It was a win. Ugly, no doubt, but a win. With all the talk this past week, I had no expectations. I figured this one could go either way. If it wasn't for the Redskins making more penalties than us, it very well could have gone the other way. It almost looked like a preseason game because of the yellow flags.
On offense, I think the line played much better, except for the penalties, of course. Bledsoe had much more time. And Bledsoe, with time, can be very effective. Because of the line playing better, the running game looked much better. Jones, Barber and Thompson all contributed. It sucks when good runs are called back because of penalties, though. TO was there, made a few good plays, but I think he was more effective at freeing up the other receivers than by what he actually did himself. There was a lot of dropped balls. Too many. Timing looked to be off somewhat, but not nearly like it did against Jacksonville. It sucks about TO's hand, but the bye week will help, and there's other talent on the team, so they'll survive it.
I think the quarterback controversy folks will quieten down some. Bledsoe drove the bus, for the most part. I do think Parcells should have put Romo in on that last drive of the Cowboys, just to get the boy some real NFL experience. With a 17 point lead in the last few minutes, they could have even turned him loose a little just to see how he handled it.
On defense, it was a much more cohesive team on the field. The guys worked well together. The pressure they kept on Brunell all night definitely made a difference. The defensive line set up light housekeeping in the Redskin's backfield and stayed there most of the night. Ware and Ellis strutted their stuff quite well, I think. Again, too many penalties and some of them plain stupid ones. Late hits, etc. simply shouldn't happen like they did last night. Roy Williams is just a stud. On the field he doesn't look like he's that big, but he plays like a very mobile brick wall. When opposing players meet up with him, they just stop. He hits them and whatever momentum they had going forward simply vanishes. There are very few yards gained after contact with Roy Williams. Great play on the interception from Roy, too. Santana Moss was held to basically nothing until that last Redskins drive when the Cowboys were just in a prevent type defense.
Special teams was a mixed bag. The kicking game, which was the hot topic this past week, was on the money last night. Field goals were made, extra point attempts were made, punts were good ones. Just a good performance. Return game wasn't bad. It wouldn't have taken much for a really big return to occur. One did, unfortunately it wasn't ours. The coverage game could have been better. That touchdown play for the Redskins shouldn't have happened. It almost looked like the Cowboys froze long enough to let Rock get loose. Obviously someone was not in position to make the play.
I thought the coaching and play calling was much better than last week. Obviously there needs to be some discussion about the penalties. And the dropped passes. And I'm sure there will be.
All in all, I think last night's game was a team effort. Obviously the win outweighs the penalties and dropped passes and missed blocks.
The Giants looked very good yesterday, overall. For that matter, so did Philly until the 4th quarter. The Cowboys will have to be an improved team to beat either of those two. The winner of the NFC East is going to earn it this year. It is not going to be a cakewalk. I don't believe the Cowboys could have beaten either of those teams yesterday, if they had as many dropped passes or penalties as they did in last night's game.
If the Cowboys improve as much by the next game as they did between the last two, and continue to improve thereafter, we should be in excellent shape to make a serious run at the big enchilada. I can't wait!
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