In what has become an increasingly numbing 2017 campaign, the Washington NFL team laid another flat-out egg on the national TV stage, getting out-played, out-coached and out-whatevered by a similarly depleted Dallas Cowboys unit with a defeat of 38-14 on Nov. 30.
Washington drops to 8-24 (.250) in their last 32 prime-time games. They’re 14-32 (.304) in their last 46.
Washington Redskins running back Samaje Perine (32) runs the ball as Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens, rear, gives chase in the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)
Absolutely pathetic.
Washington is now 6-20 (.231) in its last 26 games in Dallas.
There will be plenty of blame to spread among the entire team and coaching staff—just take your pick.
Injuries aside, the key factor in a couple of these excruciatingly bad losses is the seemingly lack of attention to detail and effort. At this point, Washington fans should know that the team will shoot itself in the foot with mental and physical mistakes that shows you exactly why the team has the record it has.
On Thursday night, the stupid, idiotic play of the game was a delay of game penalty for too many men on the field. There were 13 Washington men on the field on what would have been the game clinching play for the Cowboys. How is this possible?!?!
I’ll tell you how it is possible. It is possible because coaches are flat-out confused, period. It’s a sad state of affairs at Redskins Park. Heads should roll when you make such critical, boneheaded mistakes on a regular basis.
Washington receiver Jamison Crowder continued his perplexing issue of dropping the ball at the wrong times, fumbling a punt return in the first quarter directly after not catching a ball that hit him in the hands (tough catch but, still) and bounced into the hands of Cowboys safety Jeff Heath for an interception. As good as Crowder has been the last four weeks, this is a troubling trend. He is way too talented a player for this to occur so often. At this point, it’s a mental thing.
To add insult to injury, former Washington player and fan favorite Alfred Morris eviscerated his former team’s porous defense to the tune of 127 yards on 27 carries. As a fan of the man, I was totally happy to see him nail the final coffin into the playoff hopes of a franchise that tossed him away as if he could not be a contributor to the team again.
One person I didn’t mention was quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins didn’t play a terrible game but he didn’t play his greatest either. With a depleted offensive line which lost right tackle Morgan Moses (the sole first-string offensive lineman to start every game) to a right ankle injury, the pressure mounted all night for Cousins. He was sacked four times, drilled in the back, beat on the head, mashed facedown in the turf and, in one stretch, was pressured on 13 of 22 dropbacks by the Cowboys’ pass rush. And as we all know so well at this point, things have to be borderline perfect around Cousins for the offense to look truly dynamic…and it just isn’t.
Injuries have depleted a roster already thin on dynamic talent. With below-average coaching, to expect consistent success is a pipe dream.
Maybe things will change in 2018.
Or, will the one true constant remain—ineptitude?
