Skins and Boys
Bobbie Brewskie
Staff Writer
let me start by saying that this game does not only have a significant role in each of these 2 teams success this season (as it is a division game). It will also be a big game for the Cowboys to redeem themselves from a sloppy sweep last season and for the Skins to defend their honor from last years sweep. It will be the game that puts 1 team at the bottom (at best tied for the bottom) of the division and will put another team in 1st or 2nd place in the division (depending on the giants/Eagles game).
now that we are done with stating the obvious, lets get into the good stuff and get going on comparing the two teams in all aspects.
Dallas Offense
Let me start with the commander of the squad: Drew Bledsoe - all that i have heard this past week is how he threw away the game vs. the jags and about how maybe it IS time to bring in Tony Romo. It is one game, the guy is a 14 year vet and didnt have the best game of his career, but he still has some gas left in the tank. expect bledsoe to come out much harder and maintain poise this next game, he will have worked 1 extra week with TO, the OL will be taking steps forward and he will definately have watched enough tape to realize his mistakes. expect a big rebound from him.
The running game is once again going to be lead by Julius Jones who last week had a solid game, with a very big TD run early, that reminded everybody of how good he is when he is healthy. JJ wont be the only guy touching the ball, remember Marion Barber III may have been lost in Jones success last week, but the guy still exists and of his 3 carries, he made something out of them and should help jones out a bit and should take off a little bit of the load.
The pass-attack will be lead once again by Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens along with perenial Pro-Bowl TE Jason Witten. these are the only 3 guys who caught a pass from Bledsoe last week, but all 3 of them did a fine job. after last week we all saw that TO still has it in him, even with all the missed practice and not working with Bledsoe all to much and missing the entire pre-season. We saw that Glenn is playing on the same level as last season with his 20 Yards/Catch. Witten had 3 Catches for 33 yards, would have been 4 for 45 and a TD had he not been flagged for a somewhat "bogus" PI call. Patrick Crayton is often times overlooked as a #3 WR. he is the 4th or even 5th option behind the former and sometimes even Anthony Fasano who seemed to have limited amount of play last week. Crayton is a solid #3 WR and runs great routes, has some speed to get outside and deep and has very good hands, expect him to have a good day with the rest of the squad taking a lot of attention and the skins being weekend in the secondary.
The biggest question, or what has been the biggest question for a while in Dallas is the OL. the OL didnt play have bad last week, they allowed 2 sacks to one of the best front-4s in football last week and you could say that Bledsoe was at fault in one of them. a good sign with the OL is that the most experienced player on it, Flozell Adams, is having the hardest time right now. wait, did i just say that was a good thing? yea i did, and it is. the rest of the OL is looking quite good and hopefully Flo will return to form sooner rather than later from his injury and get rid of that "rust" before this weeks game.
Redskins Offense
lets go in the same order. Mark Brunell is a solid QB and has a few nice options on his squad this year. he has had a hard time getting his team into the endzone and having consistant drives since the start of pre-season. there could be various reasons for this, but i will go ahead and say that Portis brings another dimension to this offense which they do not have and besides that their WRs are all quite similar and dont give them versatility in the passing game.
Their running game has taken a big hit as Clinton Portis is listed as "doubtful" to play against the Boys and hasnt been in practice all week, he is definately not 100% and probably wont be until next week. filling in his place will be Ladell Betts who to this point is a "career-backup" and has proven to be able to step in and not do all to bad . . . but is this because teams change their gameplan completely when Portis is out? Yes, Betts no way gets 8 men in the box and teams will always back off and play the pass when he is in. along with Betts the skins have Rocky Cartwright and newly acquired TJ Ducket. Will these guys be able to fill Portis' shoes? no, but the 3 of them should be able to make a somewhat descent combination this week.
the passing game is lead by speed-demon Santana Moss who torched the boys last year to win the skins the game. former #2 WR for the skins David Patten is now the #4 WR behind Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El. Santana Moss had a descent game last week, although 2 of his catches came on the last drive. Lloyd and ARE were almost invisible last week, werent all to impressive and i dont find either of them to be a threat, especially when matched up vs the boys DBs.
the OL is solid, Jansen is facing his "drug" charges, which IMO are bogus, but beside that minor issue they are a solid group. they are good, but this week should be a test.
Dallas Defense
Let us start where it all does start, up front.the cowboys have 2 young ends who are 2 of this years "SI Breakout Players of the Year." Chris Canty has shown that with great play in the pre-season and game 1, while Marcus Spears was injured but still played quite well in game 1. inbetween the 2 young gunners we have an experienced vet in Jason Ferguson who has displayed solid play and has played with high intensity and has a knack for being a bit "confident." the front 3 is pretty good and frees up the LBs well, while still creating a solid pass rush. add Jason Hatcher and Jay Ratliff to this rotation and you got a pretty good rotation of front guys who display an aray of skill in getting to the QB and breaking up run plays in the backfield.
the LBs are a fierce group and may be one of the best points in the cowboys team (especially compared to last years LB corps). i consider them vastly under-rated. Demarcus Ware is a fan favorite and should has the potential to be a monster, he is as big as a DE at 260+ lbs and can bull-rush tackles while he is known for his explosiveness off the ball and quickness to the outside. Bradie James and Akin Ayodele make up a fairly scary set of ILBs. the two should battle for the leading spot in tackles on this years roster as both of them had high tackle season last year and they are both improving. they are very big boys and should be able to bulldoze through the skins OL on occasion. dont forget former DE Greg Ellis. the guy has made a solid transition to OLB and provides a blitzing threat opposite of youngster Demarcus Ware. he struggles a bit in coverage as his lateral movement isnt to impressive, but he gets there and isnt terrible in coverage. Depth is this units strength, so there arent to many concerns if 1 falls.
the Secondary actually might be the Cowboys strongest unit. lead by heavy-hitter Roy Williams this secondary has a ton of talent. Terence Newman and Anthony Henry make up for one of the best CB duos in the league as T-New didnt give up a single TD last year, didnt have a single PI and only allowed 32% of balls thrown his way to be completed. Anthony Henry on the other had was on the way to a pro-bowl season until he went down with an injury . . . he returned to the game, but didnt return to form. This year it will be different and he should have a good season and game. 5th round pick Pat Watkins has wowed coaches and fans all around and has more than lived up to his pick #. the guy has great potential and is quit athletic and is already the starting FS over KD. in the NB spot (which is now a big position in FB with teams running a lot more 3 WR sets and TEs being used much more as WRs) the boys have a old, but good option in Aaron Glenn who will be matched up against the RS Randle El. some say he will struggle, but he is a vet who knows what he is doing and is still moving quite well, he is strong in the NB spot.
Redskins Defense
Lead by a set of fierce DTs it will be hard to run up the middle on this team. we saw this last week as 31 carries didnt even surpass 100 yards for the vikes. the front4s weakness is the DEs, Daniels and Carter dont supply the pressure that is expected of them. Yes last year Daniels had a whopping 4 sacks, but that was Torrin Tucker, this is Flozell Adams. Carter was brought in to "Solidify" the pass rush and just like ive been saying, he hasnt done that. the guy is a 5-8 sack guy, dont expect much from him.
the skins have a solid group of LBs behind their 4 man front. Marcus Washington has definately emerged as a great LB. he is one of the best in the division. Lemar Marshall is a solid MLB and although he gets a lot of help from his tough DTs, he is still one of the better ILBs in the league and can make plays. 2nd rounder [b]Rocky Mcintosh[/B has yet to play OLB for the skins, but he is sitting behind Warrick Holdman - a guy who i know nothing of.
The skins DBs are taking a hurting this week as star CB Shawn Springs is on the bench with an abdominal injury. along with him went backup FS/SS/CB Prioleau who may not seem to be a big loss, but the guy backed up both the FS and SS spots and played CB. this leaves former 1st rounder Carlos Rogers to cover TO and Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph for TG and PC. secondary "super-star" Sean Taylor will have a tough time covering all the ground between Glenn and TO and will most likely be shaded to TOs side. FA pickup Adam Archuleta is going to be zoned in on covering Jason Witten and will have a smaller role in the box and in covering WRs as Witten can do damage if not keyd upon.
Quick Matchups
Redskins pass rush vs. Cowboys OL/Bledsoe:
as we all know Drew Bledsoe cant move for his life and he likes to hold on to the ball like a winning lottery ticket. the Boys OL played quite well last week with the exception of Flozell Adams. they all sustained their blocks and picked up the blitz well (something the redskins love to do), but they will have to get better if they want to let the offense control the game. Bledsoe made plays last week, especially when he had time and at other times he might have felt "hurried." now the skins may not have a front4 like the jags, but they do have a blitz scheme that can wreak havoc . . . that is, IF they arent to busy covering TO, TG and JW. Blitzing can be quite risky and this week it will be a huge risk for the skins, expect Greg Williams to hav a tough time on choosing between the two.
Cowboys pass rush vs. Redskins OL/Brunell:
Mark Brunell is not rooted to the ground like Bledsoe, but he is not far away fron being a sloth. the guy is mobile enough to get away for a bit, but he will have a hard time outrunning OLBs, especially D. Ware. somebody will always have to be kept in to contain D. Ware although Chris Samuels might just be capable of taking on Ware alone. Zimmer doesnt have genius blitz packages like those of Greg Williams, but the 3-4 scheme will keep the offense guessing all day. Chris Cooley is a solid blocker and should be used on Wares side quite a bit to either "leak out into the flat" or to pick him up, expect a delayed/option route by him quite a bit.
Redskins front 7 vs. Dallas Running Game:
the Cowboys running game isnt particularly amazing, but they are solid. the OL is coming together more and more each day and this only makes Jones that much better. Barber is strong between the tackles, but with the skins DTs expect him to have a hard time running on them. Jones on the other hand should get a few lanes, but we all saw what the skins did to the Vikes last week on their 31 carries . . . expect this week to be a bit different as the boys have better "decoys" in TO and TG and better RBs, but the Skins front-7 should be dominant as always, 100+ yards is still not out of question though.
Dallas front 7 vs. Redskins Running Game:
Of course a major set-back for the skins is the loss of Portis. either way the boys much like the skins have a tough front-7 who doesnt usually allow backs over 100 yards (last year they faced the best and were never really embarassed except by Tiki Barber once). ill say Betts has a hard time moving it on this 3-4 defense and the skins are forced to throw. sidenote: boys will be in a 7 man front almost all game, 8 mans wont be required with Portis out.
Skins Secondary Vs. Dallas WRs/TEs:
this might be the biggest mismatch in the contest, as a matter of fact, it is. the skins are not only down their #1 CB, but also their NB/#2S. before Springs was gone, the skins would have already had a hard time with TO and now with Rogers on him they will need to double-cover him or atleast heavily shade to his side. now that puts Kenny Wright a mediocre NB on Terry Glenn (another mismatch) who was double-covered for the majority of last year. now #5 CB - Mike Rumph will have to be matched up on #3 WR Patrick Crayton and once agian i will say it is a mismatch, in SF Rumph did nothing special and was not capable of starting. now you take Archuleta and have him locked in on Witten for the majority of the time and that leaves FS Sean Taylor to cover the field (he will be shaded to TOs side) this will leave glenn open in space 1 on 1 with a fairly bad CB. (sidenote: Fasano and Crayton wont be on the field at the same time).
Dallas Secondary Vs. Skins WRs/TEs:
Santana Moss wont be doing what he did last year again. this year (hopefully) zimmer wont make the mistake of taking Terence Newman off of him. Newman is one of the best CBs in the league and will gave Moss a hard time (much like he did last year). opposite of Moss is Brandon Lloyd who doesnt scare anybody and Anthony Henry will have his way with him and get physical on him. expect a lot of press coverage on those 2 especially with the size advantage our CBs have. to contain Santana Moss expect 6'5 FS Pat Watkins shaded to his side, deep, all day long, not allowing anything to go over his head. Chris Cooley will be covered by Roy Williams and this should be a back and forth match-up all day long.
thank you all and heres my prediction: 27-13 Dallas.
Staff Writer
let me start by saying that this game does not only have a significant role in each of these 2 teams success this season (as it is a division game). It will also be a big game for the Cowboys to redeem themselves from a sloppy sweep last season and for the Skins to defend their honor from last years sweep. It will be the game that puts 1 team at the bottom (at best tied for the bottom) of the division and will put another team in 1st or 2nd place in the division (depending on the giants/Eagles game).
now that we are done with stating the obvious, lets get into the good stuff and get going on comparing the two teams in all aspects.
Dallas Offense
Let me start with the commander of the squad: Drew Bledsoe - all that i have heard this past week is how he threw away the game vs. the jags and about how maybe it IS time to bring in Tony Romo. It is one game, the guy is a 14 year vet and didnt have the best game of his career, but he still has some gas left in the tank. expect bledsoe to come out much harder and maintain poise this next game, he will have worked 1 extra week with TO, the OL will be taking steps forward and he will definately have watched enough tape to realize his mistakes. expect a big rebound from him.
The running game is once again going to be lead by Julius Jones who last week had a solid game, with a very big TD run early, that reminded everybody of how good he is when he is healthy. JJ wont be the only guy touching the ball, remember Marion Barber III may have been lost in Jones success last week, but the guy still exists and of his 3 carries, he made something out of them and should help jones out a bit and should take off a little bit of the load.
The pass-attack will be lead once again by Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens along with perenial Pro-Bowl TE Jason Witten. these are the only 3 guys who caught a pass from Bledsoe last week, but all 3 of them did a fine job. after last week we all saw that TO still has it in him, even with all the missed practice and not working with Bledsoe all to much and missing the entire pre-season. We saw that Glenn is playing on the same level as last season with his 20 Yards/Catch. Witten had 3 Catches for 33 yards, would have been 4 for 45 and a TD had he not been flagged for a somewhat "bogus" PI call. Patrick Crayton is often times overlooked as a #3 WR. he is the 4th or even 5th option behind the former and sometimes even Anthony Fasano who seemed to have limited amount of play last week. Crayton is a solid #3 WR and runs great routes, has some speed to get outside and deep and has very good hands, expect him to have a good day with the rest of the squad taking a lot of attention and the skins being weekend in the secondary.
The biggest question, or what has been the biggest question for a while in Dallas is the OL. the OL didnt play have bad last week, they allowed 2 sacks to one of the best front-4s in football last week and you could say that Bledsoe was at fault in one of them. a good sign with the OL is that the most experienced player on it, Flozell Adams, is having the hardest time right now. wait, did i just say that was a good thing? yea i did, and it is. the rest of the OL is looking quite good and hopefully Flo will return to form sooner rather than later from his injury and get rid of that "rust" before this weeks game.
Redskins Offense
lets go in the same order. Mark Brunell is a solid QB and has a few nice options on his squad this year. he has had a hard time getting his team into the endzone and having consistant drives since the start of pre-season. there could be various reasons for this, but i will go ahead and say that Portis brings another dimension to this offense which they do not have and besides that their WRs are all quite similar and dont give them versatility in the passing game.
Their running game has taken a big hit as Clinton Portis is listed as "doubtful" to play against the Boys and hasnt been in practice all week, he is definately not 100% and probably wont be until next week. filling in his place will be Ladell Betts who to this point is a "career-backup" and has proven to be able to step in and not do all to bad . . . but is this because teams change their gameplan completely when Portis is out? Yes, Betts no way gets 8 men in the box and teams will always back off and play the pass when he is in. along with Betts the skins have Rocky Cartwright and newly acquired TJ Ducket. Will these guys be able to fill Portis' shoes? no, but the 3 of them should be able to make a somewhat descent combination this week.
the passing game is lead by speed-demon Santana Moss who torched the boys last year to win the skins the game. former #2 WR for the skins David Patten is now the #4 WR behind Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El. Santana Moss had a descent game last week, although 2 of his catches came on the last drive. Lloyd and ARE were almost invisible last week, werent all to impressive and i dont find either of them to be a threat, especially when matched up vs the boys DBs.
the OL is solid, Jansen is facing his "drug" charges, which IMO are bogus, but beside that minor issue they are a solid group. they are good, but this week should be a test.
Dallas Defense
Let us start where it all does start, up front.the cowboys have 2 young ends who are 2 of this years "SI Breakout Players of the Year." Chris Canty has shown that with great play in the pre-season and game 1, while Marcus Spears was injured but still played quite well in game 1. inbetween the 2 young gunners we have an experienced vet in Jason Ferguson who has displayed solid play and has played with high intensity and has a knack for being a bit "confident." the front 3 is pretty good and frees up the LBs well, while still creating a solid pass rush. add Jason Hatcher and Jay Ratliff to this rotation and you got a pretty good rotation of front guys who display an aray of skill in getting to the QB and breaking up run plays in the backfield.
the LBs are a fierce group and may be one of the best points in the cowboys team (especially compared to last years LB corps). i consider them vastly under-rated. Demarcus Ware is a fan favorite and should has the potential to be a monster, he is as big as a DE at 260+ lbs and can bull-rush tackles while he is known for his explosiveness off the ball and quickness to the outside. Bradie James and Akin Ayodele make up a fairly scary set of ILBs. the two should battle for the leading spot in tackles on this years roster as both of them had high tackle season last year and they are both improving. they are very big boys and should be able to bulldoze through the skins OL on occasion. dont forget former DE Greg Ellis. the guy has made a solid transition to OLB and provides a blitzing threat opposite of youngster Demarcus Ware. he struggles a bit in coverage as his lateral movement isnt to impressive, but he gets there and isnt terrible in coverage. Depth is this units strength, so there arent to many concerns if 1 falls.
the Secondary actually might be the Cowboys strongest unit. lead by heavy-hitter Roy Williams this secondary has a ton of talent. Terence Newman and Anthony Henry make up for one of the best CB duos in the league as T-New didnt give up a single TD last year, didnt have a single PI and only allowed 32% of balls thrown his way to be completed. Anthony Henry on the other had was on the way to a pro-bowl season until he went down with an injury . . . he returned to the game, but didnt return to form. This year it will be different and he should have a good season and game. 5th round pick Pat Watkins has wowed coaches and fans all around and has more than lived up to his pick #. the guy has great potential and is quit athletic and is already the starting FS over KD. in the NB spot (which is now a big position in FB with teams running a lot more 3 WR sets and TEs being used much more as WRs) the boys have a old, but good option in Aaron Glenn who will be matched up against the RS Randle El. some say he will struggle, but he is a vet who knows what he is doing and is still moving quite well, he is strong in the NB spot.
Redskins Defense
Lead by a set of fierce DTs it will be hard to run up the middle on this team. we saw this last week as 31 carries didnt even surpass 100 yards for the vikes. the front4s weakness is the DEs, Daniels and Carter dont supply the pressure that is expected of them. Yes last year Daniels had a whopping 4 sacks, but that was Torrin Tucker, this is Flozell Adams. Carter was brought in to "Solidify" the pass rush and just like ive been saying, he hasnt done that. the guy is a 5-8 sack guy, dont expect much from him.
the skins have a solid group of LBs behind their 4 man front. Marcus Washington has definately emerged as a great LB. he is one of the best in the division. Lemar Marshall is a solid MLB and although he gets a lot of help from his tough DTs, he is still one of the better ILBs in the league and can make plays. 2nd rounder [b]Rocky Mcintosh[/B has yet to play OLB for the skins, but he is sitting behind Warrick Holdman - a guy who i know nothing of.
The skins DBs are taking a hurting this week as star CB Shawn Springs is on the bench with an abdominal injury. along with him went backup FS/SS/CB Prioleau who may not seem to be a big loss, but the guy backed up both the FS and SS spots and played CB. this leaves former 1st rounder Carlos Rogers to cover TO and Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph for TG and PC. secondary "super-star" Sean Taylor will have a tough time covering all the ground between Glenn and TO and will most likely be shaded to TOs side. FA pickup Adam Archuleta is going to be zoned in on covering Jason Witten and will have a smaller role in the box and in covering WRs as Witten can do damage if not keyd upon.
Quick Matchups
Redskins pass rush vs. Cowboys OL/Bledsoe:
as we all know Drew Bledsoe cant move for his life and he likes to hold on to the ball like a winning lottery ticket. the Boys OL played quite well last week with the exception of Flozell Adams. they all sustained their blocks and picked up the blitz well (something the redskins love to do), but they will have to get better if they want to let the offense control the game. Bledsoe made plays last week, especially when he had time and at other times he might have felt "hurried." now the skins may not have a front4 like the jags, but they do have a blitz scheme that can wreak havoc . . . that is, IF they arent to busy covering TO, TG and JW. Blitzing can be quite risky and this week it will be a huge risk for the skins, expect Greg Williams to hav a tough time on choosing between the two.
Cowboys pass rush vs. Redskins OL/Brunell:
Mark Brunell is not rooted to the ground like Bledsoe, but he is not far away fron being a sloth. the guy is mobile enough to get away for a bit, but he will have a hard time outrunning OLBs, especially D. Ware. somebody will always have to be kept in to contain D. Ware although Chris Samuels might just be capable of taking on Ware alone. Zimmer doesnt have genius blitz packages like those of Greg Williams, but the 3-4 scheme will keep the offense guessing all day. Chris Cooley is a solid blocker and should be used on Wares side quite a bit to either "leak out into the flat" or to pick him up, expect a delayed/option route by him quite a bit.
Redskins front 7 vs. Dallas Running Game:
the Cowboys running game isnt particularly amazing, but they are solid. the OL is coming together more and more each day and this only makes Jones that much better. Barber is strong between the tackles, but with the skins DTs expect him to have a hard time running on them. Jones on the other hand should get a few lanes, but we all saw what the skins did to the Vikes last week on their 31 carries . . . expect this week to be a bit different as the boys have better "decoys" in TO and TG and better RBs, but the Skins front-7 should be dominant as always, 100+ yards is still not out of question though.
Dallas front 7 vs. Redskins Running Game:
Of course a major set-back for the skins is the loss of Portis. either way the boys much like the skins have a tough front-7 who doesnt usually allow backs over 100 yards (last year they faced the best and were never really embarassed except by Tiki Barber once). ill say Betts has a hard time moving it on this 3-4 defense and the skins are forced to throw. sidenote: boys will be in a 7 man front almost all game, 8 mans wont be required with Portis out.
Skins Secondary Vs. Dallas WRs/TEs:
this might be the biggest mismatch in the contest, as a matter of fact, it is. the skins are not only down their #1 CB, but also their NB/#2S. before Springs was gone, the skins would have already had a hard time with TO and now with Rogers on him they will need to double-cover him or atleast heavily shade to his side. now that puts Kenny Wright a mediocre NB on Terry Glenn (another mismatch) who was double-covered for the majority of last year. now #5 CB - Mike Rumph will have to be matched up on #3 WR Patrick Crayton and once agian i will say it is a mismatch, in SF Rumph did nothing special and was not capable of starting. now you take Archuleta and have him locked in on Witten for the majority of the time and that leaves FS Sean Taylor to cover the field (he will be shaded to TOs side) this will leave glenn open in space 1 on 1 with a fairly bad CB. (sidenote: Fasano and Crayton wont be on the field at the same time).
Dallas Secondary Vs. Skins WRs/TEs:
Santana Moss wont be doing what he did last year again. this year (hopefully) zimmer wont make the mistake of taking Terence Newman off of him. Newman is one of the best CBs in the league and will gave Moss a hard time (much like he did last year). opposite of Moss is Brandon Lloyd who doesnt scare anybody and Anthony Henry will have his way with him and get physical on him. expect a lot of press coverage on those 2 especially with the size advantage our CBs have. to contain Santana Moss expect 6'5 FS Pat Watkins shaded to his side, deep, all day long, not allowing anything to go over his head. Chris Cooley will be covered by Roy Williams and this should be a back and forth match-up all day long.
thank you all and heres my prediction: 27-13 Dallas.
posted by The Gryphon at 10:36 AM
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