15:00—A full and enthusiastic FedEx Field crowd is
on hand here. The Cowboys will get the ball first. The Redskins are in
the same burgundy pants they wore against the Steelers but they are
going with their white jerseys.
13:17—It seems that the Cowboys are a bit reluctant to test how
well Romo's finger is doing. On third and four on the opening series,
Romo pitched out to Barber, who was tackled just short of the first
down. It seems odd that they were running in that situation and it
didn't catch anyone off guard.
8:13—You know that Zorn is frustrated about not getting TD's in the
Red Zone. He went for it on fourth and one at the 11 and Portis easily
picked it up scampering to the two. On the next play, Mike Sellers
caught his second pass of the game for the score.
Sellers 2 pass from Campbell (Suisham kick)
Redskins 7, Cowboys 0
A well-balanced scoring drive, 49 yards in 10 plays. I don't have
the numbers in front of me but I think there were six pass plays
(including a sack) and four Portis runs. They came back from a second
and 18 after the sack. They could dispirit the "desperate" Cowboys if
they can keep the accelerator to the floor and build up a good lead.
TO head over heels by Smoot
False start
pass to Austin for first down
double reverse goes nowhere
pass to barber for first down
1:29—Deangelo Hall holds on to his first interception opportunity,
a poor pass by Romo. It stopped a drive that seemed destined to end up
with Dallas scoring some points. They got two third-down conversions
on Romo passes to Austin and Barber, but on third and three Romo threw
well behind Owens and Hall got the gift pick. Of course, we know that
there are no gift interceptions with this team. They generally are
returned unopened.
End of first quarter
Redskins 7, Cowboys 0
12:52—The Cowboys are getting a good amount of
pressure on Campbell and it is pushing his passes off mark. In
general, the offense has had no rhythm since that initial drive.
They're not really making mistakes, dropping passes or committing
penalties, but they're breaking down everywhere. Certainly, a lot of
it can be chalked up to a good defensive effort by Dallas.
9:37—The Redskins get yet another pick. They must
have worked on that during the bye week. This time it was McIntosh,
who got a tipped ball after Owens was smacked by Carlos Rogers. Dallas
had a pretty good drive going primarily on the ground as the Redskins
were not wrapping up Marion Barber. Skins with the ball back and on
the move with their initial first down since the opening drive.
5:18—A nice drive has turned into a cluster, uh,
bomb. On third and six in Dallas territory, the Skins get flagged for
12 men in the huddle and then they have to burn a timeout after a
couple more players shuffle in and out of the game. It ends on a third
and 11 sack. Campbell got the thing jump started with a 22-yard run on
a QB draw. It was a great play call and Campbell carried tacklers for
about five extra yards. But it went for naught after second and seven
turned into fourth and 21.
1:54—Dallas is threatening again at the two-minute
warning. Romo found Jason Witten for the first time today and it was
good for 24 yards. They're still trying to get the ball to Owens but
he has yet to be able to do anything with it. They're throwing him the
quick outs, but Rogers and Smoot are taking him down immediately. They
haven't even tried to go to him downfield.
1:46—Just after I type that, Owens gets a big
gainer. He went in motion and found a seam in the zone for a catch
down to about the three. Dallas is knocking on the door looking to tie
this one up.
Barber 2 run (Folk kick)
Redskins 7, Cowboys 7
It sure looked like Barber's elbow was down before the ball broke
the plane of the goal line. It wouldn't have mattered much as it would
have been second and goal at about the six inch line and a touchdown
is the highly probable outcome in that situation.
A great kickoff return by Cartwright sets up a field goal at the
end of the half.
FG Suisham 41
Redskins 10, Cowboys 7
The Redskins get the second-half kickoff and they are going in with
momentum. Still, they need to get some continuity going on offense.
Dallas' last two drives were very effective with one ending in an
interception and the other ending in the TD.
I like the way the game is going, although I don't like Dallas'
ability to get an offense going—especially one featuring Barber—in the
latter stages of the second quarter. There's no adjustment you can
make for that besides just plain tackling the guy. Still, the late
field goal was a nice boost, especially considering that they had no
timeouts and the chances of scoring with a middling return were pretty
slim.
13:37—We have a Devin Thomas sighting as he
catches a short pass to convert a third and three. He then trots back
off the field.
8:23—After two more third down conversions,
Campbell throws an interception on third and two to kill the drive. He
tried to squeeze it in to Moss, but Newman's was too tight on him and
he got the pick.
6:16—Dallas goes nowhere after the pick as an
illegal formation killed a third-down conversion on a slant to Miles
Austing that carried into Redskins territory. After that a false start
made it third and 17 and Romo's was off target on a deep pass attempt.
3:41—Another promising drive goes astray. After
two big plays—a 24-yard pass to Randle El and a 20-yard Portis run—the
drive stalls after Campbell gets sacked and Suisham is short—short?—on
a 46-yard field goal try. The defense might have to come up with
another turnover at some point here. I still like the way it's going,
but it could get away in a hurry as the Redskins are not creating any
margin for error.
End of third quarter
Redskins 10, Cowboys 7
At the end of the quarter, Randle El left for the locker room
walking gingerly.
Rich Tandler blogs about the Skins at RealRedskins.com and he is the author of the upcoming book The Redskins Chronicle. You can reach Rich by email at rich.tandler+real@gmail.com