Steve Young: Cowboys Lack Leadership

Fans/Media Seem To Panic After Loss To Redskins

Let’s all take a deep breath and think a minute. Yes, the Cowboys lost to the Redskins on Sunday, at home, possibly for the last time in Texas Stadium, however, they weren’t eliminated from the playoffs or burdened with some of the other worse calamities that might have resulted, like a season-ending injury to a key player. But the media and fans seem to have taken it worse than the Cowboys themselves.

Terrell Owens, of course, wasn’t happy after the game, but his comments were in response to general questions by a media tape, not to the Washington game in particular. That is if you want to believe that, which I do, as the other possibilities being discussed now are much, much worse. I like the way Coach Wade Phillips put it today in the Dallas Morning News, he said “We try to get the ball to our best players as much as we can. We have quite a few good players, though. We didn’t get the ball enough to Marion Barber, the week before we didn’t get it enough to Terrell. It’s a good problem to have, but we need to be able to rectify it by controlling the ball more.”

I also like the way DE Marcus Spears thinks of how best to absorb the loss and move on when he told the A.P., “It’s always a big atom bomb drop anytime we lose because people think we are going to win every game every year by 40 points. But that’s not the case. ..we’ve always been able to pull back together. Guys have no less hope of getting where we want to go now than before we played Washington.”

So evidently the main personnel who need to respond to last week’s game are the ones who appear to me to be in a better frame of thought about it than the rest of us. The head coach, staff and players themselves all feel that they can simply learn, improve and move on after the loss, which is just what you do in professional football. That’s why these guys are paid the way they are, they are the professionals, fortunately, and the games are never played by the media or fans.

Trivia: Week 4, Cowboys vs. Redskins

Here are ten trivia questions related to the Cowboys’ loss to the Redskins on Sunday:

cowboys_vs._redskins

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Rate the Cowboys: Week 4 vs. Redskins

Technorati Tags: Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins

Here are this week’s ratings for the Cowboys’ 26-24 loss to Washington on Sunday:

My votes:

Tony Romo - 3 Stars: On paper, Romo had a better game than against Washington than he did against Green Bay last week. However, when Dallas needed for Romo and the offense to catch fire, Romo struggled. His first half interception was costly.

Marion Barber - 2 Stars: Barber had two good runs this game. He picked up a first down on the Cowboys’ opening drive of the game with a tough five-yard run, and he gained 15 yards on the opening drive of the third quarter. Those two runs accounted for 20 of his 26 yards on Sunday.

Terrell Owens - 3 Stars: Owens complained after the game that not enough balls came his way, but he did not appear to be open for much of the afternoon. He caught seven passes for 71 yards and a TD, but he was not the primary focus of the Dallas attack.

Patrick Crayton - 4 Stars: Crayton had a pretty good game, catching seven passes for 87 yards. On one play near the end of the second quarter, though, he was the target of a sideline pass. He bobbled the ball while trying to get out of bounds, resulting in an incomplete pass.

Jason Witten - 4 Stars: Witten had seven catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, though Washington did a good job making it tough for Romo to find him.

Offense - Pass Blocking - 5 Stars: Romo was not sacked, and on many plays he was not pressured much at all. The Redskins appeared content to focus more on double-teaming the Dallas receivers.

Offense - Run Blocking - 2 Stars: When Dallas decided to run, there were few holes. Dallas abandoned the run too quickly, though, so the line never had a chance to wear down the Redskins’ line.

Offense - Role Players and Backups - 2 Stars: Miles Austin keeps this category from being a “one.” Felix Jones was a huge catalyst last week, so as an encore Dallas decided not to get him the ball at all this week. Genius.

Penalties - Offense - 5 Stars: Dallas did not record a penalty on offense.

Run Support - 2 Stars: Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts combined to rush for 153 yards. There were a few drives were Dallas stuffed Portis, but he had some big runs in both halves.

Pass Rush - 3 Stars: DeMarcus Ware and Chris Canty recorded sacks, but too often Dallas had trouble getting to Jason Campbell.

Tackling - 2 Stars: The Cowboys reverted to a lot of grabbing against Washington.

Coverage - 1 Star: This was one of Terence Newman’s worst games in recent memory. He slipped on a touchdown pass from Campbell to James Thrash, and he had a couple of other blown coverages as well. Santana Moss ran free on a few plays, which makes no sense at all.

Penalties - Defense - 3 Stars: One penalty on the day was enough to reduce this category by two stars: With the Redskins facing a 3rd-and-2 from the Dallas 31 with 6:58 left, it appeared as if Dallas had stopped the Redskins. However, Dallas was called for 12 men on the field (after a Washington timeout), giving Washington a first down. We can apparently thank Pat Watkins. Washington ran three more minutes off the clock on the drive, which resulted in a field goal as the Redskins took a 26-17 lead.

Nick Folk - 4 Stars: Folk is still automatic on field goals, and still average on kickoffs.

Mat McBriar - 4 Stars: McBriar averaged 49.2 yards on six punts, but he wasn’t able to pin the Redskins inside the 10 when given a chance.

Coverage Units - 4 Stars: The coverage units were not bad for the most part, though Antwaan Randle El slipped through some arm tackles and averaged 10 yards per return.

Return Game - 2 Stars: The best return of the day was recorded by linebacker Anthony Spencer. Felix Jones averaged only 13 yards on four returns. Pacman Jones did not fare much better on punt returns.

Penalties - 4 Stars: Two of the three Dallas penalties were on special teams, but neither was very costly.

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Redskins 26, Cowboys 24: A Trap Game, Indeed

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Here is some good news about the Cowboys’ 26-24 loss to the Redskins today:

During eight Super Bowl seasons, the Cowboys have only managed to go 9-7 against the Redskins. During these seasons, the Cowboys had an overall record of 92-28, so 25% of the losses have come against Washington.

That’s about as positive as I can be about the loss today. The two players that Dallas needed to stop were Clinton Portis and Santana Moss, but the Cowboys could slow down neither of them. Portis finished with 121 yards on 21 carries, with quite a bit of damage coming on a long drive by Washington that essentially put the game away.

Moss was wide open on several plays. He caught eight passes for 145 yards, generally outplaying any of the offensive playmakers for the Cowboys.

Tony Romo had some good numbers, throwing for 300 yards while completing 28 of 47 passes. Many of his yards came late in the first half and late in the fourth quarter, but when the team had a real chance to take control of the game, Romo and the offense struggled.

Especially disappointing was the Dallas running game. Marion Barber had only eight carries on the day, gaining 26 yards. Felix Jones did not touch the ball, strangely enough.

Dallas took a 7-0 lead with 30 seconds left in the first quarter when Romo hit Jason Witten on a 21-yard touchdown pass. It was the third possession for the Cowboys, and it appeared that the Cowboys were finding a rhythm.

However, the Redskins answered on the next drive, going 79 yards on 11 plays. Jason Campbell hit James Thrash for the touchdown, which was made possible by Terence Newman slipping down on the play.

The Dallas offense struggled for most of the rest of the first half, while the Redskins were finding holes in a generally soft Dallas defense. Shaun Suisham’s 20-yard field goal with 1:53 left in the half gave Washington a 17-7 lead.

It looked as if Dallas might take control of the game at the end of the first half and beginning of the second. The Cowboys cut the Washington lead to 17-10 by driving 66 yards to set up a Nick Folk field goal at the end of the half. Dallas received the ball to start the second half and drove 57 yards for a touchdown, tying the game 17-17.

Washington took a 20-17 lead on the next drive, and the Dallas offense struggled until the end of the game. Dallas could not move the ball into Washington territory during any of the team’s next three possessions. Meanwhile, the Redskins took advantage of a 12-play drive that took 6:54 off the clock. Another Suisham field goal gave the Redskins a 26-17 lead with just 3:22 left.

Dallas moved quickly to cut the lead to two. Romo hit Miles Austin on an 11-yard touchdown. However, the Cowboys had already used their timeouts, and when Nick Folk’s onside kick attempt failed with 1:42 left, the game was over.

By falling to 3-1, Dallas is tied with the Redskins for second place in the NFC East. The Giants (3-0) have a bye this week, and the Eagles (2-1) are playing at Chicago tonight.

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Cowboys Outplayed By Redskins For First Loss, 24-26.

Dallas was handed their first loss of the season at home today against the Washington Redskins, 24-26. Sam Hurd was unable to hold onto the onside kick try by Nick Folk with just over a minute and half remaining in the game after the Cowboys had scored to get within a field goal. The Redskins then were able to simply run out the clock as the Cowboys didn’t have any timeouts left in their arsenal.

Things may have been much different, however, if the Cowboys hadn’t been called for a phantom 12th man penalty call with over 6 minutes to play and the Redskins stopped at the Dallas 32-yard line. This gave the Redskins a first down and forced Dallas to use their timeouts while Washington continued to run the clock before kicking another field goal to get the 26-17 lead. There were several missed fouls committed by the Redskins in the fourth quarter, including an obvious face-mask penalty on Adam “Pacman” Jones on a punt return.

Maybe Dallas made too many errors and mistakes of their own, but the blown calls by the officials again swayed the outcome of this one just as in two of the San Diego Chargers games and the earlier Tennessee-Minnesota matchup when Tennessee was given a very generous spot resulting in a 1st-and-goal that would lead to a game-changing touchdown. The officials have been doing a tremendously bad job in the first few weeks of NFL action and it needs to be addressed by the league.

Washington did play a good game, with no turnovers and fewer penalties than the Cowboys and WR Santana Moss was able to get open at will througout the game against the Dallas secondary ending the game with eight receptions for 145-yards. Clinton Portis rushed for over 100-yards marking the first time this season the Dallas defense allowed a hundred-yard rusher. Jason Campbell was efficient and managed to hit his receivers for two touchdowns.

On the other side, Romo again threw a costly interception that led to a Washington field goal just after having thrown a touchdown pass to Terrell Owens to tie the score at 17-17. Once the Redskins got the ball and the 20-17 lead, they managed to control the clock and the ball very well. Romo finished with 300-yards and three touchdowns, but the interception was the key in sparking the Redskins to their ultimate victory. Miles Austin for the second week in a row caught a Romo pass for a score in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late.

Marion Barber was basically taken out of the game in the second half, finishing with a mere 26-yards as Dallas had to resort to just the passing game to try and catch-up to the Redskins. Romo was sacked only once but was rushed and hurried over much of the second half and the Cowboys virtually gave up on their running game in the face of a tough Redskins’ defense. About the biggest highlight in the third quarter was an Anthony Spencer kick return for 20-yards after a short Redskins kick-off following a Shawn Suisham field goal.

Dallas never really seemed to have the intensity to match Washington’s in this game as they seemed flat and just a little confused after only the first quarter. Washington played tough, but as I’ve mentioned, the one untimely turnover and some questionable penalties really clinched the game for them. This could possibly be some more fallout following owner Jerry Jones’ comments about Referee Ed Hochulii and his admitted blown call earlier in the week which prompted a $25,000 fine by the NFL.

Cowboys vs. Redskins: Live Blog

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Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins

The Redskins and the Cowboys have one of the most storied rivalries in the NFL and this game is for first place in the NFC East. Look for the Redskins to let it all out against the Cowboys this week. The Cowboys’ defense is only giving up 292.0 yards of offense per game but that’s because they control possession of the football a lot. With that in mind the Redskins will likely try to run the ball to play keepaway from the Cowboys. Clinton Portis should be able to find running room against a Cowboys’ defense that is allowing 4.1 yards per carry this season. Look for TE Chris Cooley to be the focal point of the passing game for the Redskins as the Cowboys safeties are the weak link of the secondary. The Cowboys do have 10 sacks this season so throwing the ball short will benefit Jason Campbell. If the Cowboys’ defense creeps up, WRs Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El will start running deep. Also, expect Randle El to throw deep at least once in this game on a trick play.

The Cowboys will try to run a balanced offensive attack as always as they have thrown the ball 93 times and run it 90 times. The Redskins’ linebackers will have their hands full in trying to deal with Marion Barber and rookie Felix Jones in the running game. The Redskins must get a good pass rush on Tony Romo or Terrell Owens, Patrick Crayton and Jason Witten will all have big games.

PREDICTION: DALLAS COWBOYS 31, WASHINGTON REDSKINS 21

The Show, Episode 16: Gnome’s $89.95 Bailout Proposal

In this episode, Gnome pitches his proposal for an $89.95 bailout which would allow him to pay off a $59.95 charge on his Visa for new video software and would also allow him to purchase a new microphone.

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Here are the previews for tomorrow’s game:

Accuscore: Dallas 31, Washington 18

Dallas won 84% of the simulations on Accuscore by an average score of 30.7 for Dallas and 17.5 for Washington.

WhatIfSports: Dallas 28, Washington 15

The WhatIfSports simulations also heavily favored the Cowboys, as Dallas won 86.6% of those games.

CBS Sportsline

Watch CBS Videos Online

ESPN

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You can vote for the greatest game between the Redskins and Cowboys at Texas Stadium at the Dallas Morning News site.

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A Real Challenge: Annotate This Cowboys-Redskins Video

Last year I saw the video clip I am featuring now. It provides a bunch of highlights from the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry, with clips from nearly every era except for the 1990s. It dawned on me that a real challenge would be to try to identify all of the games shown (by year, etc.) and as many of the players as possible. For some parts this wasn’t so tough, but for others, it has proven to be more of a challenge.

Here is the video:

History of the Dallas Cowboys vs Washington Redskins

My annotations so far are below. Please feel free to comment, and I will include any additions or corrections as I receive them.

Scene 1 (0:11-0:30): Opening sequence to the Monday Night Football game between Dallas and Washington in 1978. This one was pretty easy. Dallas lost 9-5.

Dalals vs. Washington, 1978

There are a few shots that include stock footage from NFL Films.

Scene 2 (1:02-1:05): This shows a shot of Joe Theismann being sacked by Ed Jones. Other players in the scene were Bill Bates, Jim Jeffcoat, and Don Smerek. This one has given me trouble, but I think that this was a shot from the 1983 game that the Redskins won 31-10. I do not see the 25th Anniversary patch on the Cowboys uniforms that were worn during the 1984 season, and Bates and Jeffcoat were not around prior to 1983.

Scene 3 (1:06-1:08): Bob Lilly tackles Larry Brown in this shot, with Sonny Jurgensen handing off. The Redskins are wearing their yellow helmets with the “R” symbol rather than the crimson helmets, and the yellow helmets were only worn during the 1970 and 1971 seasons. I cannot determine which season this was, though, because all of the players I can identify (Larry Cole, George Andrie, Bob Lilly, Sonny Jurgensen, Larry Brown) played in both games.

Scene 3 of Cowboys-Redskins Video

Scene 4 (1:10-1:13): Drew Pearson apparently catches a touchdown pass in this shot. I believe this was a 53-yard score from the 1978 game at Texas Stadium. I am not sure who the defensive back is.

Scene 5 (1:14-1:21): This is a shot of Don Meredith’s 44-yard pass to Billy Howton in a 21-17 loss to Washington in 1963.

Meredith to Howton in 1963

Scene 6 (1:24-1:27): Mel Renfro tackles #31 for the Redskins. I am not sure when this play occurred.

Scene 7 (1:27-1:30): This shot shows Roger Staubach being injured in a play where he tries to score on a run. I’ve always thought that this was from the 1974 Thanksgiving Day game, but perhaps I am wrong. The shots that follow are certainly from that game, though.

Scene 8 (1:30-1:45): There are two shots of Clint Longley hitting Billy Joe Dupree and Drew Pearson in the famous Thanksgiving Day game in 1974.

Scene 9 (1:46-1:56): This shot shows Ron Fellows picking off Joe Theismann in the opening day game in 1985 when Dallas won 44-14 (and led the Texas Stadium crowd to sing Happy Birthday to Theismann).

Scene 10 (1:57-2:00): This shot shows Theismann being blitzed by a number of Cowboys (Bill Bates, Dennis Thurman, Dexter Clinkscale). You can see the 25th Anniversary patch pretty clearly, so this must have been during the 1984 game that Washington won 30-28.

Cowboys Sack Theismann, 1984

Scene 11 (2:00-2:01): This is a tough one. It shows #53 for the Cowboys tackling #29 for the Redskins. Given that the pants that the Cowboy player was wearing are grey instead of silver, I don’t think that this was Bob Breunig, who did not join the team until 1975 when the Cowboys had silver pants. This is more likely from the 1972 or 1973 season, and #53 at that time was a backup linebacker named John Babinecz. Anyone else think otherwise?

John Babinecz on the tackle in 1972 or 1973?

Scene 12 (2:01-2:06): This shot shows Charlie Waters celebrating a touchdown, which occurred in a 31-10 Dallas win in 1975. Other Cowboys in the shot: Cliff Harris (#43), Bill Gregory (#77), and Dave Edwards (#52).

Scene 13 (2:06-2:50): There are several plays from the Cowboys’ 34-16 win over the Redskins in 1977. Among the plays are Roger Staubach’s 50-yard TD pass to Golden Richards and a pass from Tony Dorsett to Drew Pearson. Both Billy Kilmer and Joe Theismann played quarterback for Washington that day.

Scene 14 (2:50-3:16): This sequence shows several plays from the Cowboys’ 31-30 come-from-behind win at Washington in the opening week of the 1983 season. Among the plays were the 75-yard and 51-yard touchdown passes from Danny White to Tony Hill.

Scene 15 (3:17-4:15): This sequence shows a series of plays from the 35-34 win at Texas Stadium in 1979, including the famous Larry Cole tackle of John Riggins and Staubach’s throw to Tony Hill to win the game.

Tony Hill vs. Washington, 1979

Scene 16 (4:16-5:02): This part shows some out-of-sync highlights of the Cowboys’ 41-35 win over the Redskins on opening day in 1999.

Scene 17 (5:02-5:25): This scene shows highlights from the Cowboys’ 27-0 win at Washington in 2003. This game featured rookie Terence Newman picking off three passes.

Scene 18 (5:25-6:00): This sequence shows highlights from the Cowboys’ 27-20 win on Thanksgiving Day in 2002.

Scene 19 (6:01-6:34): This shows highlights from Dallas’ 21-18 win at Washington in 2004.

Scene 20 (6:35-7:13): This features a series of highlights from the Cowboys’ 21-14 home win over Washington in 2003.

Scene 21 (7:13-7:20): The final highlight shows Vinny Testaverde hitting Patrick Crayton on a 39-yard touchdown pass that gave Dallas an improbable 13-10 win in 2004.