I don't think the final score of 27-10 was really indicative of the one-sidedness of this affair. 27-3 describes both our offense and defense better, though thanks to an unlikely but impressive touchdown run by Rock Cartwright and the Special Teams for making us look better than we probably are.
Regular readers will forgive my uncharacteristically grey pessimism towards my beloved Redskins. That might have something to do with a lost bet that put me in a position I certainly did not want a part in. Or it might have something to do with the copious amounts of crap I've caught as a result of the score (which, again, really doesn't accurately describe the state of the game). But more than those things it was probably having to shuffle out of the dump that is Texas Stadium with my head lowered to the drunken chants of "0-2" screamed at me and fellow Redskins fans exiting that disastrous game.
So I'm a bit sour about how things went.
Was there anything salvagable from this preformance?
Yes.
In spite of my frequent complaints about our punter, I thought he kicked a good football last night (though it's a little difficult to tell from teh stands). He had a respectable 51.6 punt average on 8 (that's too many) attempts. Then again, our punt coverage unit yielded 75 return yards so...
Rock Cartwright appeared to be the only player on the Redskins who wanted to, you know, win with his impressive 100 yard touchdown return. That's actually excellent news, as it gives me a reason to get excited every time he catches a kickoff for the rest of the season. In close games, a good return can spell the difference between a win and a loss. Unfortunately last night was not close (nor much of a game).
Sean Taylor still plays defense and still forces fumbles. Lemar Marshall still plays defense and pressures the quarterback (though we need more than one player to do this effectively).
What went terribly, horribly wrong?
I don't have time right now to chronicle all the things that concerned me. Our offense looked ineffectual from the play calling to the execution. We didn't get enough downfield looks to keep the Cowboys secondary honest. We had less than 4 yards per pass. We ran ok, but never had an opportunity to exploit that since we played the entire game in comeback mode.
The defense, again, gave up big plays in the passing game. One sack is not enough to throw a veteran quarterback like Bledsoe off his game. In spite of his best efforts at under throwing, over throwing, or simply not throwing to his receivers, he still had a big game. I wasn't even sure Andre Carter played last night. Was he there?
Turnovers are always bad, but they're especially bad when you give away your best field position for an interception on the one yard line. Particularly when a successful touchdown would've tied the game at 17-17. It could've looked like, I don't know, a game? Who knows what happens after that; perhaps Dallas failes to march 99 yards down the field for an ultimately superflous but mentally devastating touchdown.
Did I mention our dismal offense?
I think it is about time that we at least discuss the possibility that Mark Brunell is not a legitimate starting quarterback. True, he's had worse games. Also true, you never invite a QB controversy. However it wasn't even apparent from yesterday's game that he is even willing to try to throw the ball downfield. And he made enough bad passes in short yardage situations for me to question whether or not JC should have a chance sooner rather than later. Consider this thread the official "Where do you stand on our QB situation" thread because I'd love to hear readers' thoughts on it. Honestly I can't fully wrap my head around it as of yet because I'm still too attached to the game yesterday. Perhaps once I've had some time to reflect seriously and unemotionally on it then I will have more intelligible input.
Until then, please let me know what you think.
Although I promised game day pictures, it appears that my girlfriend's digital camera is a POS and didn't produce many, if any, discernible pictures of the game. We'll review those again and if I can get any salvagable pics up I will do so immediately. In a strange way the Camera malfunction makes me feel a strange affinity with Daniel Snyder. Since I purchased the camera, and thus overpaid for it (since you pay for working cameras), then I too understand what it is like to overpay for something that doesn't actually do what it's supposed to -- or anything for that matter -- during Redskins' football games. Perhaps I should rename the camera Andre Carter?
Anyways, I apologize again for the negativity. I should cheer up later this week. Afterall, we at least get to look forward to playing Houston this week. Right?