On Nov. 20, the Dallas Cowboys take on the Washington Redskins, a team slumping horribly right now. The Redskins are 3-6 and have lost five games in a row. The losses included teams like Buffalo and San Francisco, both of whom Dallas beat. To add insult to injury, Dallas blew out Buffalo by 37 points while the Bills shutout the Redskins.
Rex Grossman is back at quarterback for Washington, taking over for an ineffective John Beck. Unfortunately for Washington, Grossman is not much better. Head coach Mike Shanahan benched Grossman in Week 7, after a four interception performance against Philadelphia. The problem with the choice is that the Redskins were 3-2 at the time. Beck led the team to three straight losses and then Grossman was plugged back in, after having his confidence shattered by the original demotion and did little better.
Now Shanahan said the decision on who starts will be a week-to-week basis and his handling of the team has become a joke. When the Redskins played Dallas in Week 3, Grossman was the starter and threw for 250 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Dallas won the game 18-16. With neither quarterback shown confidence by their coach, don't expect either to play well the remainder of the season.
That means that the Redskins will have to rely on their running game and one player in the Redskins backfield has a point to prove. Tashard Choice, who Dallas cut when DeMarco Murray became a star, is now a Redskins player, but at this time, is a third stringer. In the last two Redskins games, Helu had 16 carries for 82 yards while Ryan Torain had 11 carries for 22 yards. Expect Choice to add into the mix this week.
The defense has to stop DeMarco Murray and Felix Jones, which will be hard as the 18th ranked defense in the league, giving up 120.4 yards a game on the ground. Miami ran for a total of 103 yards with Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas splitting the carries last week. The week before, Frank Gore ran for 107 yards. Both Murray and Jones should have a good game against this defense.
Now, Washington can keep up, simply because this is Dallas. The Redskins and Cowboys always turn things up when they play each other. If they can force Tony Romo into turnovers, they have a chance. The difference is that Romo's ribs are healed and he is coming off the best game of his career. Washington is scary but this game should not be too tough for the Cowboys.
Author Shawn S. Lealos has followed the Dallas Cowboys since he was a child, his favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s. Through the great years of the '90s and the hard times of the '80s, Shawn never turned his back on America's Team.
Source: Dallas Cowboys Website
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