Monday Night Preview: Skins vs. Cowboys

Sep 25, 2011

Let’s dispense with supposed journalistic integrity and analyze this week’s Monday Night Matchup like two fans might: the pessimistic Redskins fan, and the optimistic Redskins fan. Since Joe Gibbs retired the first time before the 1993 season, and especially since Dan Snyder bought the team and started firing long-time secretarial staff, Redskins fans have been burned enough times to become a very weird bunch: experienced, good football fans who want to believe but are scared to do so lest they be set on fire…again.

Week 3′s Monday Night match-up features the Washington Redskins, 2-0 and coming off a quality week 1 win over their division rival New York Giants and an ugly, uninspiring, here-we-go-again victory over the seemingly hapless Arizona Cardinals facing the Dallas Cowboys who are 1-1 after a sloppy, giveaway defeat against the New York Jets and a gritty come-from-behind victory against the 49ers. In a lot of ways, these teams have two major themes in common: injuries, and which team is the real team?

Three Things a Pessmistic Skins Fan might be worried about:

Rex Grossman is still your quarterback: There is going to be a red-zone interception, a sack-fumble from Ware is basically a certainty, and the Cowboys are going to come right up the middle after watching Rex throw balls at the heads of defensive linemen for 4 quarters last week.
Last week was ugly, typically ugly, Redskins football: Inferior team, awful turnovers, a missed (blocked) field goal, and the usual playing down to an opponent. Sure, they won, but they looked bad in doing it.
Tony Romo is going to play, and his awful backup Jon Kitna destroyed your defense for 30 points in Dallas just last year: So far the Skins defense has been much-improved, but that comes to a quick end as Tony Romo and Dez Bryant smack the Redskins weakened secondary in the mouth several times before grinding out the clock with a surprisingly effective run game.

Three Things an Optimistic Skins Fan believes in:

The Cowboys defense has not looked great, and their front 7 in particular could be vulnerable to a solid running game. Perhaps the Redskins can pound the ball at the Cowboys with the same type of success they had against the Cardinals…or better.
Yes, Romo and Bryant are banged up — but perhaps more importantly, Miles Austin is out for sure. The Redskins defense has clearly improved over last year and has flashed glimpses of being game-changing. Can they shut down the Cowboys, down one weapon and a little banged up?
The Cowboys offensive line could be vulnerable to a strong front seven. Do the additions along the line, and in the line-backing corps, have a chance to dominate and make life rough for Romo?

Prediction: Really, who knows with these two teams at this point. If Sunday’s action shows us anything (Bills, Lions, Eagles, etc) it’s that we’re still figuring teams out and they’re still figuring themselves out. The Redskins will win battles along both fronts, their offensive line won’t dominate but will open creases and protect well enough to prevent game-changing plays, and their defensive front seven will shut down the run and create pressure without a lot of help from the secondary. The Redskins fall behind early, but eventually assert themselves and put things away late. Redskins 24, Cowboys 16