Redskins-Dallas 3rd quarter game review

Hi there. As mentioned the schedule this week severely interferes with timely game review completion, so I after doing the 1st quarter on Tuesday I have skipped the 2nd quarter altogether and we're going straight to the 3rd. 

Third Quarter

G.Gano kicks 72 yards from WAS 35 to DAL -7. D.Harris, Touchback.

Dallas Cowboys at 15:00

1-10-DAL 20 (15:00) T.Romo sacked at DAL 12 for -8 yards (R.Kerrigan). FUMBLES (R.Kerrigan), and recovers at DAL 15. T.Romo to DAL 15 for no gain (A.Carriker).

Kerrigan is only blocked by the FB and is taken far enough upfield that Romo can step up, but with impressive alertness he manages to swipe with his right arm – which is hooked under the FB’s arm – and knock the ball out of Romo’s hands.

2-15-DAL 15 (14:13) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to F.Jones to DAL 22 for 7 yards (L.Fletcher; R.Doughty). Pass complete slant.

3-8-DAL 22 (13:28) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to D.Bryant pushed ob at DAL 42 for 20 yards (D.Hall). Pass complete on a sideline "curl."

Barnes (over the slot receiver) and Fletcher blitz from the offensive right. Kerrigan tries to rush inside to open the B gap for Fletcher. But he doesn’t drive the center hard enough, so as the RG doubles him – as the blitz was designed to make him do – Fletcher runs into his back.

1-10-DAL 42 (13:04) T.Romo pass incomplete short right. Pass incomplete sideline; heavy pressure by Carriker

Carriker takes a wide route around the outside, engages the RT deep in the backfield (nearly parallel with the top of Romo’s drop). One can assume there was blanket coverage on all the routes although the TV doesn’t throw it, because Romo lingers and then starts staring down the RB who leaks into the flat. Carriker wears down the RT and slips past him, getting in Romo’s face and forcing the high throwaway. If Romo had managed to make his throw, Kerrigan was closing quickly to clobber the RB.

2-10-DAL 42 (12:56) F.Jones up the middle to DAL 48 for 6 yards (K.Golston).

Golston (RDE) is double teamed and pushed off the line, then the RG sheds him and puts a hat on Rocky. Nield is muscled out of the hole by the C and then put on the ground.

3-4-DAL 48 (12:13) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to WAS 47 for 5 yards (K.Barnes). Pass complete on "curl" in the flat.

1-10-WAS 47 (11:37) D.Murray up the middle to WAS 47 for no gain (S.Bowen, K.Golston).

Golston is at LDE and is driven off the line by the C, but Nield holds his own agains the LG to a standstill, then manages to gain leverage and work under his arm while maintaining his footing to stuff the play.

2-10-WAS 47 (10:54) D.Murray left end to WAS 41 for 6 yards (C.Neild).

PENALTY on DAL-D.Free, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at WAS 47 - No Play.

Rocky reads the play early and gets to the corner before the LG can get to him. This forces the RB back inside and it’s only the holding that prevents Bowen from blowing up the LT and stuffing the play for a loss.

2-20-DAL 43 (10:31) (Shotgun) T.Romo Aborted. P.Costa FUMBLES at DAL 43, recovered by DAL-T.Romo at DAL 25. T.Romo pass short right to L.Robinson to DAL 45 for 2 yards (R.Kerrigan). Ball snapped past Romo in the shotgun position

3-18-DAL 45 (9:41) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass deep middle intended for K.Ogletree INTERCEPTED by K.Barnes [B.Orakpo] at WAS 24. K.Barnes to WAS 24 for no gain (M.Bennett).

Dallas lines up four wide. Redskins are in cover-0 – DBs over each receiver and Atogwe over Witten, who is an in-line TE but releases directly into a route. Rocky and Fletcher both crowd the line and both blitz.  With Dallas’ empty backfield this obviously creates a situation of six rusher against five defenders, and it is Orakpo who comes free. Romo is forced to loft it off his back foot, and Barnes is well inside the slot receiver’s post route to pick off the short throw. On the first playback I though that Barnes had gotten beat and lucked out, but actually the WR was behind him because Barnes did a great job of reading the high and short throw right out of Romo’s hands and adjusted. Well done.

Washington Redskins at 9:31

1-10-WAS 24 (9:31) T.Hightower left guard to WAS 26 for 2 yards (D.Ware, S.Lee).

More sloppiness from Brown and Chester. DeMarcus Ware is aligned on the offensive right and left unblocked by design. The LDE follows the play action to his right and Brown is too slow getting to him, meaning Chester can’t get to the second level cleanly. Trent and Chester both allow penetration to the playside, meaning Hightower must cut back into Ware and the ILB that Chester couldn’t get a solid block on.

2-8-WAS 26 (8:56) R.Grossman pass short middle to S.Moss ran ob at DAL 38 for 36 yards. Pass complete on a "skinny post."           

Dallas rushes eight. On the left Trent tracks Ware to the outside and out of the play. An ILB attacks Lichtensteiger, hoping to open up the B gap for two rushers. But Cooley, working inside out as he should, takes on and beats the RDE, while Hightower lowers his shoulder and puts a blitzing safety on the ground.  Dallas is playing outside leverage with a (very) deep safety on the two WRs. It means Santana is easily open on his post.

1-10-DAL 38 (8:19) R.Grossman pass short left to C.Cooley to DAL 26 for 12 yards (M.Jenkins). Pass complete in the flat.           

The Cowboys aren’t anticipating Cooley (from FB) releasing directly into the flat in the face of their six man rush, so he is open by at least 15 yards.

1-10-DAL 26 (7:43) T.Hightower left end to DAL 25 for 1 yard (S.Lee, J.Ratliff).

Brown fails to get his first step inside of the LDE, and Chester is too busy pursuing the NT to notice the ILB pursuing penetrating behind his back.

2-9-DAL 25 (7:00) T.Hightower right end to DAL 19 for 6 yards (A.Elam).

Logan Paulsen gets a grasp on Ware, then Cooley joins him from FB and drives Ware straight out of the play. Lichtensteiger and Montgomery fail to prevent penetration from the NT,  and Brown and Chester can’t contain the LDE. Only hard running from Hightower turns this into a good gain.

3-3-DAL 19 (6:15) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass short middle to T.Hightower to DAL 12 for 7 yards (S.Lee). Pass complete on a crossing pattern out of the backfield.

Ware tries to put an inside move on Trent. Trent adjusts and keeps his feet moving with a solid base to counter. By the time Ware redirects to the outside Rex has had time to hit Hightower on the angle route.

1-10-DAL 12 (5:34) T.Hightower right tackle to DAL 6 for 6 yards (G.Sensabaugh).

Cooley puts a hat on an ILB at the line of scrimmage and knocks him off the line, opening Hightower’s cutback lane. Credit also due to Trent, who despite a lack of solid contact positioned himself well to seal the RDE to the outside, and the Lichtensteiger-Montgomery double team that drove the NT out of the hole.

2-4-DAL 6 (4:52) T.Hightower left end to DAL 1 for 5 yards (A.Spencer).           

Lichtensteiger and Trent tandem block the RDE and slow him down the line sufficiently to open the hole, then Trent sheds and walls off the ILB. Sellers (remember him?) is in at FB and leads through the hole to take out a safety, who appeared to be the only guy between Hightower and the end zone. Cooley is an in-line TE on the left had tried to take the ROLB to the outside, but his block is shed and Hightower is taken down from behind just inches short.

1-1-DAL 1 (4:05) R.Grossman pass short left to T.Hightower for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. Pass complete off play action.           

An easy play action into the flat as Dallas sells out on the run up the middle.

G.Gano extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-S.Rocca.

WAS 16 DAL 9, 9 plays, 76 yards, 5:31 drive, 11:00 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 71 yards from WAS 35 to DAL -6. D.Harris, Touchback.

Dallas Cowboys at 4:00

1-10-DAL 20 (4:00) F.Jones up the middle to DAL 49 for 29 yards (J.Wilson).           

Carriker, who doesn’t seem to be playing as strong as he did in 2010, is muscled out of the hole by the RT. Both Landry and Rocky take bad angles and miss tackles slightly over the line of scrimmate. Cofield is driven so far off the line by the center that he is in position to make a second-level tackle (note: that’s not good for a nose tackle) but he’s not quick enough after (finally) shedding his block.

1-10-DAL 49 (3:23) F.Jones left tackle to WAS 49 for 2 yards (K.Golston). FUMBLES (K.Golston), and recovers at WAS 49. F.Jones to WAS 49 for no gain (K.Golston).

It looks like the center tries to cut Cofield, but it makes no sense with the rest of the play so I rather suspect he just fell down. Either way, Cofield penetrates easily and slips past the leading fullback (who wasn’t expecting him to be there) but can’t quite twist his way around to make the tackle. On the playside both Kedric Golston and Brian Orakpo play perfect two-gap run defense by holding their ground against their blockers and shedding to take down the RB as he tries to slip between them.

2-8-WAS 49 (2:37) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to WAS 26 for 23 yards (O.Atogwe). Pass complete on crossing pattern.

Rob Jackson is in for the injured Orakpo and speed rushes right past the LT, but he can’t wrap his angle quite tight enough and Romo steps up into an otherwise healthy pocket and hits Witten on a post. Kerrigan was stuck in man coverage on Witten, so the fact that he was only beaten by a step and half is to his credit I suppose.

1-10-WAS 26 (1:49) T.Romo pass short middle to T.Choice to WAS 23 for 3 yards (L.Fletcher).

2-7-WAS 23 (1:13) T.Choice right guard to WAS 23 for no gain (L.Fletcher).

3-7-WAS 23  (:29) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete deep right to K.Ogletree (O.Atogwe).

It appears to be Hall who blows his coverage, and if so Atogwe saves his butt. Dallas has trips right against zone coverage.  Rocky has the hook zone at the yellow line and Barnes takes the slot receiver in the flat. Hall is the only other defender that side, and he passes off the wide WR to help that at least initially isn’t there and moves to cover the flat that Barnes has already accounted for. Due to excellent hustle Atogwe makes it to the corner of the end zone to just barely break up the pass.

4-7-WAS 23 (:23) (Field Goal formation) D.Bailey 41 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-L.Ladouceur, Holder-M.McBriar.

WAS 16 DAL 12, 7 plays, 57 yards, 3:41 drive, 14:41 elapsed

D.Bailey kicks 63 yards from DAL 35 to WAS 2. B.Banks to WAS 25 for 23 yards (D.McCray). Return middle of the field.

Washington Redskins at 0:19, (1st play from scrimmage 0:14)

1-10-WAS 25 (:14) R.Grossman pass incomplete short right. Pass was thrown out of bounds right sideline.

I don’t have much to say about this play since it’s a throwaway after no one comes open, but check out Terrence Newman. After he realizes that Hightower has him dead to right he commits what must be the single laziest corner blitz in the history of football.

2-10-WAS 25 (:06) R.Grossman pass incomplete deep left to S.Moss (M.Jenkins). Pass knocked away at the Dallas 37.

The pocket holds up well except that Chester is driven into the backfield. Given Rex’s poor fundamentals its hard to tell if Chester prevented him from stepping into his throw or if he didn’t step into his throw because that’s just his thing. Either way the throw comes up short and drifts into the corner who was underneath Moss’ post route (there was also a safety over top) but Santana shows good hustle in breaking up the interception.