Studs
CB Josh Wilson. Played excellent coverage all game with four pass breakups as evidence. He defended one up to tight end Jason Witten on third and eight in the first series, in which he read the play well (Tony Romo locked on Witten), broke from his zone on the outside and hit Witten as the ball arrived to jar it free. Wilson drove hard on a pass to Kevin Ogletree later in the second quarter and nearly intercepted it. Wilson clearly is feeling more comfortable in his reactions, whether it’s because he has complete trust in the safeties behind him (allowing him to play tighter) or because he just knows the defense better. Regardless, he had tight coverage all night. He broke up a pass in the end zone (though it should have been thrown higher) on a fade to a guy several inches taller. Earlier on this drive, however, Wilson missed a tackle on Laurent Robinson, allowing him to run an extra 15 yards with the catch. I didn’t like his contain on a Felix Jones six-yard run around right end, but he got bailed out of that because of a hold on him by Robinson. It was an unnecessary hold. But considering Wilson nearly intercepted two passes and played well all night, he deserves praise.
SS LaRon Landry. Where to begin with him? He was impressive in so many ways, but the first thing I noticed was his patience. Here’s a guy who hadn’t played in 10 months and loves nothing more than to destroy players and who talked about untaming the beast. Would anyone have been surprised if he’d been overaggressive? Or too hyped? Maybe he was too hyped but he wasn’t overaggressive. Can’t remember a single time Dallas took advantage of him if he was. The coaches say he only had a couple mental errors, which is somewhat amazing. It appeared there might have been one or two times his angle to the ball could have been better. And his one-on-one coverage is still not a strength. But who’s complaining? He just plays at a different speed than almost anyone else on defense. Loved how he forced a fumble, coming in from behind with a hard punch at the ball while he was tackling the runner. Landry has a closing speed similar to LaVar Arrington back in the day. They smell the kill. Loved the vicious hit on Laurent Robinson. And what I loved on that play is watching Landry read Romo and once he knew where the QB wanted to throw the ball, he ran even faster. Like I said, Landry smells the kill. He also knew the ball had to come out soon because Oshiomogho Atogwe blitzed from that side so Romo had to unload the pass and couldn’t really spend time trying to look off the safety.
This is nothing against Reed Doughty, who is a good backup. But there’s just a different comfort level that Landry provides others in the secondary because of his presence. It’s not that they trust him more; Doughty is usually in the right place. It’s that they trust Landry to make his presence known better. He’s an enforcer. The guy acts like a bad — out there and he should. Also am curious to see how they use him at the line. They aligned he and Brian Orakpo on the same side on Dallas’ first drive. Landry’s speed gives Washington a legit threat on the outside, allowing Orakpo to stunt inside as he did on this play. It’ll be interesting to see what else Jim Haslett does with these two.
DE Stephen Bowen. He took advantage of a weak Dallas interior with an excellent performance. Maybe playing his former team motivated him. Whatever the reason, Bowen played his best game. It’s not like he became an All-Pro from this game, but it was a good one. It started early when on a second and eight on Dallas’ first possession (from the Redskins’ 23), he simply overpowered LG Bill Nagy. Bowen got a good jump, got into Kosier’s pads and steamrolled him. Bowen then forced a hurried pass by Romo. But Bowen’s best series might have come on the first drive of the third quarter. On the second play, he powered Nagy and got to his outside shoulder. Romo completed the pass – with Bowen’s hand in his face. Later in that drive, Bowen and Chris Neild did an excellent job clogging the middle on a run. Dallas had an unbalanced line, shifting RT Tyron Smith to the left side next to LT Doug Free. Bowen stood up Smith and moved into the running lane. On the next play, Bowen drew a holding penalty by Free. Bowen moved down the line to his right in pursuit of Felix Jones, who wanted to run wide. But Bowen was in position to make the play – until Free grabbed his jersey. Jones cut back but the play was nullified.
Duds
CB DeAngelo Hall: The third and 21 clearly wasn’t all his fault. Better pressure from an eight-man rush would have helped. Hall actually is in good shape to pounce on the expected short route. But when that play turned into a broken one, he failed. He got turned outside and Dez Bryant headed back inside and was open. In the end, Hall lost this battle. Period.
The facemask might have been bogus, but his hand definitely grazes it and in some cases that’s all a ref is going to see. Sort of like reaching in while playing defense in basketball. Doesn’t matter if you fouled him or not, it looks like you did. Back to Hall. He also took a while to bring Bryant down on a smoke route that gained 10 yards. And he allowed a 20-yard completion to him later. Bryant used his body well at times vs. Hall, whether to gain more yards or just get position.
But the big issue is how Hall handled it afterward. Yes, he made amends but a captain has to know how to handle that postgame situation better. Fair or not it reinforced a position many had of Hall as a me-first guy, one willing to throw his coach under the bus. This was the first loss and already there was blame cast. I’ve said this a couple times this week, but Hall really is good at talking after losses or when he gives up bad plays. He’s never ducked the media. However, in this case his passion got the best of him.
Notes
…On the fateful blitz, it was the only time Dallas showed a tight end and running back in the backfield for protection. The Redskins showed an eight-man front on seven occasions, with another time using seven men on the line. Here’s what they did: 1) rush 6… 2)rush 5 (Landry tipped their hand when he started coming with 13 seconds on the play clock; Romo then audibles; Landry comes again)… 3) rush 4… 4) rush 6 (interception by Kevin Barnes as Brian Orakpo has a free path to Romo)… 5) Botched snap; the Redskins were not planning on blitzing … 6) Rush 6, incompletion… 7) Rush 8, third and 21 to Bryant. In other words, it wasn’t the same thing every time.
…NT Chris Neild continues to improve and has become a decent backup after only three games. He played well in this game, though his impact was limited. Neild has become harder to move and he said this week that’s because he’s learned how to adapt his stance to the NFL. He’s playing more off the ball than he did in college. Initially Neild said he’d lean back a little bit to see the entire offense. Not anymore. The result is the squatty Neild is taking advantage of his lack of height to win the leverage battle. And his leg strength now is evident. He’s not the best athlete, but that’s not his role anyway.
…LB Ryan Kerrigan lined up in a four-point stance three times in this game. He did it vs. Arizona too but the difference this time is that his backside was definitely lower; he was much more balanced. I’ve seen other ends in a four-point stance with their rear ends up high so it’s not unusual. But there was a difference in this game.
…Have to say, picking a Dud from the defense has been difficult this season. Guys who make bad plays also are helping. And in all honesty nobody has been that horrible. Last year? A lot easier. Barry Cofield gets moved out and you think he’s cooked; then he gets back into the play. He hasn’t made a lot of plays the past two games, but the big runs vs. Dallas weren’t up the gut. He didn’t have a bad night, just not a noteworthy one. This doesn’t make them an elite defense, but rather it just means they will be better.
…Rob Jackson completely played Felix Jones’ 40-yard run wrong. The Redskins basically had two defenders taking on the fullback, with Jackson coming from the outside. He also never looked at Jones, instead drilling the fullback as Jones went past. Just never looked at him. But Jackson later caused a fumble (albeit on a play in which Oshiomogho Atogwe was called for a penalty). Jackson typically does something positive when he plays. Don’t know what sort of full-time starter he would be, but if nothing else he should be a quality backup.
…London Fletcher got lit up by running back Felix Jones on one rush, a de-cleater. On Dallas’ first possession of the fourth quarter (resulting in an 18-yard pass to Jason Witten), Fletcher came on a delayed rush. Jones rushed over to meet him and laid his shoulder into Fletcher, upending him.
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