Redskins 26 Cowboys 24

I first played organized football as a 7th grader at Atlanta Junior High School in the early 90′s. We were a rag-tag bunch of football players with a ton of talent but little knowledge of the nuances of the game. Even so, our coaches stressed to us the importance of two basic principles–runing the ball and stopping the run. As a wide receiver, this wasn’t much fun to me. In our veer option offense, I was a glorified blocker, but the conservative philosophy payed off.  From the time we were 7th grade through our senior year in high school, our class lost only 4 games. That’s less than one a year.

Though 20 years have almost passed since those days, I believe the same principles still apply to football, even in this pass happy age. For proof, you need look no further than the Cowboys loss to the Redskins. The Cowboys rushed the ball only 11 times and gave up a total of 161 yards rushing. 

What was Jason Garrett thinking? This is a Princeton-educated man who is supposed to be the next coaching legend for the Dallas Cowboys. Yesterday, I believe Garrett’s biggest weakness was exposed yet again–stubborness. Garrett showed last year in the playoffs that he refuses to veer from his game plan, no matter what the opposition may throw at him. Yesterday, Garrett seemed hell bent on getting Terrell Owens involved with the offense, no matter what it meant for the rhythm of the team.  On countless occassions, Romo forced bad throws into double coverage or checked down to secondary receivers in an attempt to get T.O. some touches.

All the while, one of the leagues best back, Marion Barber, was left with only 9 touches. This is a man who rushed 28 times for 148 yards last week. And what about rookie sensation Felix Jones? Why didn’t Garrett attempt to get him involved?

What can you say about the defense? The 3-4 is a horrible defensive scheme to run, especially in the NFC, but the Brian Stewart/Wade Phillips version is even worse due to the coverage scheme they use. When you give a West Coast offense 10-20 yard cushions on the pass routes, you’re playing right into their hands. I could have played quarterback for the Redskins and picked the Cowboys’ secondary apart with that type of coverage.  Once the passing game got started, our front seven were on the heels for the remainder of the game and Clinton Portis had his best game of the season.

When you add all these elements together, you can clearly see that the common theme is “bad coaching”. Bad offensive play calling, bad defensive scheme, bad preparation of part of the head coach, all across the board, the Dallas Cowboys’ coaching staff failed their team, owner and millions of fans all over the world.

In all this madness, I was able to find a positive. This type of loss, this early in the season, serves as a perfect wake up call for a team that seemed to be invincible. As Bradie James said, “I don’t want to go undefeated. I want to win the games that count.” If this loss will cause the Cowboys to realize that they aren’t invincible and inspire them to play harder, longer, then we stand a great shot of winning the games that count in January.