks not named Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. They’re just conveniently overlooked. Marion Barber and Jason Witten are good players. The offensive line is good, but not great. Terrell Owens is aging but is helped out tremendously by the amount of weapons the Cowboys have.

It’s the Cowboys defense that really is impressive. Roy Williams is vastly overrated (in fact, he may be one of the worst starters on the team), but the rest of the unit is underrated. If underrating Dallas players is possible anymore for the amount of coverage the team receives. Guys like Bradie James and DeMarcus Ware are having monster years and are hard to get by or around. Dallas blitzes like crazy, and with very few options available to Jason Campbell, it could be tough to take advantage of their aggressive nature.

The loss of Taylor is huge in this game. The Cowboys love to run one of their receivers deep and have either Witten or Owens come over the middle on slant patterns. With Taylor in the game, that option would pretty much be taken away. Taylor has knocked the crap out of Owens in previous match-ups and it is a known secret around the league that Owens is very, very afraid of going over the middle when facing Taylor. He has had some of the worst games of his career against Taylor and the Skins. With Pierson Prioleau taking over the free safety position, I’m not sure Dallas will get away from their bread and butter. It’s not really Owens that worries me, it’s actually Witten that’s more of a problem. He’s a slightly faster, slightly weaker version of Cooley. He would create issues even with Taylor in the game. Without Taylor, who covers him? Certainly not a linebacker, which is what I’m sure Gregg Williams will try to do.

For the Redskins offensively, it’s going to be a struggle. The running game has finally gotten on track the last couple of weeks. Clinton Portis is going to have to have another 100-yard game for the Redskins to put enough points on the board. Running and play-action are going to be the only way the Skins move the ball. I would love to see some more of the no-huddle the Redskins debuted last week to some degree of success. It appears the Skins will allow Campbell to run it a few times this week.

I just don’t see the Redskins putting up enough points, and move the ball with enough consistency to keep Dallas behind on the scoreboard and off the field. Even if the Redskins grab a lead, there is no guarantee that they’ll be able to hold it. In fact, it’s almost a guarantee that they won’t. A win would be huge. It would be the biggest of Joe Gibbs’ return. It would put the Redskins right back in the middle of everything. The division, the wild-card, everything is put back on the table for the Redskins. A loss drops the Redskins at .500, and will put them in their first must-win game of the season next weekend.