Week 15 Recap – Skins vs. Cowboys

Photo courtesy of
‘Santana Moss catch, tackled’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

A stirring comeback against a hated rival would have been a great early Christmas gift for Redskins fans. Alas, the burgundy and gold stocking by the fire appears to contain coal this morning instead of Tickle Me Elmo, and the Redskins move to 5-9 after the 33-30 loss to Dallas. You may now start mapping out replacement quarterbacks and targeting draft prospects. Positives and negatives from yesterday’s game in Jerryworld after the jump.

Positives – The 23 point rally to tie the game was a blast to watch, and credit needs to be given to Rex Grossman for keeping it together and climbing out of the mountain that one of his turnovers caused. Also, the kicking game was positive for two reasons: (1) Graham Gano hit both extra points he tried, but (2) it was also utilized very little. The Redskins attempted no field goals and went for two – and converted successfully – twice. That’s more a testament to the ‘Skins finally clicking (albeit late in the game) than fears about Gano repeating any of last week’s catastrophes. If the Redskins were getting close, they found paydirt, taking four trips into the red zone and scoring touchdowns each time.

Negatives – Poor ball movement in the first half and an ability to hold onto the ball. When all was said and done, Dallas had approximately a 10 minute advantage on the ball, but that is deflated by a few long drives the Redskins put together in the fourth quarter. I was watching a few games at the same time, and maybe it’s because I just looked away at the wrong time, but I honestly didn’t see the Redskins on offense until what felt like nearly the end of the first half. Mathematically, I could have just been in the restroom and missed it: the offense had the ball for all of three minutes of the opening 15. Come backs are great, but usually they’re required because you spend too much time making dumb mistakes or an inability to stop someone. Going into the locker room at half down by two scores is painful, starting on the ball in the second and then choking it away with a fumble and another score is not exactly the position you want to be in when it comes to getting back into things.

Dave Levy is a PR guy by day, a media researcher on the side and a self-proclaimed geek. He blogs often about how traditional media adapts – or tries to adapt – to the growing digital media world at State of the Fourth Estate. You can follow Dave on Twitter for various updates about everything from sports from his previous home in Boston to eccentric and obscure pop culture references. Read why Dave loves D.C.

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