3rd and 21.. clearly the play of the game.. Fault Haslett?

[SirClintonPortis]

People, have you folks forgotten that had Ogletree ran a good route, we would have been burnt on a similar play EARLIER IN THE SAME GAME. Luckily Romo sits to pee threw a pick, but there is no reason to tempt fate TWICE, especially WITH A LEAD.

[Snarf]

that blocked fg that rocca messed up was huge

[Botched]

The second time we handed the ball to Cooley on 3rd and short may have been the worst call of the game. Right before the snap I was thinking there was no way Shanny was dumb enough to do that again. It was a good call the first time because nobody on Earth could have guessed that we might give our 8-year veteran tight end his first carry ever.

[PCS]

Yep...everyone did just enough to lose the game.

Hell, I have spent the last 15 minutes thinking about the 3rd and 21 play and convincing myself that it's not all that ridiculous a call. Every single time we blitzed them, they either threw an incomplete pass or completed a very short pass for virtually no gain. In fact, Dez Bryant spent the first couple seconds hanging around the LOS waiting for the hot pass from Romo sits to pee on that play.

Where this thing broke down was that not one of the 7 or 8 guys blitzing beat their guy. Max protect or not, that means that every one of our front 7 was in a one-on-one situation with either an OL, TE, or RB and no one broke free. It's fine, it happens. But the aggressive play-calling is what put Dallas in that long-yardage situation to begin with. It's hard to fault a coordinator for going with what was working. If Cofield or Bowen or Rocky or Kerrigan or Orakpo or Carriker or whoever else had made a play, deflected the pass, sacked Romo sits to pee, forced a quick throw...then everyone is PRAISING this defensive unit and coordinator for allowing 15 points on the road against the Dallas Cowboys. It just didn't happen...Dallas executed the play well and stepped up. We didn't.

You could look at any number of plays/players and we equally lost this game.

Agreed. Add to that that up until that play,Dez had a grand total of 3 catches. Not one of them deep and almost all of the yard he had were yac,(nearly 20 yards on just one). Part of that was he was hurt. Part of that was good coverage. DHall isn't always the best man on man guy,(well,not if you ask him),but on a play like that,he's not being asked to do it long and again,doing so against a guy who's clearly not 100%. Credit Dallas for picking up the blitz,(or the defensive players screwing up),and DHall losing his guy for that split sec. I'm just playing devils advocate for the most part. I would have left one more guy back.

[NoVaSkins21]

The second time we handed the ball to Cooley on 3rd and short may have been the worst call of the game. Right before the snap I was thinking there was no way Shanny was dumb enough to do that again. It was a good call the first time because nobody on Earth could have guessed that we might give our 8-year veteran tight end his first carry ever.

Yeah, that was AWFUL! Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice shame on you. :doh: Barring the defensive call in question, this was a game the Skins could have won if they stick to the fundamentals by the running the ball and taking time off the clock. Instead, Shanahan (Kyle) puts the ball in Grossman's hands and decides to be aggressive. This game was there for the taking, but they let it slip away. Hopefully it's a lesson learned for all and they will better for it as the season goes on.

[TMK9973]

Its not a bad call actually....

You have a center who has been messing up the snap all day, You have a injured QB who shouldn't be very mobile and scared of getting hit, you have a team that in theory needs time to pass the ball 20+ yards.

If you lay back you risk Tony Romo sits to pee having time in the pocket until someone gets free and giving him a chance to set up and throw. Then every one on here is screaming about how we had no pressure on him.

He made a great play. They do pay those guys as well....

To be honest -I'm more upset about the Facemask. I think they need to bring back the 5 yard facemask call. Cause 15 yards on a glance of the facemask is crazy.

[SkinzHog]

probably not the best decision, in hindsight. Realistically though the game was lost with the inabilty to run the ball. This is an area that needs to step it up or we will have many games like this.

[Year_of_The_Monk]

3rd and 21, here is what you do.. You play good solid D; you give up the underneath routes and protect deep. We would have made the tackle and its 4th and do it again. DAMN

[darrell1106]

I get this thought. I am tempted to feel this way too. To an extent that is fair. But, they in traditional skins fashion, let the big back breaking play up at the critical moment. 3rd and 21 was certainly one of them. They also played incredible inside the redzone and they can get kudos for that etc. But they gave up huge runs to a team that cannot run against anyone else because they overpursued and dallas saw them and beat them. Our defense is going to see cutbacks like that the rest of the season. They better get that fixed or steven jackson will have a field day against us. Hall is officially a liability in coverage at this point as well.

We played good defense. We just couldn't get the job done when we most needed it. Championship defense's get that done.

We aren't a championship defense like a 3-4 team usually is. We are still missing that anchor in the middle and a solid inside LB core. Let's assume Jenkins is healthy next year, then we are only 1-2 solid inside LBs away. Fletch is awesome but we have to plan for the future.

With that said, they did a great job holding the pukes to 6 FGs. We HAVE to score TDs or we do not belong in this league. The 'W' goes to the team that scores the most points.

---------- Post added September-27th-2011 at 10:56 AM ----------

I think it's faint praise though to give a team credit for allowing 6 FGs. They did allow a team to keep getting into scoring territory that many times. Six FGs is a lot of scoring chances, and none of those kicks were all that difficult. God forbid they'd been at full strength, they'd have punched it in a few times and it'd have been 30-10 or some such thing. How about the D make them punt a few more times? Three punts all game. They had the one TO deep in Redskins territory, but otherwise, the Cowboys other 5 scoring drives were lengthy.

All that said, this thing about it's either the O or the D is nonsense. They're both to blame. And special teams too for that matter with the block and no decent returns. Total team loss.

Agree. You need all the phases to do their job but rarely do we see that for any team. Think about all the 3 and outs that offense had. Left the D out there waaayyy too long in some instances. Dallas lead in TOP by 3 minutes. Not huge but it I can't ask a D to do much more then that. When you have to nit pick at a few long runs and a 5'8" guy get out jumped by a 6'2"? guy then that lends me to believe the other 2 phases didn't step up. Bothed FG, penalties in red zone. I think we all saw this in pre-season and everyone chalked it up to "pre-season". Where here we go.

[C.Cooley47]

No. I don't blame Haslett. Sure it's easy to look back on a play that doesn't work out and say it was a bad call. but what if London Fletcher sacks Romo sits to pee on that play? Everyone would be saying what a call. that was the right thing to do. personally i would of only rushed 6. but there is a reason hes the coordinator. it came down to deangelo hall on dez bryant. a match up we had dominated all game. only 3 catches before that. and Deangelo Hall had to make a play and he didn't I don't blame anyone. I give Romo sits to pee credit for rolling out and making a nice throw where bryant could get it. What about Roccas botched snap? What about grossmans pick? that one call did not cost us the game. If I said one thing cost us the game it would be redzone offense. we have to score when we get that close, if we score touchdowns this game is not even close. But lets not hang our heads. we have to plan hard for the Rams and bounce back like good teams do.

Hail!

[Skinsfanatic_1]

, the offense lost the game not the defense.

Cosigned

[Bang]

that blocked fg that rocca messed up was huge

No way,,, you mean the points that would have won the game?

Man, someobody ought to tell people around here.

~Bang

[Idaho fan]

I didn't like the call but it is what it is... plenty of blame to go around to everyone in my opinion. I still can't believe with all the problems they had at receiver and at center that they were able to beat us. Had that botched FG made it through the uprights who knows... if... if... if.... Skins can't win every game... can't dominate every play.. this is the NFL.... things aren't going to go our way every time. Time to suck it up and move on. Hopefully they learn from this and improve. I think we will know how far this team has truly come (or not) by watching them against the Lambs. They have to go into the bye with a record of 3-1 if they want to contend this year I think.

[Tin Man]

Ok so it's 3rd and 21. Jim Haslett calls an all out blitz. The third such call in a row.

If we played man with 2 deep safeties the Redskins win this game. Unbelievable.

So. Was it the worst defensive call you've ever seen?

Maybe it's the heat of the moment and I'm overreacting but wow. That was just an incredibly idiotic call IMHO.

You're not overreacting, you're telling the truth. NO ONE runs the exact same play three times in the row in the pros. Everyone's a professional and to be that arrogant as to actually believe that your opponent will not make an adjustment is unacceptable. I wouldn't even have played Revis against Dez Bryant one on one with all of that empty field and 3rd and 21! That's !@#$* ridiculous.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

People, have you folks forgotten that had Ogletree ran a good route, we would have been burnt on a similar play EARLIER IN THE SAME GAME. Luckily Romo sits to pee threw a pick, but there is no reason to tempt fate TWICE, especially WITH A LEAD.

Not really...Barnes was right with him until he saw the ball and cut over to catch it. I thought the same thing as you did until they showed the replay.

[brasi]

1. Regardless of the call, Hall was burnt.

2. That was two-down territory, btw. If they didn't convert, t would have been 4th and 21 (or less) and we'd would have had to stop them again. To me the blitz makes sense in that case.

3. We should have been up by at least 4 at that point.

4. We also had a good shot at scoring after this play. The false start was horrible in that situation. We overcame it but had it not happened the Skins would have had better flow on the drive. Lastly, Rex fumbled because he had to run for his goddamn life. Our O-line needs an upgrade.

We win as a team we lose as a team. This game displayed weaknesses and exposed some of our faults. But we're not horrific.

We're 2-1 with an honest shot at 3-1. Relax.

[Skinz4Life12]

^i disagree. If its 4th and 21 on their own 30 I doubt they go for it with 2 timeouts and the two minute warning.

[HailToTheRedskins14]

yep, i agree... Romo sits to pee on his heels, throws a prayer, and bryant happens to make a play.. sometimes, nothing you can do. But i feel that we're in the minority that believes haslett actually made a decent playcall

I'm okay with it.

Sucks to lose that one but we're still not the Redskins of 2 years ago. And we're a good team.

1-1 in the NFC East, still got Dallas at home. I still think we can make a run at the division.

[Luvskins59]

I said it before as long as Haslett is run'in that defense we can not and will not be playoff contenders - he should been gone last season

If that's true, we are in deep trouble. I thought the defense played a very good game, with the exception of a few plays. The offense, on the other hand, was just ineffective. There were times I had no idea who Rex was throwing to. I think we got away from the running game too soon. Our FG unit is so iffy.....gah! If the offense would have just picked things up 50%, that game would have been ours.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

^i disagree. If its 4th and 21 on their own 30 I doubt they go for it with 2 timeouts and the two minute warning.

That's where this situation branches off into a couple different possibilities. It's actually pretty fascinating (when you're a football dork like me).

If we blitz and force an incompletion or short gain setting up 4th and 15+, the Cowboys probably punt the ball away from inside their own 35. From that point forward, we have the ball and the lead and a first down pretty much wins the game for us.

If we drop into coverage and Romo sits to pee completes a 10+ yard pass setting up a 4th and 10 or less, the Cowboys probably go for it from outside their own 40. Not that 4th and 10 is a given, but it's more manageable for sure and they have a realistic chance to convert that.

It would have been interesting to see how the game would have gone at that point. If we don't blitz, odds are we are sitting at the Cowboy 40 defending 4th and 10 (assuming they execute and hit Witten or a RB for a decent chunk of yardage). would Haslett send the house there? Drop in coverage?

[Enter Apotheosis]

Like I said, Bryant is a nightmare match-up for D.Hall. He should have not been left on an island at that point in the game. You had to play the odds on that play. I know a blitz should have work but if you send eight and they shut it down that means you have your corners, who aren't that good in coverage, very vulnerable.

To this very day some people still believe that Hall could have changed the outcome of that Andre Johnson play last year. :no:

Agreed. Add to that that up until that play,Dez had a grand total of 3 catches. Not one of them deep and almost all of the yard he had were yac,(nearly 20 yards on just one). Part of that was he was hurt. Part of that was good coverage. DHall isn't always the best man on man guy,(well,not if you ask him),but on a play like that,he's not being asked to do it long and again,doing so against a guy who's clearly not 100%. Credit Dallas for picking up the blitz,(or the defensive players screwing up),and DHall losing his guy for that split sec. I'm just playing devils advocate for the most part. I would have left one more guy back.

Part of it is that Dez is not a good route runner. Garrett calls a lot of those short plays because it's the most reliable way to get the ball in the hands of a tough, physical receiver who is unreliable in other situations.

[PigSkinRodeo]

Your so full of b/s if you really think it's hasletts fault or the D. Wake up and open your eyes there smart ones. How many times were we in the red zone and stalled. Again our defense most of the game played lights out. If you want to play someone blame the Offence tonight. They didn't do a damn thing to complement the Great D they had backing them up.. Are O needs to start punching it in.. O yeah okay guess what that Bunched FG hold didn't help out either other then that no big deal plenty of games to be played this year and so far We know where we as a D Stand. We need to fine tune the O. And we'll be fine. I know alot of people wanted this Win so did I. But hey it is what it is.. Let go play the rams let out our frustration and go for 3-1..

We have a hungry team..The skins are not the team they were a couple years ago.. There going to fight and puch back trust me..

Hail.

[paloosa]

It was a risky call and it didn't work because it's the Redskins. Third and 21 and we can't even get to Romo sits to pee or even get close? Come on! This team might look and appear different but it smells the same as before. When is this team or any team of the future going to find a way to beat the Cowboys more than 2 out of 10 times? I can't remember the last time we swept the season series with them but it seems to happen to us a lot. Not even the year we had the miracle comeback when Brunell threw two TD's in the 4th quarter to win 14-13. For a line that was in dissary the cowboys played well enough to beat a healthy Redskins team. I guess it was meant to be especially when Romo sits to pee had that many bad snaps and we benefit "ZERO" times from it. We should have had at least 2 or 3 of those. Here is how much luck was on their side. Bad snap to Romo sits to pee he runs back 20 yards and throws a completion to a WR on the sidelines . Bad snap that hit him in the belly, Romo sits to pee picks it up and completes it to Witten for a 5 yard gain. Bad snap that goes 20 yards behind him again and he throws it away. Romo sits to pee gets sacked and loses the ball. He falls on it and Redkins player helps him recover the ball. Yes, the defense played very good and kept us in the game but you have to capitalize on those miscues and they didn't. So while they kept the Cowboys from scoring TD's they also gave up 2 or 3 big runs by Felix Jones that change the momenum of the game. Also the play calling of Kyle Shanahan was very questionable. He started to run the ball without much success later in the game because the Cowboys didn't respect the run. It almost seemed like Jim Zorn, Joe Gibbs 2.0, and Al Saunders was back on the sidelines calling the game. Different OC same results.

[JCamp4QB]

u gotta love the finger pointing after a close one like this. 3rd and long, opponent deep in thier own territory, YOU SEND THE HOUSE EVERY TIME!!!!

That was a lucky, one in a thousand, prayer that just happened to go their way, not a reason to change your philosophy on D.

Hass' calls kept them out of the endzone all game.

HAIL

[clarkskin]

I like the aggressive call. All you guys blasting Haslett would have been the first to stand up and scream had they converted because he decided to back off and play safe. It was an aggressive call and the Cowboys made a play. **** happens. No game comes down to one play anyway, we had plenty of other blown opportunities.