Sunday, November 22, 2009

Deep breaths...

London Fletcher, when asked in a radio interview about the players' reaction to this loss: "Just... hurting."

Some initial thoughts, all of which are subject to revision when I do the game review:

- It's very hard to feel good about anything after a loss to Dallas. But I would say that this team went on the road against a division opponent with superior talent, and fought like hell for the whole game - and outplayed them for most of it. A few weeks ago, who would have thought that the Redskins would even be competitive in this game? To some extent this game can be seen as progress - Dallas limped away with a victory that they really didn't deserve. Does that make losing in this fashion any easier? Not really.

- I'm not inclined to be too hard on Suisham. A 50 yarder is a low probability kick by nature, so you can't criticize him too much for missing it. And the 39 yarder was his first miss of the year. You shouldn't need to count on your kicker to score all of your points in a game.

- Devin Thomas is looking more and more like he is becoming our top receiver. Jason Campbell is seeking him out.

- Fred Davis, to, is all growed up and has become a reliable option.

- Obviously the line did not perform up to last week's level. I'll have to look at things more closely in the game reviews to have specific opinions. I would point out that Dallas has a very good front seven, but then so did Denver. Of course the line, I think, is still alot better than it was. If we still had Heyer at LT and Williams at RT the Redskins may have been shut out.

- Is it just me, or did Rock Cartwright smell an opportunity to demonstrate he can be a real running back and play like a mad man?

- The defense deserves a lot of credit. Romo looked shellshocked for much of the game. They pretty much shut down an explosive offense for all but one drive. Unfortunately, Dallas got that drive just when they needed it - and it was just enough.

- This was not only a tough loss but also a mass-casualty event. My understanding is that Betts has a torn MCL and Rinehart broke his leg. Rinehart is nothing special, but he certainly played better than Will Montgomery.

- Despite being under much more pressure, I feel like Campbell played quite a bit better than last week. Not that well, mind you, but better than last week. Some would argue - reasonably - that a 6 point performance speaks for itself. We'll see if I'm harder on Jason once I review some plays.

- If you prefer your soul-crushing to be quantified, check out the Win Probability Graph. You will note that the Redskins peaked with a 93% chance of victory at 8:38 left to go in the game. It's a pretty steep drop after that.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go lie face down on my bed for a few more hours.

3 comments:

  1. The worst part was me having to take crap from an eight year old kid who saw me walking around in my sweatshirt after the game.

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  2. Most people don't know this, but during Dallas week it's legal to kick children.

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  3. It is alright with me, if you decide not to watch that game again. That would be Cruel and Unusal Punishment as far as I'm concerned. And if the rest of you think it's bad, I am a redskins fan who now lives it Texas. And yes I still wear my redskins stuff.

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