The Takeaways: Week 2 Edition, Cowboys at Redskins

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September 17, 2019

by Steve Thomas

Pregame introductions at Fed Ex Field during week 2 against Dallas.
Photo credit: Rick Rogers

What. A. Disappointment.  Not unexpected, mind you, but nonetheless far from what we hoped.  The odds were that the Redskins weren’t going to win this game, as evidenced by our game predictions on The Hog Sty game preview show, but we all certainly held out a sliver of hope that maybe Washington could have done enough right, and had enough pride to put out a maximum effort, to pull out a win.  That definitely was not the case, as the Redskins turned in an all-around poor effort and were never really in this game, or even had much hope, with the exception of early in the first quarter.  At least on television from my couch, it seemed more like a Dallas home game than a Redskins home game, and I honestly don’t blame the fans one bit.  At some point these Takeaways columns are going to be more positive, but not this week.  I have to call ‘em like I see ‘em, folks, and all is not well in either Ashburn, Virginia, or Raljon, Maryland.  These are your Takeaways for this week.

The running game stinks

The 2019 Redskins were supposed to be a running team.  They are not.  In two weeks, the Redskins have now rushed for all of 75 yards on 30 carries, for an average of 2.5 yards per carry.  Adrian Peterson ran hard but was mostly unable to get anything going in the face of a very poor effort by Washington’s offensive line, and to add injury to insult, one of his better carries was erased by one of three offensive holding penalties on the day.  Here’s one truism as I see it: if the Redskins offensive line can’t figure out how to get it together and open some rushing lanes, the dire 3 – 4 win predictions the national media threw on this franchise are going to come true.  Peterson mostly had nowhere to run and was hit in the backfield on multiple occasions, although he did get his 107th rushing touchdown of his career to pass hall of famer Jim Brown for 5th place all time, so a hearty Hog Sty congratulations to Adrian for that fantastic accomplishment.

The defensive front seven is a massive disappointment

The Redskins’ defensive front seven, and the defensive line in particular, severely underperformed expectations.  They were manhandled for the second week in a row.  This week, this group lasted about a quarter and a half or so before throwing in the towel and letting Dallas control the game and move the ball at will, as compared to the two quarter effort it put in last week.  The defensive line was mostly unable to put significant pressure on Dak Prescott, and as the game wore on, did not even provide meaningful resistance to the Dallas rushing attack.  The Cowboys posted 108 yards rushing in the second half.  I refuse to place all of the blame for such a terrible start to this season for this group solely on the loss of Jonathan Allen.  Yes, Allen is without a doubt the best player and the defensive leader, but he’s only one man, and his absence shouldn’t take what was supposed to be the strength of the team and turn it into a total bust.  In the linebacker crops, it’s abundantly clear that the combination of Jonathan Bostic and Shaun Dion Hamilton is not a plus duo. Generally speaking, they seem to be average at best.  The Redskins need massive improvements to the front seven immediately, or the season is going to be over much earlier than normal.

The secondary had coverage busts, again

The defensive backfield has already given up three long touchdown passes, and it’s only week two.  It happened again this week when Cowboys received Devin Smith beat starter Josh Norman on a post route for a 51 yard score. Norman was definitely at fault, but he was also supposed to have help, as stated to The Hog Sty and The Athletic’s Mark Bullock by former Redskins Will Blackmon:

I’m not apologizing for Norman. He also had another bust in this game that would’ve been a touchdown that Prescott just missed.  But it’s not just him; like the front seven, this group also was unable to stop Dallas in the second half and allowed them to move the ball mostly at will from about halfway through the second quarter through the end of the game.  With both Quinton Dunbar and Fabian Moreau out, Washington was forced to go with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Jimmy Moreland, and while Moreland in particular had his moments, at the end of the day it just didn’t work.  Giving up multiple long touchdown passes in just two weeks is not something good teams do.  The defense as a whole has been mostly terrible so far, and it’s a massive problem overall.

Case Keenum is who we thought he was

It’s not that Keenum is awful.  He’s not.  He’s been pretty good, markedly better than some of his defensive brethren, quite honesty, but Keenum is a guy who needs everything to go right in order to succeed, and it didn’t in this game.  He completed 70% of his passes against Dallas and generally did has job, although he did get away with a dropped interception which looked for all the world like a sure pick 6, held the ball too long, and missed some reads, including a wide open sure touchdown to Paul Richardson.  More importantly, he also did little to pick the team up in the face of a floundering running game.  Keenum is fine, and he’s probably going to be fine throughout the season, but he isn’t a franchise-type quarterback who can lead the team out of the jaws of defeat to a victory.  Keenum was decent against the Cowboys, and if the rest of the team plays well, he’s good enough to win with, but nothing more.

Terry McLaurin continues to impress

In order to end on a positive note, I saved McLaurin for last.  In just two weeks, he’s quickly becoming not just a dangerous downfield threat, but a complete wide receiver with the ability to successfully run the full route tree.  McLaurin had 62 yards on 5 receptions, with 9 targets, which aren’t spectacular numbers overall, but by the end of the game he looked like Keenum’s principal target and the Redskins’ first true #1 receiver in a generation.  He’s definitely announced his presence to the rest of the NFL, and I look forward to seeing what he does for the team going forward.  He’s the biggest bright spot in the face of a poor start to the 2019 season.

Bonus Takeaway: Dallas fans take over Fed Ex Field

I kept tweeting during the game about Dallas as the home team, and while I was basically just being a jerk, judging from the crowd’s reactions during the games it really did sound for all the world like the game was in Texas.  I loosely estimated the crowd to be about 50/50 Dallas-Redskins fans based on what I saw.  Well, folks, former It’s Just Business host and long-time friend of the show Rick Rogers was at the game and told me that live, it actually seemed worse than what I described from the television broadcast.  He estimated the crowd to be about 60/40 or maybe even 70/30 in favor of Dallas.  The photo above is from introductions, and shows the mostly empty stadium at kickoff.  It’s very apropos for how this season has begun.  I don’t blame you guys for this at all; the Redskins have shown very little to get excited about for many years.

The only way this gets better, short of a sale of the team (I’d bet the house that’s not going to happen) is for Mr. Snyder to fire Bruce Allen and bring in an outsider to run the team and let that person burn everything down to the ground (figuratively; I’m not advocating arson) and start over.  That would probably bring the fans back.  Just wait until week 5 against the Patriots – that crowd isn’t going to be pretty.

That’s The Takeaways for week 2.  Sorry it couldn’t be more uplifting, but it is what it is.  We’ll be back after the Bears invade Fed Ex Field for Monday Night Football next week.