- It's apparent that the Redskins need another receiving threat to
supplement Santana Moss. Chris Cooley is good in his role, but he
never has displayed an ability to go deep down the seam. Antwaan
Randle El is good for a play a game but that's his ceiling. But
there's nobody who truly, consistently will punish the opposing
defense for paying excessive attention to Moss.
- DeAngelo Hall made an absolutely spectacular play in his first
game with Washington. OK, by NFL standards it was a routine play,
securing an errant Tony Romo pass for a routine interception. But
such a play is extraordinary by the standards of the 2008 Washington Redskins.
- I've never seen the Cowboys—at least not this version of the
team—play as physically as they did last night. In particular they
de-cleated Clinton Portis and Moss on one third-quarter series and
the Dallas offensive line gouged out holes for Marion Barber, who
ran hard. The Redskins returned the favor, being particularly rough
on Terrell Owens. Fred Smoot flipped him head over heels in the
first quarter and Carlos Rogers popped TO in the second quarter,
knocking the ball in the air to set up Rocky McIntosh for an INT.
- It would be better if the Redskins could get more pressure on
the other QB, but, unlike others, I'm not putting that high on the
list of priorities. Yes, Romo had time to make a sandwich and
another one for Jessica back there in the pocket. But the bottom
line is that the Cowboys scored just 14 points. You have to score
more points.
- The second-quarter punt that ended up being a touchback was
called correctly by the referees. After Rock Cartwright batted the
ball back into the field of play, just before sliding into the end
zone, everything was set for the Cowboys to be starting their drive
at their own one Then the ball bounced off of the shin of Khary Campbell and back to where it touched Cartwright after Rock's
momentum had carried him into the end zone. I've heard some say that
Cartwright didn't need to bat the ball, that it was going to die on
its own, but I'm not so sure about that. In any case, it wasn't
certain enough that it was going to stop prior to going into the end
zone that such a judgment could be made while flying downfield at
full speed, as Cartwright was.
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
|