Injury-riddled Redskins Suffer Loss to Rival Cowboys

October 30, 2017

By Steve Thomas

The Washington Redskins lost a sloppy, injury and mistake-filled contest in a steady rain at Fed Ex Field in Landover, Maryland, Sunday afternoon.  The Cowboys stuck to their game plan of the last two years and leaned on a rushing game for which the Redskins seemingly had no answer.  On the offensive side of the ball, the banged up offensive line, which started the game with only one original starter, Shawn Lauvoa, in the game, did a respectable job but ultimately could not give quarterback Kirk Cousins enough time to bring the team back or help the floundering running game produce effective results.

The first quarter saw a barrage of scoring right off the bat from both teams.  The Redskins took advantage of an Ezekiel Elliott fumble on the first play of the game and converted it into a quick field goal.  Dallas, however, came right back and shredded the Redskins defense for a touchdown on their second possession, marching straight down the field with ease, and capped off the drive with an Elliott 15 yards touchdown run.  The Redskins got their first touchdown of the game on their next possession.  That drive featured a 41 yard reception by wide receiver Jamison Crowder, who had beaten the Dallas corner and was wide open.  Uncharacteristically, head coach Jay Gruden called two running plays in a row from the goal line and Robert Kelley rewarded his faith with a 1 yard touchdown run.  The quarter ended with Washington up by a score of 10-7.

The second half featured a number of connections between quarterback Cousins and Crowder, who has had a quiet year prior to this game.  The Redskins added a field goal by new kicker Nick Rose, which came after Cousins overthrew a wide open Terrelle Pryor, Sr., near the sidelines.  The critical play of the half, though, came when the Cowboys blocked a Nick Rose field goal attempt following a poor snap and returned the ball 85 yards into the Redskins’ red zone.  Washington compounded the error by tacking on an illegal block penalty, and Elliott ran the ball in for a short touchdown two plays later.  The half ended with the Redskins down by the score of 13 – 14.

The Redskins once again came out flat in the third quarter, with Cousins fumbling the ball deep in Redskins territory on the opening drive.  Dallas capitalized on that mistake by quickly adding a field goal to make the score 13 – 17.  Nothing seemed to go right for the home team, with Chris Thompson then fumbling the ensuing kickoff.  The Cowboys once again made something of the mistake, converting on another field goal after the Redskins defense kept Dallas out of the end zone.  The quarter ended at a score of 13 – 23 after Dallas added its third field goal of the quarter one possession later.

Things did not get better for the Redskins in the fourth quarter, with Dallas adding another field goal, although Washington was able to add a late touchdown to give themselves a shot at a game winning drive.  Unfortunately, that drive ended with an interception of a Kirk Cousins pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage that was returned for a touchdown, making the final score 19 – 33, Dallas.

For the Redskins, the story of this game really begins and ends with injuries, as Washington entered this game as a severely banged up team, yet somehow came out of this contest as an even more injured group.  Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, tight ends Jordan Reed and Niles Paul, running back Robert Kelley, guard Shawn Lauvoa, defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis, safety Montae Nicholson, and tackle T.J. Clemmings all had to come out of the game at some point, with Paul’s injury appearing at first glance to be a concussion and therefore the most severe.  Gruden made note in his postgame press conference of the play-calling challenges presented by the injury situation, stating “It’s a challenge, plus your list has shrunk about a quarter because we had a lot of two-tight-end, three-tight-end sets ready for this game and we lost both of those pretty early – at least Niles [Paul] early in the game. It was a challenge, but we have enough plays that we can adjust and hopefully function, which we cut it to seven and had a chance there with the ball but couldn’t get it done.”

Kirk Cousins finished the game with 26 completions on 39 attempts for 263, 1 touchdown, and 1 interceptions.  As a team, the Redskins had 15 rushing attempts for 49 yards.  Wide receiver Jamison Crowder led all receivers with 9 receptions on 13 targets for 123 yards.  On the Cowboys side, quarterback Dak Prescott was 14 of 22 passes for 143 yards.  Ezekiel Elliott had a season-high 33 carries for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Redskins travel to Seattle next week to face the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.