The Takeaways, Week 7: Cowboys at Redskins
October 23, 2018
by Steve Thomas
What a great Sunday afternoon. Honestly, I don’t really care a whole lot about how the Redskins get to a “W” over the Dallas Cowboys; I care first and foremost than they are able to pull it off. This game went pretty much as advertised with the exception of the success and failure of the Redskins and Cowboy running games. By getting the win on Sunday, the Redskins have put themselves in the driver’s seat in NFC East with a one and a half game lead, with 5 more division games left to go. It wasn’t a perfect performance by any means, but at the end of the day, all wins and losses count the same. I offer my hearty congratulations to the Washington Redskins for getting a much needed critical victory that will hopefully build more respect for the team around the league. Here are The Takeaways for this week.
Adrian Peterson continues to amaze
What more can be said about this dude? Adrian Peterson is amazing, and I’ve never been happier to have been wrong in my preseason concerns about him. Peterson’s 99 yards rushing on 24 carries (4.1 yards per carry) was the top rushing performance against Dallas thusfar this season, with apologies to the Seahawks’ Chris Carson, whose 102 yards came on 32 carries. It was an otherwise meager day offensively and Peterson’s positive yardage and big plays came at some critical times. I didn’t think that this level of success was possible against a Cowboys’ run defense that had otherwise been outstanding against 6 other opponents so far. I don’t think Peterson has quite the same top-end speed that he once had, but it’s clear that all of his other skills – his vision, agility, and moves – are the same as they have always been. If he continues to stay reasonably healthy, the question will become whether this relationship shouldn’t just be a one-year dalliance, and instead whether the team should offer him a new contract for next season even despite the return of Darrius Guice. Stay tuned on that one.
Stopping Ezekiel Elliott was a key to the victory
We told you in our pregame materials that probably the single most important key to the game was to keep Elliott from being an efficient and effective runner. In this, the Redskins did an incredible job, and it was in no small part thanks to the work of the front seven. Even though the combination of Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne, and company didn’t rack up massive tackle numbers, they did great work in getting penetration, allowing the linebackers to stop Elliott with regularity. The Cowboys have ruled the Redskins in recent years through game-crushing ball control offense, and on Sunday they simply couldn’t do that. This forced Dak Prescott to have to try and beat Washington on his own, and while he came close in this game, close ultimately counts for nothing. The fact that Elliott was unable to be the focal point for his team today was huge, and it was a major part of this Redskins victory.
The big plays made by the Redskins are what won the game
For the first time this season, the Redskins made some big plays that mattered to the outcome in a close game. Preston Smith’s touchdown-inducing fumble recovery, coming thanks to Ryan Kerrigan’s biggest contribution of the year, turned this game around. The aforementioned Peterson gaining big yardage on multiple occasions, thereby keeping drives alive, were major factors. Kapri Bibbs scoring a 23-yard touchdown on a simple screen pass in the first quarter gave the team instant momentum that changed the game. And yes, getting a bit lucky on a last-second field goal attempt obviously played a big role. The Redskins have many times been the recipients of big plays against them and lady luck turning her fortunes in favor of an opponent, and it was good to see the shoe on the other foot for a change. For now, for this one week, these sorts of occurrences went our way, and I can’t lie: it felt really, really good.
The defensive lapses in the fourth quarter made things more interesting than necessary
This game wasn’t all sunshine and roses: the defense essentially collapsed in the fourth quarter and singlehandedly allowed Dallas to hang around far longer than they should have done. Were it not for the defense allowing the Cowboys to convert first downs on 4th and 13 and 3rd and 10 on critical drives late in the fourth quarter, the Redskins wouldn’t have to be thankful for a penalty-induced field 52 yard field goal clanging off the uprights. The Redskins tried to dial up the pressure on Prescott, which is great, but the secondary allowed far too much yardage in the form of pass completions and Prescott scrambles than they should have. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that the culprit was the Redskins “prevent defense”. This seems to be a common theme anytime the Redskins defense gives up big yardage late in a game. The truth of the matter is that the secondary wasn’t giving up on underneath and midrange balls to prevent a big play (which is a prevent defense); instead, the just got beat at the worst possible time. This defense should never have let those two critical first downs happen or allowed Dallas to just march straight down the field late in the game. If any of those things hadn’t happened, the ending to this game most likely would’ve been a victory formation. Washington needs a full four quarters defense, not three.
Alex Smith didn’t have his best game, but the fourth quarter wasn’t all his fault
Smith made a couple dumb decisions, highlighted by his inexplicably run out of bounds late in the game instead of sliding in order to keep the clock moving, and missed on his deep passes (which is becoming a common theme with him). However, the Redskins were missing their $40M “Z” receiver, their talented slot receiver, and their third down back, who happens to be their best playmaker. The Redskins were down to a practice squadder and a street free agent being active and playing receiver in this game. I have nothing against either Michael Floyd or Jehu Chesson, but that’s less than optimal for the receiver group and it isn’t what the Redskins’ coaching staff envisioned when they were drawing up the offense this offseason. A quarterback having to develop chemistry with receivers is a real thing, not just something commentators and analysts made up. Smith has played with Floyd, Chesson, and company for about 5 minutes. There are legitimate concerns with Smith, starting with his poor deep balls, but if you’re one of the fans out there who is ready for the team to send this guy packing, my advice is to relax and give it time. Smith isn’t ever going to be Peyton Manning; that’s not his game, but he’s a top-flight game manager who can run the West Coast offense. Give it time.
That’s it for The Takeaways for this week. I’ll be back in a week after the Redskins’ next major, division-critical battle with the New York Giants.