Dallas vs. Washington Game Preview
by Yakuza Rich
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com
DALLAS (-11) VS. WASHINGTON
AT TEXAS STADIUM
SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 4:15 PM EST
Despite dominating the rivalry versus the Washington Redskins with an all time 56-36-2 record, the two teams have split the rivalry since the return of Joe Gibbs with 4 wins a piece. In 2007 with their last year under Gibbs, the Cowboys won a week 11 thriller 28-23 after a late game interception by Terence Newman. Eventually Redskins QB Jason Campbell got injured and was replaced by Todd Collins which helped the Skins get on a 4 game winning streak and beat Dallas in a meaningless week 17 game (meaningless for Dallas) at FedEx.
Now the Redskins have turned the page to the Jim Zorn era. Zorn has revamped their offensive style to the West Coast offensive scheme, but has maintained a similar defensive scheme. The Skins struggled heavily in weeks 3 and 4 of preseason by losing by a combined scored of 71-6. The Skins continued to struggle in a lackluster 16-7 loss to the Giants in week 1. However, they’ve rebounded nicely the past two weeks beating both the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. Now both teams come together in what should be another fierce battle for supremacy in the NFC East.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON OFFENSE
As Ron Jaworski correctly pointed out, the Cleveland Browns did in fact blitz Tony Romo in week one. The assumption that they only rushed 3 players on Romo is a bit of a fallacy. Sure, there were times they did, but they did blitz Romo…particularly in the first half. But they could not get to Romo and he torched their defense. The Eagles of course blitzed Dallas as well, continuing their style of defense and for the most part Romo was able to avoid the blitz and beat it badly. However, last week the Cowboys faced a different gameplan where the Packers did not blitz. To make things even more different, the Packers didn’t use a lot of press coverage, in particular against Terrell Owens, and instead played a lot of soft coverage with safety help over the top, trying to keep Owens in front of them. If the Packers were to get pressure on Romo, they tried to do it fully with their defensive line. In essence, the Browns and Eagles were more focused on getting pressure on Romo while the Packers were more focused on not giving up the big play.
While the offense wound up scoring 27 points and moving the ball quite well, it was pretty obvious that the Packers strategy had the most success so far against the Cowboys defense. And with that I expect the Redskins to follow the same type of scheme.
The Cowboys seemed to be thrown a little off guard by the Packers scheme, but they attacked it with the running game (because the Packers were playing so far back on defense) and sending Owens deep and hitting players like Jason Witten on underneath routes. The Packers did really send the D-Line after Romo as it was their only form of pass rush, but Redskins D-Coordinator Greg Blache is a “stop the run first” coach and with Jason Taylor out with an injury, I’m likely to believe that the Skins will concentrate on stopping the big play and taking away the run. This ought to leave Romo with a lot of time to throw, but the key is if Romo is patient enough to take the stuff underneath if he doesn’t find anything open deep. Romo was actually quite patient against the Browns, but got a bit anxious at times against the Packers.
Terrell Owens has said that he’ll make up for the Packers game, so expect Dallas to try and find him ways to get the ball. Usuallly Owens works at his best when he can get a few passes underneath setting himself up for the deep ball, but this year he’s been able to work the ball deep right away. Still, if the Skins go with the gameplan I think they will go with then he’ll probably have to get few passes underneath to force the Redskins defense to move up so Owens can blow past them. I also expect to see Washington cornerback Shawn Springs to be mainly responsible for covering Owens.
I also expect to see Jason Witten to see a lot of time at the regular TE spot and maybe some time as a lead blocker out of the backfield. Washington middle linebacker London Fletcher-Baker is quite good in coverage, but can struggle in taking on blockers, so lining Witten up out wide like a receiver probably isn’t the best way to attack the Skins.
Another key aspect of the game should be the play of the left guard, be it Corey Proctor or Montrae Holland. Kyle Kosier re-injured his foot and it appears Proctor will start although Wade Phillips said that Holland would see some time there. Proctor didn’t play well in the first half of the Eagles game, but came around nicely in the second half. The Skins have two solid defensive tackles, but the key part of the left guard play is Dallas has a big advantage at running to that side given the size difference between Dallas left tackle Flozell Adams and Washington defensive end Andre Carter. If the Cowboys can run at Carter with success, that pretty much takes him out of the game because he has to guard against going after Romo in fear of giving up yards against the run. That being said, Dallas has done a very good job of running to the right side of the O-Line so far.
Essentially if the Skins lay back on defense with a lot of Cover 2, the Cowboys will try to manhandle the Skins front 7 with hopes to bring in the defensive backs and then Dallas can take their chances deep.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON DEFENSE
From what I’ve seen from the Redskins it’s a very typical West Coast offense, with a lot of slants, drag routes and screens. The Cowboys have blitzed quite a bit which is normal for Wade Phillips with last week being the first time the pass rush really got to the QB.
While many feel guarding against Chris Cooley is the key to stopping the Washington defense, I’m far more concerned with Santana Moss who has been spectacular against the Cowboys as a Redskin. As a Redskin Moss has averaged 5.6 catches, 107 yards and 1.3 receiving TD’s per game against the Cowboys.
Moss has apparently increased his drag routes under Zorn and along with the WR screen that helps set himself up deep which is where he makes his living. I believe Parcells’ plan of sticking Newman on him works best, but I get the feeling that Wade will probably be content with putting either Newman or Adam Jones on Moss given their athleticism. Zorn may try to hit Moss with some slants in order to set up a double move of the slant n go pattern.
Last year the Redskins caught Dallas off guard by throwing the ball early an often, to the tune of 54 pass attempts by Jason Campbell. The Eagles had a lot of success throwing the ball against the Cowboys, but the Packers found themselves in trouble when they tried throwing the ball early. Zorn seems to be insistent on running the ball to take some of the pressure off of Campbell and I get the feeling it would be a risky move to try and throw the ball like they did last year, so I expect the Skins to use a more traditional style of attack.
Expect Dallas to attack the right side of the Redskins O-Line with right tackle Stephon Heyer being a game time decision and probably the weakest part of the Skins O-Line. We may see a lot of Ware over on that side and see both Spencer and either Ware or Ellis rush from that side on passing downs. A big key for the Skins will be how well they can play Jay Ratliff, who has terrorized centers so far and I don’t expect Casey Rabach to be all that more successful against him.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Ladell Betts is a good, consistent kickoff returner. He’s sort of akin to what Dallas has had over the years in that he’s probably not going to get a lot of huge returns or some TD’s, but he’ll get 25-50 yards most of the time. Antwaan Randle El still has a sense of danger to him, but he’s not the returner he once was. Durant Brooks has looked average as a punter and Shaun Suisham has been mediocre, which means he’ll make everything under the sun against the Cowboys. Overall, a solid special teams unit for the Redskins.
OUTLOOK
Obviously the Skins will be fired up for this game as they usually are. And if there’s a few things that scare me about this game is that Dallas has lost the turnover battle in each game so far while the Redskins have won the turnover battle in each game (and in fact, they lead the league in turnover margin). That’s a risky game to run after awhile.
And as I’ve stated in several posts before, for whatever reason the Dallas defense struggles at home. Under Romo the Dallas defense has allowed a 71 QB rating on the road, but an 86 QB rating at home. And this year the Cowboys have followed that trend by allowing a 77.7 QB rating on the road, but a 99 QB rating at home.
Still, I think last week showed that if Dallas can get out of its own way they can beat anybody. They certainly didn’t have their “A game” on offense and I don’t believe the defense was at its best either. Yet they still won the game and beat the Packers rather handily.
I think the Cowboys win this one by breaking away in the second half after a tough first half. Romo puts on a display as he’s ready for the Redskins to lay back on the defense and Barber makes up for his poor performance in last year’s week 17 game.
YR’S PREDICTED SCORE: DALLAS 28 WASHINGTON 17
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com
DALLAS (-11) VS. WASHINGTON
AT TEXAS STADIUM
SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 4:15 PM EST
Despite dominating the rivalry versus the Washington Redskins with an all time 56-36-2 record, the two teams have split the rivalry since the return of Joe Gibbs with 4 wins a piece. In 2007 with their last year under Gibbs, the Cowboys won a week 11 thriller 28-23 after a late game interception by Terence Newman. Eventually Redskins QB Jason Campbell got injured and was replaced by Todd Collins which helped the Skins get on a 4 game winning streak and beat Dallas in a meaningless week 17 game (meaningless for Dallas) at FedEx.
Now the Redskins have turned the page to the Jim Zorn era. Zorn has revamped their offensive style to the West Coast offensive scheme, but has maintained a similar defensive scheme. The Skins struggled heavily in weeks 3 and 4 of preseason by losing by a combined scored of 71-6. The Skins continued to struggle in a lackluster 16-7 loss to the Giants in week 1. However, they’ve rebounded nicely the past two weeks beating both the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals. Now both teams come together in what should be another fierce battle for supremacy in the NFC East.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON OFFENSE
As Ron Jaworski correctly pointed out, the Cleveland Browns did in fact blitz Tony Romo in week one. The assumption that they only rushed 3 players on Romo is a bit of a fallacy. Sure, there were times they did, but they did blitz Romo…particularly in the first half. But they could not get to Romo and he torched their defense. The Eagles of course blitzed Dallas as well, continuing their style of defense and for the most part Romo was able to avoid the blitz and beat it badly. However, last week the Cowboys faced a different gameplan where the Packers did not blitz. To make things even more different, the Packers didn’t use a lot of press coverage, in particular against Terrell Owens, and instead played a lot of soft coverage with safety help over the top, trying to keep Owens in front of them. If the Packers were to get pressure on Romo, they tried to do it fully with their defensive line. In essence, the Browns and Eagles were more focused on getting pressure on Romo while the Packers were more focused on not giving up the big play.
While the offense wound up scoring 27 points and moving the ball quite well, it was pretty obvious that the Packers strategy had the most success so far against the Cowboys defense. And with that I expect the Redskins to follow the same type of scheme.
The Cowboys seemed to be thrown a little off guard by the Packers scheme, but they attacked it with the running game (because the Packers were playing so far back on defense) and sending Owens deep and hitting players like Jason Witten on underneath routes. The Packers did really send the D-Line after Romo as it was their only form of pass rush, but Redskins D-Coordinator Greg Blache is a “stop the run first” coach and with Jason Taylor out with an injury, I’m likely to believe that the Skins will concentrate on stopping the big play and taking away the run. This ought to leave Romo with a lot of time to throw, but the key is if Romo is patient enough to take the stuff underneath if he doesn’t find anything open deep. Romo was actually quite patient against the Browns, but got a bit anxious at times against the Packers.
Terrell Owens has said that he’ll make up for the Packers game, so expect Dallas to try and find him ways to get the ball. Usuallly Owens works at his best when he can get a few passes underneath setting himself up for the deep ball, but this year he’s been able to work the ball deep right away. Still, if the Skins go with the gameplan I think they will go with then he’ll probably have to get few passes underneath to force the Redskins defense to move up so Owens can blow past them. I also expect to see Washington cornerback Shawn Springs to be mainly responsible for covering Owens.
I also expect to see Jason Witten to see a lot of time at the regular TE spot and maybe some time as a lead blocker out of the backfield. Washington middle linebacker London Fletcher-Baker is quite good in coverage, but can struggle in taking on blockers, so lining Witten up out wide like a receiver probably isn’t the best way to attack the Skins.
Another key aspect of the game should be the play of the left guard, be it Corey Proctor or Montrae Holland. Kyle Kosier re-injured his foot and it appears Proctor will start although Wade Phillips said that Holland would see some time there. Proctor didn’t play well in the first half of the Eagles game, but came around nicely in the second half. The Skins have two solid defensive tackles, but the key part of the left guard play is Dallas has a big advantage at running to that side given the size difference between Dallas left tackle Flozell Adams and Washington defensive end Andre Carter. If the Cowboys can run at Carter with success, that pretty much takes him out of the game because he has to guard against going after Romo in fear of giving up yards against the run. That being said, Dallas has done a very good job of running to the right side of the O-Line so far.
Essentially if the Skins lay back on defense with a lot of Cover 2, the Cowboys will try to manhandle the Skins front 7 with hopes to bring in the defensive backs and then Dallas can take their chances deep.
WHEN DALLAS IS ON DEFENSE
From what I’ve seen from the Redskins it’s a very typical West Coast offense, with a lot of slants, drag routes and screens. The Cowboys have blitzed quite a bit which is normal for Wade Phillips with last week being the first time the pass rush really got to the QB.
While many feel guarding against Chris Cooley is the key to stopping the Washington defense, I’m far more concerned with Santana Moss who has been spectacular against the Cowboys as a Redskin. As a Redskin Moss has averaged 5.6 catches, 107 yards and 1.3 receiving TD’s per game against the Cowboys.
Moss has apparently increased his drag routes under Zorn and along with the WR screen that helps set himself up deep which is where he makes his living. I believe Parcells’ plan of sticking Newman on him works best, but I get the feeling that Wade will probably be content with putting either Newman or Adam Jones on Moss given their athleticism. Zorn may try to hit Moss with some slants in order to set up a double move of the slant n go pattern.
Last year the Redskins caught Dallas off guard by throwing the ball early an often, to the tune of 54 pass attempts by Jason Campbell. The Eagles had a lot of success throwing the ball against the Cowboys, but the Packers found themselves in trouble when they tried throwing the ball early. Zorn seems to be insistent on running the ball to take some of the pressure off of Campbell and I get the feeling it would be a risky move to try and throw the ball like they did last year, so I expect the Skins to use a more traditional style of attack.
Expect Dallas to attack the right side of the Redskins O-Line with right tackle Stephon Heyer being a game time decision and probably the weakest part of the Skins O-Line. We may see a lot of Ware over on that side and see both Spencer and either Ware or Ellis rush from that side on passing downs. A big key for the Skins will be how well they can play Jay Ratliff, who has terrorized centers so far and I don’t expect Casey Rabach to be all that more successful against him.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Ladell Betts is a good, consistent kickoff returner. He’s sort of akin to what Dallas has had over the years in that he’s probably not going to get a lot of huge returns or some TD’s, but he’ll get 25-50 yards most of the time. Antwaan Randle El still has a sense of danger to him, but he’s not the returner he once was. Durant Brooks has looked average as a punter and Shaun Suisham has been mediocre, which means he’ll make everything under the sun against the Cowboys. Overall, a solid special teams unit for the Redskins.
OUTLOOK
Obviously the Skins will be fired up for this game as they usually are. And if there’s a few things that scare me about this game is that Dallas has lost the turnover battle in each game so far while the Redskins have won the turnover battle in each game (and in fact, they lead the league in turnover margin). That’s a risky game to run after awhile.
And as I’ve stated in several posts before, for whatever reason the Dallas defense struggles at home. Under Romo the Dallas defense has allowed a 71 QB rating on the road, but an 86 QB rating at home. And this year the Cowboys have followed that trend by allowing a 77.7 QB rating on the road, but a 99 QB rating at home.
Still, I think last week showed that if Dallas can get out of its own way they can beat anybody. They certainly didn’t have their “A game” on offense and I don’t believe the defense was at its best either. Yet they still won the game and beat the Packers rather handily.
I think the Cowboys win this one by breaking away in the second half after a tough first half. Romo puts on a display as he’s ready for the Redskins to lay back on the defense and Barber makes up for his poor performance in last year’s week 17 game.
YR’S PREDICTED SCORE: DALLAS 28 WASHINGTON 17
posted by The Gryphon at 9:03 AM
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