RVING — The pressure's off. At least from this precinct.Whether it's fact or fable that Nick Buoniconti, Larry Csonka and the boys toast their teammates on that perfect 1972 Dolphins team with champagne whenever the NFL's final undefeated team tastes defeat each season, they need no longer feel threatened by the Dallas Cowboys.
Granted, four other teams remain to try to match the Dolphins' pursuit of a spotless season, but we're not high on the chances of the Titans, Giants, Bills or Ravens duplicating anything close to the 17-0 season of Don Shula's Super Bowl VII champions.
Miami can thank Washington for thinning the ranks of the unbeatens. Dallas can thank itself for an eyesore of a game after three beauties.
The Cowboys (3-1) are perfect no more, although it was hardly necessary for the local team to beat home that point quite so excessively Sunday. Dallas exposed its shortcomings in a 26-24 loss that in no way reveals the true disparity between these two teams on this day.
In a way, this defeat should have been all too predictable. Dallas was coming off a pair of heady, high-profile victories — one over Philadelphia on a Monday night, the other against Green Bay at Lambeau Field — and was very much due for a fall.
The Cowboys were flat in a game that strongly suggested they're not quite as good as we thought.
They couldn't run the ball and rarely tried, handing it to Marion Barber a measly eight times.
They couldn't stop the run; Washington's Clinton Portis ran with ease for 121 yards.
They couldn't pass until it was too late. They couldn't stop the big pass. They came into the game with 17 plays of 20 yards or more but produced just three this time.
They couldn't find Terrell Owens in the first half and rarely looked for anybody else in the second. They didn't give Felix Jones the time of day or a single carry or pass reception.
They miscommunicated in the defensive secondary and on special teams.
As coach Wade Phillips so aptly put it, "I thought (the Redskins) outplayed us. I thought they outplayed our offense. They outplayed our defense. They outplayed our special teams and our coaches. Take your pick."
The Redskins (3-1) picked the Cowboys apart.
There's no shame in the loss, just in the fine print.
Washington's for real, with an emerging star in quarterback Jason Campbell, a top-10 running back in Portis, a great receiver in Santana Moss and a defense that's so solid it didn't even miss injured Pro Bowl end Jason Taylor all day or starting cornerbacks Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot for much of the second half.
But what does this ugly defeat portend for the Cowboys? Probably little in the short term.
The schedule will smile on them soon with games coming up against Cincinnati, Arizona and St. Louis, clubs that are a combined 2-9 and sinking fast. The Bengals are winless, the Cardinals are clueless after giving up 56 points to Brett Favre's Jets, and the Rams may soon be coachless.
But in the long run, the loss doesn't suggest strong leadership from either Phillips or Tony Romo, the expected sources for that essential ingredient.
Romo finished with statistical glory but couldn't rally his team with the ultimate big play or put a charge in his teammates to sustain much of anything. Phillips had a litany of sins.
Besides neglecting the run with a game plan that made no sense, he forgot Felix Jones altogether, leaving the change-of-pace flash on the bench for all but a few kickoff returns and explaining later that Jones only figures into offensive plays that "aren't really come-from-behind plays."
We're assuming he means Jones can't pass-block, but he wouldn't have to on an occasional screen pass or handoff. And if Jones had played some, maybe Dallas wouldn't have been behind.
Then, there was the bizarre play in which Dallas stopped Washington on a third-and-short in the fourth quarter, only to be penalized for having 12 men on the field.
That's funny because it usually appeared the Cowboys had no more than about eight defenders on the field.
On one hand, Phillips said he took all the blame for all the mistakes. In the next breath, he said, "I can't understand how two players playing the position could be standing out there. I can't fathom that."
Safety Pat Watkins was more stand-up, accepting total blame for being the extra man on a play that could have forced the Skins into a long, 47-yard field goal.
"You just can't do this," linebacker Bradie James said. "It's not Pop Warner. It's the NFL."
Who's to say if the loss will carry over for any negative momentum? Dallas never strays far from controversy, and Owens, when asked if he was targeted enough during his seven-catch day, replied, "I would say no. I'm a competitor, and I want the ball."
Uh, Romo threw 18 balls in his direction.
In all likelihood, Dallas will start a new winning streak soon, thanks to the Bengals.
If not, well, Jerry Jones can always blame Ed Hochuli.
Source : Stateman
No comments:
Post a Comment