Washington Redskins suffer bitter defeat at home vs. NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys

Last night’s loss to Dallas was a particularly tough pill to swallow.  Obviously no loss is fun, and always has any team and their fans looking forward to the next week in hope of some redemption, but to lose at home to Dallas after such an encouraging first half of the season is down right gut-wrenching.  Sunday night marked the chance for the Skins to take control of their playoff destiny by improving to 7-3, put Dallas down another game in the division, and really hurt the playoff aspirations of their bitter rivals.  Unfortunately none of those things happened.

This was the game I had waited all day for.  I suffered through an ultimately pointless Eagles / Bengals game, and fought hard through a nap-inducing Steelers / Chargers game.  Finally, come 8:15, joyous news that Clinton Portis and LaDell Betts would both start the game to come.  It would seem my patience had been repaid even more handsomely than I had expected.

The first quarter started out as well as any Redskins fan could hope.  The defense forced Dallas 3-and-out on the opening drive of the game, and the Skins’ offense responded with a touchdown on their first drive, thanks in large part to the hard running of Portis.  Then, just as Dallas appeared to be making some ground, their 2^nd drive was again cut short as recently acquired cornerback, DeAngelo Hall, intercepted one of Tony Romo’s passes.  It seemed as though nothing could go wrong, and that Dallas would be in for a long night.

With the second quarter came doubts.  While the Washington defense seemed to keep up its intensity, the offense began to sputter and would not be able to find the end zone the entire quarter despite being gifted a golden opportunity in the form of another interception, this time by Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh.  Dallas would finally find its way into the end zone in the final minutes of the half, and would have tied the game if not for an outstanding return on the subsequent kickoff by Roc Cartwright that setup a 41-yard Suisham field goal, giving the Redskins the lead as they headed into the locker room.  Sadly, this would be the last time Washington would score, leading ultimately to their demise.

The Cowboys came out run heavy in the 2^nd half, clearly focused on establishing the run game with Marion Barber, looking to wear down the Washington defense that simply could not get any help from their offense.  Finally, in the 4^th quarter, they struck pay dirt and took the 14-10 lead, which would wind up being the final score.

Now please understand, I’m not at all one to harp on negative points, or turn into a nay-sayer when things aren’t going well.  Quite the opposite, I try to stay optimistic all week and all game long, win or lose.  Furthermore, I have a very hard time criticizing the team I love with all my heart and soul.  With that said, my agony over this loss has compelled me to get a few things off my chest.

#1.  Portis underutilized - As I mentioned before, the Skins’ first and only touchdown scoring drive was due in large part to Clinton Portis.  He opened up this game looking as healthy as any game I’ve seen him play.  Yet after such a statement making opening drive, it seemed like the play calling began to favor the passing game.  Some would likely argue that despite Portis playing, that the idea was to use him sparingly, and attempt to avoid any further aggravation of the injury he was nursing.  My only rebuttal to that would be, if he’s going to play, then you’re already running that risk, and the only way to make that risk worthwhile is to win the game, even if it means utilizing him more than originally planned.  In either case, I don’t think he saw the ball nearly enough based off of his early success, never mind being the 2^nd leading rusher in the league.

#2.  “Shouldn’t that have been ‘downed’??” – One thing omitted from the above synopsis was a questionable special teams play involving a Plackemeier punt and an overly eager attempt to down said punt by special teams’ leader Roc Cartwright.  After a Dallas sack of Jason Campbell, Plackemeier nailed a beautiful punt which seemed to drop and stick right on the 1 yard line of the Cowboys, at least until Cartwright came sliding toward it in an attempt to down the ball where it sat, but ended up causing a touchback as the ball came into contact with him after he proceeded to roll into the end zone, trying to bat the ball back / away from his body.  Although challenged, by Washington, the touchback would be upheld after the review.  This is still a pretty big question mark in my mind.  As I discussed today with a few folks, it was my understanding that the rule on downing a punt was that the ball is dead where the kicking team first touches it.  Now assuming that is true, the review clearly showed Cartwrigth first coming into contact with the ball before he ever crossed the plane of the end zone.  So why again was this a touchback??  Also, as much as it pains me to ask, why did Roc come flying in as quickly as he did on that ball?  It did not appear to be rolling into the end zone, and would have seemed like a simple touch would have done the trick.  Even reminding myself that you win some you lose some when it comes to referee calls, this one was pretty instrumental as Dallas scored their first touchdown on this very drive.  Could those 20 yards have made all the difference?  Quite possibly.

#3.  Attention to detail – Just before the aforementioned punt.  There was apparently a mix-up on the sideline involving a personnel package, which lead to an illegal substitution penalty on Washington, setting them back 5 yards on a critical drive that could have potentially put them up 2 scores against a scoreless Dallas.  Now granted, I’ll allow that only NFL players and coaches could truly attest to the speed and complexity of the game of football, so it’s certainly easier for us to watch and criticize, but come on, this is the Washington Redskins vs. the Dallas Cowboys.  This is a crucial game in your team’s season, and the drive couldn’t have been more pivotal.  How do you lose focus and concentration on your responsibilities here?  The added insult to injury here is that despite being penalized and having some extra time due to the penalty, Washington still had to burn a timeout (which had they used in advance they may have avoided the penalty altogether) in order to get their play together and called.  Taking a timeout due to confusion & lack of communication is one thing, taking a penalty due to the same is another and slightly worse.  But taking both?   That’s down-right inexcusable.  Once again, where is the focus?