Greetings from San Diego which means Whale’s va.... Wait. The Chargers moved to LA so there goes the Anchorman joke.
Take 2.
Greetings from the StubHub Center in LA. Because, you know, StubHub is the official NFL ticket resale spot. It’s currently a delightful 70 degrees with it to be in the 80s by kickoff. Be jealous snowy East Coast.
Today’s match up features the Burgundy & Gold going up against the Bolts. The Bolts should just permanently wear their powder blue while the Skins should never ever wear their all burgundy again. It’s not that I don’t like the all burgundy look, it’s that they’ve never won while wearing it.
Meanwhile, 15 minutes down the road at the LA Coliseum you’ve got the Eagles at the Rams. And their kickoff is 20 minuets after the kickoff here. Who scheduled this? You’ve got the East Coast Skins & the West Coast Skins playing in the same city at the same town. Oh & I was hearing last night that the Rams/Eagles tickets were going for $200 as of last night. Plus the hotel & everywhere went last night in El Segundo seemed to be infested with imported iggle fans. Let’s hope our guy McVay puts the Eagles on the L train outta town.
On paper, both the Chargers & Redskins seem evenly matched. However, the Redskins have seen this before in KC & New Orleans along with the Rams & Seahawks. Hopefully this game is more Redskins/Rams/Seahawkish then the other two.
The Redskins will need to do several things to get the W today. First is to protect Cousins against a nasty pass rush. Second is the WRs need to catch every ball. These dropped passes from the last few weeks need to be eliminated. And thirdly they can’t get away from the run even if it’s not working at times. They’ll also need to keep their Defense off the field so they have time to actually dissect what Rivers is doing on Offense & make the proper adjustments.
The 2nd half started with Moses being downgraded to out with an ankle injury as the Skins Offense managed to make it to mid field before stalling out. Oh & Dak came back throwing garbage to start their 3 & out drive. Dallas would go on to feature Alfred Morris on their next drive. Evidently since Dak couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, they started to just hand it off. The Third Quarter ended just like the First one did. No one scored.
However the Fourth started with a Dak to Dez TD from their 15 yard line. This put the Skins down 24-7. With the recent Cousins comparisons to Brees, this was the time for him to turn it on & takeover the game. Cousins took the Offense 87 yards to the endzone on their next drive. This put them down 24-14. Dallas played ball/clock control on the following drive where the Skins Defense managed to get called for having12 men on the field. A few plays later & Dallas was in the end zone. Again. They went 75 yards & used up over 6 & a half minutes. Skin down 31-14 with 4:55 to go.
Down 17, the Redskins start to display a gripe I’ve had with them all season, no hurry up. Guys are taking their time getting to the line of scrimmage. Kirk ends up throwing the INT. And to add insult to injury they’re called for personal foul, half the distance to the goal. They punched it in to go up 38-14 which also ended Cousins night & gave the last few minutes to Colt McCoy to run the clock out.
The Redskins have now fallen to 5-7 & been swept by both the Eagles & the Cowboys this season.
Dallas drew first blood to start the 2nd Quarter on an 8 yard pass to Witten to go up 7-0. Moses got carted off. Kirk took a sack & fumbled it & Dallas recovered it at their 19 yard line. There was, and I quote “False start on the Offense. Everyone but the Center” called on Dallas that held them to a Field Goal. The Skins second drive opened with another sack on Cousins & ended with a punt. The Offense has now started to look absolutely clueless in finding ways to move the ball. Oh, & Dallas returned a punt to take a 17-0 lead while Prescott was in the locker room having his hand examined. Then there was the announcement that both Perine & Mo Harris were being checked for a concussion.
This is patchwork O Line just can’t stop the Dallas pass rush off the edge. Kirk ain’t had time to stand in the pocket to find that deep shot to Doctson we’ve started to get used to seeing. Inside the Two Minute Warning, Cousins managed to hit Ryan Grant in the end zone for the touchdown. Skins won the toss to start the game & they deferred so they’ll get the ball to start the 2nd half. They’re only down by 10 so if they can fix the pass protection during halftime, they should be able to dig out of this hole fairly easily.
Defense holds Dem Boiz to a 3-0. Skins take over at their 25. First play is a Cousins scramble for 1 followed by Perine for a run of 9. Skins at midfield. Kirk hits Davis over the middle for 6 in traffic. Finally get a glimpse of Marshall who is stopped short of the First down. Skins forced to punt.
Ugly start art so far but at least the Skins were able to move the ball a bit. Unlike Dallas where Sak Prescott can’t get anything going on their second drive. He’s actually Sacked on his third snap, for a loss of 9. About a yard or two shy of being a Safety. On the Skins 3rd down, Marshall converts and Dallas is called for roughing the passer which tracks on 15 yards. Kirk runs a keeper on First down for a loss of 1.im scratching my head on that play call. Kirk takes a shot at the endzone, ball is tipped instead of caught by the WR & picked off by Dallas. But hey, we can at least move the ball. The cowboys have yet to cross their own 20 yard line.
Note on Marshall so far- he’s got some speed for a poor mans Chris Thompson. That said, he also does that stutter step thing instead of just going full speed ahead.
Defense held them them to another 3 & out. Crowder on the punt return gets hit & fumbles it. Dallas recovers on the Skins side of the 50. Dallasstill cant do anything but go 3 & out. Again. After a holding call all on the punt return, Skins start at their own 1 yard line, get called again for a penalty, Perine can’t get a yard, Skins finally get to the 9 but cant convert. Way hits a 51 yard punt, ball at the Dallas 40. Sacky P finally converts their first 3rd down by taking off himself.
No score here at the end of the First Quarter.
Skins definately left left points on the field to start this game, while either the Defense is really good tonight in forcing all the 3 & outs or Dallas has just given up on their season.
It's been well documented all over the web this week that the Redskins Front Office does not want to be caught dead, much less alive, wearing the gold on gold Color Rush uniform. Last week through this past Tuesday, ESPN 980's & former Redskin Tight End, Chris Cooley had been saying the team would buck the system & wear their all white look for Prime Time in Dallas. On Wednesday, he changed his report to it being the burgundy on burgundy look at this time. Most likely because it was being reported that Dallas will be wearing their white on white look. At this time, nothing has been revealed as being the final look the Redskins will be wearing for Thursday Night Football.
Take a look at the three options for the team to wear, then vote in the poll above for the one you'd prefer to see them wear.
In the past, the white on white look is probably mostly associated with the Gibbs 2.0 era & the "5 In A Row" runs to make the Playoffs.
The burgundy on burgundy look while seeming like a good thing on paper, when the team finally debuted it, it was instantly associated with being awful. Mainly because I don't think they ever won a game wearing it & were embarrassed by the Steelers the first time they wore it.
The Color Rush gold on gold look so far has only been seen either in promo pictures from Nike or digital skins in EA's Madden.
Here's the play description from the NFL's Game Book:
The Ref claimed that Hosley's heels were on the line. However, from the field level in the end zone, I watched Hosley plant himself right in front of the Goal Line. Here are photos I took of that play. In this series of photos, whe you zoom in, you can see a thin line of green turf between the back of his heels & the Goal Line.
Greetings from the dome that's so Super it should wear a cape. Last time I was here, I was actually in the mist of a four day vacation, sitting in the Club Level in the End Zone watching a former #2 pick tease all of Redskins Nation with what could have been. I vividly remember sitting there a few minutes into the 3rd Quarter & you could hear a pin drop. There was a voice behind saying "I don't understand..." only to be answered by another voice saying "Why is this happening to us..." That was a Week 1 Opening Day game.
Today, however it's a completely different team on both sides of the ball. And it's Week 11. The Saints lost their first two games only to have ripped off a seven game win streak since then. Are they due for another loss & that streak to end? Maybe. Will the Redskins be the ones to do it? Well....Here's the Injury Report from Friday:
Three are already out, a fourth has joined the IR list, & 13 are Questionable. You have a backup Center ready to go. Trent Williams is still banged up with his knee issue & probably should have been put on IR a few weeks ago. Lauvao is had been limited all week with a stinger. Starting Center, Spencer Long is out with a knee. Pro Bowl Guard & former first round pick, Brandon Scherff has been limited all week with a knee issue that's been going on the last few weeks. Right Tackle Morgan Moses is the only starting OL that's actually been a full go at practice this week. That said, this team also went into Seattle with a patchwork OL, fought like hell & pulled off an upset.
Can they do it again this week? We’ll find out in a few hours.
