AP: Cowboys regret all sorts of mistakes vs. Redskins

[tr1]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3a5ngDtSQBiu1rQrJ69BZ7ikPYQD9I7B9GO4

By JAIME ARON (AP) – 1 hour ago

IRVING, Texas — Roy Williams went to his seat on the team plane for the flight home from Washington and there was his assigned traveling companion, Alex Barron.

Imagine that: The guy who appeared to have caught the game-winning touchdown for the Dallas Cowboys was forced to spend the next three hours next to the guy whose holding penalty wiped away the points, sealing a 13-7 loss to the Redskins in the season opener.

Williams didn't say a word.

He just reached out a hand and bumped fists with Barron, acknowledging no hard feelings.

"That silent dap said it all," Williams said at team headquarters Monday. "He said he was sorry for blowing the TD. I said, 'Don't worry about it.'

"I mean, it happens," Williams continued. "You don't want it to happen in that situation. You'd rather it happen in the first quarter or the second quarter; the last play of the game, it's tough."

The Cowboys went out of their way during and after the game to support all their teammates who made costly mistakes. It's a long list considering there were 11 penalties before the final zinger, a missed 34-yard field goal by the new place-kicker and an unthinkable, game-changing turnover on the final play of the first half.

Dallas was down just 3-0 and 64 yards from the end zone when Tony Romo sits to pee scrambled to throw a Hail Mary, then decided to flick the ball to Tashard Choice. The third-year running back fumbled for the first time in his career and Washington's DeAngelo Hall returned it for what would be the Redskins' only touchdown of the game.

While Romo sits to pee and Choice are culpable in their own ways, offensive coordinator Jason Garrett started it by deciding to do more than simply take a knee with 4 seconds left and coach Wade Phillips blamed himself for not overruling Garrett.

Phillips didn't want to get into the play-call for the infamous final play of the game — as in, why there wasn't another blocker to help fill-in starter Barron since he'd been having trouble slowing Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Orakpo all game and already had been penalized twice for holding.

The plays at the end of each half has ignited discussion about the club's chain of command. And that conversations always includes the reminder that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hired Garrett days before he hired Phillips, and that Garrett makes about $3 million per season.

"I have the right to do anything I want to do," Phillips said. "Sometimes I do (overrule Garrett), sometimes I don't. The situation before the half, I should have."

Why didn't he?

Partly because he was talking to other defensive coaches about how stupid (Phillips' word) the Redskins were for declining a penalty on the previous play. They ended up accepting it and Garrett stuck with the Hail Mary call he'd sent in when it looked like Dallas was going to be on its 46, not the 36.

Phillips is also the defensive coordinator and he acknowledged that he usually handles his side of the ball and lets Garrett handle his. But he also said it was that way with offensive coordinators he's had at other stops, and that it makes no difference that he hired those guys.

"I'm not going to go into our relationship and what we say and don't say," Phillips said. "We work together. He works for me. And I think Jason works at what he does and tries to get the right plays and the right people. And we did that some of the time. He's as frustrated as I am."

Garrett should be frustrated.

His unit gained 380 yards, yet scored only one touchdown. That lone scoring drive covered 34 yards. Dallas cracked Washington's 40-yard line on three of its first four drives and didn't get any points out of it.

Penalties were an issue, but there also was curious play-calling — such as having Marion Barber try the first halfback pass of his career after six straight completions by Romo sits to pee had put the Cowboys on the Redskins 12-yard line. This is a recurrence of a theme, too; Dallas set a franchise record for yards last season, but scored fewer points than the previous year, when it missed the playoffs.

Phillips' defense, meanwhile, had to swallow losing a game in which it allowed just two field goals.

Defensive end Marcus Spears said this loss was more painful because he felt the Cowboys outplayed the Redskins, but that fact also makes him optimistic for the rest of the season. After all, he stressed, there are 15 games left.

"We're not going to kill the horse just yet," he said. "We may be limping a little bit, but you can still come out of the gate and play well."

There was some good news for Dallas on Monday.

Right tackle Marc Colombo and left guard Kyle Kosier are recovered enough from knee injuries that they're expected to practice Wednesday, and they could play the home opener Sunday against Chicago. Colombo's return would send Barron back to the bench.

Also, star linebacker DeMarcus Ware was fine after injuring his neck on Washington's final drive. He left and did not return.

[tr1]

Arrogant ****ing franchise.

These ****s will never win anything.

And, I just love Wade taking a shot at how the coaching decisions are made.

This is going to be a long, long season for puke fans.

And, I'm going to enjoy every single minute of it.

[jnhay]

We lead the entire game, right? It's funny how their penalties are just looked at as them shooting themselves in the foot. Isn't it possible that the Redskins had a lot to do with them?

[zCommander]

Wait did Wade just call Mike stupid?? :doh: How many stupid rings does Mike have? But apparently it was Wade who was stupid on that play before the half. How stupid is he?

[Johns Bass]

Most of the holding calls were on guys stopping the 'Skins from sacking Romo sits to pee. They were just saving him so he could live to lose another day.

[MrSilverMaC]

I find it curious that a team gets penalized as much as dallas did last night, and yet they somehow gave the game away despite the fact the only time they managed to score was on a Redskins miscue.

If the Browns lose but are penalized 12 times no one says they gave the game away. If the raiders turn the ball over more than the team they are playing, no one claims that Oakland was the better team except for a turnover or two. They lost because they weren't good and the other team was better and deserved it. But I watched show after show from last night to today repeat the same thing about the Skins-dallas game. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game they trailed the entire time. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game that they couldn't manage to score in except after a shanked punt. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game in which they lost the turnover battle. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game in which they were penalized 12 times.

Washington's defense didn't manage to force a turnover and capitalize off of it, it was simply a dallas error.

Washington's defense didn't manage to stop dallas on 7 of 12 3rd down attempts, dallas simply didn't execute.

Washington's defense didn't hold the mighty and majestic dallas offense to a solitary score, garret just didn't call the right plays.

It wasn't that Orakpo had been getting held by linemen multiple times throughout the entire game and that without that hold the game may have ended with a sack. It was just a mistake one guy made that happened to be the last play of the game. Never mind that he had been penalized twice earlier in the game for the exact same thing against the same Orakpo. Couldn't have been that the Washington coaches saw that barron was far over-matched against Orakpo and figured it was a good match-up for the Skins in an obvious passing situation.

It was none of those things for the Skins. Dallas just managed to give the game away. And to top it all off, we get to read that phillips was on the sidelines so busy laughing at how stupid the Skin's coaches were he didn't have time to tell his O coordinator they should take a knee to end the half.

Incredible.

I am a Skins fan and am used to the media dogging the Skins. I myself was not pounding my chest after a victory that the Skins made a lot harder on themselves than it needed to be. But the media reaction to this win is pretty sickening to me. Forgive my mini rant but **** dallas and the media, they are both bull****.

[SkinsGuy]

Wait did Wade just call Mike stupid?? :doh: How many stupid rings does Mike have? But apparently it was Wade who was stupid on that play before the half. How stupid is he?

The Cowboys just reek of arrogance. That halfback pass is an example of it. Trying to get too cute in a close game.

Then the Cowboys were so busy sneering at what the Redskins were doing, that Phillips doesn't even know what his own coaches were doing.

Oh yeah, a Super Bowl team.

[Tweedr01]

They are so organized! I hope Shanahan uses those quotes from Tubby to fuel the fire, stupid Skins huh?

[tr1]

I find it curious that a team gets penalized as much as dallas did last night, and yet they somehow gave the game away despite the fact the only time they managed to score was on a Redskins miscue.

If the Browns lose but are penalized 12 times no one says they gave the game away. If the raiders turn the ball over more than the team they are playing, no one claims that Oakland was the better team except for a turnover or two. They lost because they weren't good and the other team was better and deserved it. But I watched show after show from last night to today repeat the same thing about the Skins-dallas game. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game they trailed the entire time. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game that they couldn't manage to score in except after a shanked punt. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game in which they lost the turnover battle. Somehow dallas deserved to win a game in which they were penalized 12 times.

Washington's defense didn't manage to force a turnover and capitalize off of it, it was simply a dallas error.

Washington's defense didn't manage to stop dallas on 7 of 12 3rd down attempts, dallas simply didn't execute.

Washington's defense didn't hold the mighty and majestic dallas offense to a solitary score, garret just didn't call the right plays.

It wasn't that Orakpo had been getting held by linemen multiple times throughout the entire game and that without that hold the game may have ended with a sack. It was just a mistake one guy made that happened to be the last play of the game. Never mind that he had been penalized twice earlier in the game for the exact same thing against the same Orakpo. Couldn't have been that the Washington coaches saw that barron was far over-matched against Orakpo and figured it was a good match-up for the Skins in an obvious passing situation.

It was none of those things for the Skins. Dallas just managed to give the game away. And to top it all off, we get to read that phillips was on the sidelines so busy laughing at how stupid the Skin's coaches were he didn't have time to tell his O coordinator they should take a knee to end the half.

Incredible.

I am a Skins fan and am used to the media dogging the Skins. I myself was not pounding my chest after a victory that the Skins made a lot harder on themselves than it needed to be. But the media reaction to this win is pretty sickening to me. Forgive my mini rant but **** dallas and the media, they are both bull****.

I had to quote your entire post, because it's just excellent.

Somehow, because a crummy tackle who was basically given away by the Rams, because this crummy player puts a star on his helmet, his status is somehow elevated.

This is the hype of pukeville. Frankly, I didn't think their defense was that good. I'd say our running game stunk because of the guy carrying the ball...and a lead blocker who has gone down hill since his big contract extension.

And, McNabb was getting a lot of time to pass the ball, but our receivers continue to have the dropsies.

Our problems can be fixed...the pukes can't because of those long term, ultra-expensive contracts.

The media slant towards the pukes about this game is another face-saving move by those outlets...after all, after picking the pukes to go to the SB, how could there be a superior effort by a team out there to quash the myth?

[HapHaszard]

I had to quote your entire post, because it's just excellent.

royallypwned looks very good in that hat TR1, sort of enhances his frown.

[tr1]

royallypwned looks very good in that hat TR1, sort of enhances his frown.

He's a good guy...I'll change my sig later this week.

He does look good in that hat, though.

:rotflmao: