It was a good week for naysaying nabobs of negativity. A veritable Field Day was there to be had if one wanted to embrace the dark side. There are only so many adjectives in the lexicon to describe inadequacy. Every last one was used multiple times to describe the Washington Defense. But, in the spirit of, “no one goes unscathed” the venom went towards anything associated with Burgundy or Gold. One bold soul had the temerity to proclaim that Jayden Daniels was done and so should be traded now. And, how dare he smile while playing a kid’s game. Ok. We got the memo.
In the First Century AD the Stoic Lucius Annaeus Seneca declared that anger was temporary madness. There was certainly no shortage of that on display after Monday Night’s loss. With spleens properly vented it’s time to move on. The NFL schedule waits for no one.
Mediocrity
This season was a set up for disappointment from the jump. However involuntarily we are trained to think in terms of continuously escalating achievement. Schools are an arithmetic progression. Finishing 10th-Grade means that 11th-Grade is next. The Enlisted ranks of the military are the same way. The E-5 aspires to E-6. This gets applied to sports and fandom. The Detroit Lions are a perfect example. Dan Campbell‘s first year was 3-13. The next was 9-8. Then the team won 12-games, but lost the Conference Championship to San Francisco. Surely a Super Bowl was in the offing the next year…only it wasn’t. Detroit did improve its record to 15-2 only to lay a dud against Washington in the Divisional Round. Nothing is assured in football.
So Washington’s shocking appearance in the NFC Championship Game last year surely meant that the team would be back again, or so many thought. It doesn’t work that way. Each season is self-contained. The soft schedule of last year is gone to the ether. This one is a brute. And, the hard part isn’t even here yet. Also gone was the good fortune with injuries. The busiest room out at Ashburn may well be the Training Room. After waiting for six-weeks for Noah Brown to get over his knee injury the team put him on IR with a groin issue. Terry McLaurin held out, held in, got paid, then got hurt. This is not an isolated occurrence. It happens around the League in just that sequence. Jayden Daniels has to have Receivers. Right now the WR Room is very light. Add Deebo Samuel to the list of injured Wide Receivers left at home. “Very light” may not cover the situation properly.
Repeating last year seems unapproachable. That doesn’t mean there will be a void of meaningful games. Back in the Dan Snyder days meaningful games were unimaginable. It’s easy to lose perspective in the midst of sudden success. Regardless, the team finds itself at 3-3. This is not Baltimore at 1-5. Performance has to improve, no question. But, this right now is a mediocre team. The good news is that the entire League is mediocre.
Where are the Juggernauts?
After six-weeks of season there are only three teams with one loss; Tampa, Green Bay, and Indianapolis. (If you had Indianapolis as a top team before the season, congratulations. Darned near no one else did.) All the other teams have two or more losses. The Bengals without Joe Burrow were dead and stinking…until a 40-year-old Joe Flacco willed them past Pittsburgh with just ten-days of study. It just shows how thin these margins are. Philadelphia was on cruise control two-weeks ago. So was Buffalo. Two-weeks and two-losses later and the “Juggernaut” labels have been round-filed. There is time and there are opportunities. The key will be to play “Clean Ball.” The turnovers lost that game on Monday night. JD5 took full responsibility.
Even though there are better teams on the schedule coming up the turnovers are the equalizer. Play clean ball and there’s still plenty of chances to make the dance.
A Distant Mirror
Author Barbara Tuchman wrote the book “A Distant Mirror” in 1978 which gave a keen insight into the “Calamitous 14th Century.” It is eye-opening to see the parallels of human foibles across six to seven hundred years. Not nearly as distant the parallels of the two teams this Sunday are clearly there. In terms of yards gained or allowed the Cowboys are first in Offense and last in Defense. In terms of points gained or allowed the WFT is 7th on Offense while 13th on Defense. That looks good until yards allowed are counted. Then the team is 25th. Good Offenses with poor Defenses. Scratch that. Dallas’ Defense is godawful. Dallas’ Defense has given up 15-passing touchdowns. Washington has allowed 9-passing TDs. How a team can be that diametrically opposed on the two sides of the ball is a head scratcher.
Dallas’ strength right now is the play of Dak Prescott. The League’s highest-paid player is playing like it. His passes are quick and on the money. The Receivers are good. George Pickens is simply dangerous. When he gets the ball he’s a serious End-Zone threat. This week their #1 WR is returning in the person of CeeDee Lamb. Dallas is going to score points passing. You can put that in the book. But, they don’t like to run the ball all that much. Perhaps that is because they aren’t very good at it.
Last week the Carolina Panthers beat Dallas while showing the rest of the League the “blueprint.” Run straight at them all day. Don’t stop. Carolina ran the ball 38-times. Most of that was between the Tackles with Dallas castoff Rico Dowdle. He went “Power” some 30-times for 189 yards. The team total for Carolina was 218-yards. Dallas amassed all of 39-yards rushing. Remember when Dallas traded Micah Parsons? Jerry Jones actually tried to gaslight the situation. It wasn’t a move away from Micah. It was a move to bring in Kenny Clark to help shore up the run game. That tall tale was a dog that simply wouldn’t hunt. Dallas’ run Defense is just plain putrid. That’s the soft spot.
On Washington’s side the run Defense isn’t all that good either. The thing is Dallas hasn’t shown that it can run. If they are successful this week then it will be a long day. Dak is good for 3-TDs coming off of the bus. His protection is good at only 7-sacks versus Washington’s 14. Much of that is on Dak, however. The ball is out of his hands in a blink.
Want to win this game? Get some takeaways.
Where to?
A win here keeps Washington a game behind Philly or tied with a slight edge to Washington on Division wins. A loss, however, moves Dallas ahead. It would also set the stage for a week of wails and lamentations. If for no other reason that to avoid another week of that the hope here is for a win.
Game Information
Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys: FOX, Oct. 5, 4:25 p.m.
Announcers: Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi
D.C. Radio: Bram Weinstein (play-by-play), London Fletcher (analyst), Logan Paulsen (analyst) BIG 100 WBIG-FM
