Redskins vs. Dallas, 2nd quarter review

1st quarter review is here.

2nd Quarter

4-2-WAS 46 (15:00) H.Smith punts 39 yards to DAL 15, Center-E.Albright, fair catch by P.Crayton.

Dallas Cowboys at 14:52

1-10-DAL 15 (14:52) F.Jones up the middle to DAL 30 for 15 yards (R.Doughty, R.McIntosh).

Carter, at LDE, gets driven inside by the RT and trips up both the DTs, which is a shame since Haynesworth was about to achieve penetration. The TE succesfully kicks Orakpo (SLB) outside to open up the hole. Both Landry and Rogers are there, but Landry gets taken out by the lead FB and Rogers badly (really, horribly) overpursues and is left in the dust when the RB cuts back. Sorry I can't get past this - that was the worst case of overpursuit in the whole history of football. EVER.
Question for you:

Watching Titans games last year I noticed that Haynesworth was consistently lined up a bit farther off the ball than the other linemen. It always looked odd and was very conspicuous. I had not noticed him doing the same thing as a Redskin... until this game.

a) Has he been doing this all year and I just missed it, or

b) Is this part of the more aggressive technique he was allowed in Tennessee, and in light of last week's unpleasantness he is finally being allowed to play the way he wants (or Greg Blache hasn't relented but at this point Haynesworth is basically giving him the finger and doing what he feels like)?

I assume the function of this is to allow Haynesworth to build up momentum before crashing into the line. I think it works.

1-10-DAL 30 (14:11) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to F.Jones to DAL 30 for no gain (A.Carter, R.McIntosh).

Haynesworth takes on a double team of the C and LG and pushes the whole pocket into the backfield. Carter then stunts behind him and leave the LT blocking air. Meanwhile Philip Daniels at LDE gets past the RT's outside shoulder and gets his hand up in Romo's face. With Redskins closing in from three side Romo just manages to flip it out to the RB. Fortunately Rocky has stayed home and tracks the RB as he slides out to take the dumpoff, and trips him up behind the line so Carter and Griffin can finish him off for no gain.

2-10-DAL 30 (13:28) F.Jones left end to DAL 32 for 2 yards (L.Landry).

Landry does a great job avoiding a block by the FB to deny the the RB the corner.

3-8-DAL 32 (12:44) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to J.Witten to DAL 39 for 7 yards (J.Tryon).

4-1-DAL 39 (12:03) M.McBriar punts 45 yards to WAS 16, Center-L.Ladouceur. D.Hall MUFFS catch, ball out of bounds at WAS 18.

Washington Redskins at 11:58

1-10-WAS 18 (11:58) J.Campbell pass short right to S.Moss to WAS 47 for 29 yards (K.Hamlin).

Santana takes a quick hitch on the right, sees the entire Cowboys defense closing in on him, and takes it all the way back across the formation to find open field on the left. Very nice downfield blocking by Malcolm Kelly earns Santana a lot of extra yards. And keep in mind Kelly had no reason to expect the play to come to his side of the field, so extra credit for alertness.

1-10-WAS 47 (11:14) Q.Ganther up the middle to DAL 49 for 4 yards (A.Spencer).

I'm going to call this one poor vision by Ganther. Rabach and Mike Williams double team the NT and push him off the line, and to Rabach's left Sellers takes out a ILB. There is a narrow but very real hole between Sellers and Rabach, with not much behind it. Instead Ganther cuts right - directly into the teeth of the defense. It was an average gain anyway thanks to solid work from Williams and Rabach, but I think it could have been more.

2-6-DAL 49 (10:36) J.Campbell pass incomplete short middle to M.Sellers (K.Brooking) [M.Spears].

Dallas blitzes both OLBs. Ganther sees he needs to pick up the ROLB, which is progress, but he hangs back rather than seeking the guy out. If the LB hadn't overshot Campbell on his own Ganther may not have been able to block him effectively (maybe I'm nitpicking). Meanwhile the LDE gets inside penetration on Williams and forces Campbell to throw off his back foot to avoid a sack. He tries to force a very dangerous throw into traffic over the middle.

Timeout #1 by WAS at 10:32.

3-6-DAL 49 (10:32) J.Campbell pass incomplete short right to S.Moss.

Let's see if I can keep all the failures straight. Cowboys blitz three of their linebackers. One OLB (Ware) blows past Levi's outside shoulder with ease. The other OLB (who is really ILB Brooking lined up outside just to mess with us, I guess) beats Heyer to the outside. You read that right - Heyer was beat on a speed rush by a 34 year old inside 'backer. Meanwhile another LB blitzes straight up the middle but Ganther is late recognizing it and completely whiffs on his block. Campbell again throws while falling over backwards and is unable to hit Santana on a drag route.

4-6-DAL 49 (10:27) H.Smith punts 37 yards to DAL 12, Center-E.Albright, fair catch by P.Crayton.

Dallas Cowboys at 10:22

1-10-DAL 12 (10:22) M.Barber left guard to DAL 18 for 6 yards (L.Landry, K.Golston).

Barber runs right through a solid tackle attempt by Orakpo.

2-4-DAL 18 (9:41) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to M.Austin pushed ob at DAL 28 for 10 yards (F.Smoot).

1-10-DAL 28 (9:03) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to WAS 3 for 69 yards (R.Doughty).

Landry gets beaten on a deep cross by Witten, then a DB who I can't positively identify but I think is Rogers takes a bad angle and Witten beats him with a little move.

1-3-WAS 3 (8:05) (Shotgun) M.Barber left guard for 3 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Rocky gets kicked outside by the LTE (Witten is very impressive as a blocker) and Orakpo, at RDE, abandons his gap responsibility to sell out an an insde run and gets caught up in the middle. Fletcher is in the hole but Barber simply runs through his tackle.

S.Suisham extra point is GOOD, Center-L.Ladouceur, Holder-M.McBriar.

DAL 14 WAS 0, 4 plays, 88 yards, 2:22 drive, 7:00 elapsed

D.Buehler kicks 73 yards from DAL 30 to WAS -3. R.Cartwright, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 8:00

1-10-WAS 20 (8:00) J.Campbell pass short right to T.Yoder to WAS 22 for 2 yards (K.Hamlin).

2-8-WAS 22 (7:23) J.Campbell pass short right to S.Moss to WAS 27 for 5 yards (D.Ware).

3-3-WAS 27 (6:43) R.Cartwright up the middle to WAS 27 for no gain (J.Hatcher).

Will Montgomery, now in at RG, can't sustain his block long enough to keep a hole open for the shotgun draw.

4-3-WAS 27 (6:14) H.Smith punts 34 yards to DAL 39, Center-E.Albright, downed by WAS-B.Westbrook.

Dallas Cowboys at 6:04

1-10-DAL 39 (6:04) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short right to M.Barber.

Pressure: Haynesworth collapses a double team, Carter threatens the RT's outside shoulder then slips to his inside, and Rocky blitzes and the RB blocks him only briefly before leaking out to take the dumpoff, which Romo has to shotput out due to all the bodies around him. The defensive line really came to play last Sunday, almost as if they wanted to show what they could do if someone would just turn them loose.

2-10-DAL 39 (6:00) F.Jones left tackle to DAL 41 for 2 yards (L.Fletcher, R.Doughty).

3-8-DAL 41 (5:18) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass deep middle to M.Austin to WAS 42 for 17 yards (L.Landry).

On the offensive right, Carter and Griffin run a rather sloppy stunt and the O-linemen easily adjust. Haynesworth draws a LG-LT double team, leaving Orakpo to work against a TE. He drives the TE back, then gets inside him to get a hand on Romo. Romo spins around to escape, then despite Orakpo's pursuit out of the pocket manages to set his feet before firing to Austin over two leaping Redskins defenders. Landry flies in high hoping to knock the ball loose, but only lands a glancing blow.

1-10-WAS 42 (4:29) M.Austin right end to DAL 45 for -13 yards (C.Wilson). Direct snap to #23.

Unlike the various plays involving a direct snap to a running threat that are incorrectly labelled a Wildcat, this one really is a Wildcat play. Romo is split out wide, the O-line is unbalanced to the left, and a WR is sweeping right to left through the backfield as a RB takes a direct snap. RB hands off to the sweeping WR, who immediately flips it to the slot guy going in the opposite drection. This play is defeated thanks to some fantastic work by Chris Wilson, who is lined up at SLB on the offensive right. Although he is unblocked, he stays at home and doesn't bite on the fake, and is right there when Miles Austin, the slot receiver, gets the ball coming back towards him. Wilson immediately closes on Austin six yards in the backfield. Austin brilliantly evades him by trying to go wide and losing an additional seven yards in the process. For a guy who I thought would get cut in preseason, Chris Wilson has really made solid contributions in the Orakpo Jr. role.

2-23-DAL 45 (3:39) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass deep left intended for R.Williams INTERCEPTED by R.Doughty (C.Rogers) at WAS 32. R.Doughty to WAS 45 for 13 yards (M.Austin, D.Free).

Carlos Rogers makes this play - he closes in on the WR from behind to break up the pass and knock the ball into the air.

Washington Redskins at 3:26

1-10-WAS 45 (3:26) J.Campbell sacked at WAS 31 for -14 yards (sack split by A.Spencer and I.Olshansky). FUMBLES (A.Spencer),
RECOVERED by DAL-M.Spears at WAS 30. M.Spears to WAS 30 for no gain (R.Cartwright).
Washington challenged the fumble ruling, and the play was REVERSED.
J.Campbell sacked at WAS 32 for -13 yards (sack split by I.Olshansky and A.Spencer).

The RDE beats Levi to the inside and gets penetration up the middle, while Rock picks up an OLB but can't sustain the block. Upon completing his three step drop, Campbell is faced with these two defenders closing in and has three options: 1) take the sack for a modest loss, 2) get the ball out, or 3) split the defenders and run left to daylight. Instead, he pulls the ball down, backpedals a bit, turns his back to run, and is taken down for an inexcusably huge loss. A Cowboy works his hand in and flips the ball into the air, but fortunately replay shows that Jason's knee hit the ground just before losing the ball. But that was purely luck. I think this play was instructive: Yes, the protection failed. But Jason's pocket presence failed just as badly and instead of overcoming his teammates' mistakes he compounded them.

2-23-WAS 32 (3:01) J.Campbell pass short left to S.Moss to WAS 40 for 8 yards (M.Jenkins).

3-15-WAS 40 (2:38) J.Campbell pass short right to R.Cartwright to WAS 37 for -3 yards (O.Scandrick, D.Ware).

The Redskins linemen again are too slow to set up the blocking for a screen.

Two-Minute Warning

4-18-WAS 37 (2:00) H.Smith punts 41 yards to DAL 22, Center-E.Albright. P.Crayton to DAL 18 for -4 yards (B.Westbrook, L.Alexander).

Dallas Cowboys at 1:49

1-10-DAL 18 (1:49) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to M.Barber to DAL 26 for 8 yards (D.Hall).

2-2-DAL 26 (1:23) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to M.Barber to DAL 30 for 4 yards (R.McIntosh; D.Hall).

Haynesworth takes on a C-LG double team, and while he doesn't get penetration he caves in the left side of the pocket enough so that when Carter threatens the RT Romo is forced to escape up the middle (open because Griffin is badly held by the RG) and dump off to the RB just before crossing the LOS.

Timeout #1 by DAL at 01:15.

1-10-DAL 30 (1:15) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short right to M.Austin.

2-10-DAL 30 (1:12) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to J.Witten to DAL 43 for 13 yards (K.Moore, J.Tryon).

The pressure continues to almost but not quite get there. Three down linemen - Haynesworth is at RDE and drives back the LT, who gets some help from the LG. Lorenzo Alexander is the DT and manages to split the C and LG, while the LDE (Carter?) works inside the RT, beats him, and is stopped only by being held across the neck. Carters' (?) and Alexander's work opens a blitz lane for Orakpo (lined up at about the traditional middle LB spot), who comes up the middle and is in Romo's face as he makes a desperate throw off his back foot. Unfortunately Fletcher trips while in man coverage on Witten, and Dallas escapes with another first down.

1-10-DAL 43 (:44) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to WAS 48 for 9 yards (L.Fletcher).

Timeout #2 by DAL at 00:42.

2-1-WAS 48 (:42) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short left to R.Williams.

3-1-WAS 48 (:38) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to M.Austin to WAS 40 for 8 yards (D.Hall, L.Fletcher).

Timeout #3 by DAL at 00:31.

1-10-WAS 40 (:31) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to M.Barber to WAS 35 for 5 yards (D.Hall, L.Fletcher).

The DTs stunt, but Griffin doesn't work downfield aggressively enough and Haynesworth is forced to take an extra long route to get around him, so he has no momentum left when he hits the RG.

2-5-WAS 35 (:10) T.Romo spiked the ball to stop the clock.

3-5-WAS 35 (:09) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to M.Austin to WAS 21 for 14 yards (L.Landry).

I do appreciate Dallas throwing over the middle with no timeouts. Very courteous.

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