The Takeaways, Week 17 Edition: Redskins at Cowboys
December 29, 2019
by Steve Thomas
The Washington Redskins saw their 2019 season end in a blaze of glory today, going down by a score of 47-16 to the hated Dallas Cowboys, finishing with a 3-13 record and locking up the second overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Major changes are clearly on the horizon for our beloved Redskins, most likely coming as early as Monday morning. The only good thing that came out of this game is that The Takeaways are easy to write this week, so without further ado . . . let’s get started on the final edition of the season.
The defense laid down and died
This game was an unmitigated disaster for the Redskins defense. The 47 points surrendered to Dallas was their worst result of the season, with the front 7 getting manhandled up front at times. They allowed Ezekiel Elliott to rack up 122 yards on just 18 carries for an average of 6.8 yards per carry. Tackling was atrocious all-around. There are no positives to take from this horrid performance. This defense has consistently underperformed and failed all year, and today’s game is just the icing on the top of the cake for this team. Even their vaunted, highly drafted defensive line has failed to live up to the expectations set by the organization, the fans, and themselves for this season. Dallas gashed this team for 223 yards on the ground today, and that comes on the heels of the 206 yard rushing performance by the Giants last week. Expect major changes to both the scheme and the players headed into next season. We reasonably expected growing pains and a poor performance by the offense, but the defense was supposed to be significantly better. Today, like the entire season, was a massive letdown in every area.
Don’t blame the secondary too much
As bad as the defense was today, remember that the secondary was being manned by a bunch of street free agents, some of whom we signed this week. I’m not really defending this group, per se, but to expect a good result against an offense like the Cowboys was probably too much to ask. Of all of the injury problems this team has suffered in the past few years, only the severe offensive line problems of seasons past were remotely comparable to how much this group suffered this season. Losing and having to replace literally the entire group of players who made the original 53 man roster isn’t something that can be overcome by almost any team. This wasn’t a case of “lack of depth” – it was outright devastation. Michael Gallup came up with a spectacular circus catch in the end zone, but other than that tackling was a bigger problem in the secondary than coverage busts. We most likely won’t see most of these players in Redskins uniforms again, and that’s probably for the best.
Steven Sims is the slot receiver of the future
Finally, finally, finally, the Redskins have found a dynamic slot receiver, after what seems like years of searching. For all of the good that Jamison Crowder did during his time in DC, he doesn’t have the dynamic, video game-level ability that Sims possesses. If I had to give an offensive game ball for this game, it would go to Sims. I thought he had NFL ability when I first watched him this spring, but he’s made tremendous strides in just one season. Sims looks like a vet, and he was clearly the Redskins’ #1 option today against Dallas. The combination of Terry McLaurin, Kelvin Harmon, and Sims looks like a very solid receiver core heading into the future. Congrats, Redskins scouts and coaches, on a job well done in finding and developing this guy. I’m excited to see how he and the others do next year.
Thanks for the memories, Adrian
It’s entirely possible that we’ve seen the last of Adrian Peterson in a Redskins uniform. Peterson is probably mad at Jay Gruden for deactivating him in week one, because considering he ran for 78 yards at a clip of 6.0 yards per carry today for a total of 998 yards on the season, that move cost Peterson a realistic shot at another 1,000 yard season. Regardless, AP did his thing today, like he’s done pretty much all year and it’s been a pleasure having an all-time great in the building for a little while. He’s likely the only hall of famer the Redskins will have for a long time, even though he will undoubtedly go into the hall as a Viking. Adrian’s been the only player worth watching at times both this year and last, so if this is it for him, I’m going to raise a toast of Sunkist to Adrian tonight and wish him best of luck.
Sionara, Bill Callahan; Tootles, Greg Manusky
Like most of you, I’m sick and tired of this entire coaching staff and am ready to see the team move on to a new era, preferably without Bruce Allen, but with him if necessary. Anything’s better than what we’ve seen this year. Bill Callahan seems to be a decent guy who did his best and at least stabilized the situation after Jay Gruden lost team, but at the end of the day, he only won three games against three mostly terrible teams and didn’t produce a successful offense or defense. There was some thought earlier in the season that the Redskins might keep him on as the permanent head coach, but Ron Rivera or no Ron Rivera, that dream is almost certainly dead. As far as Greg Manusky goes, what more even needs to be said? The players underperformed, but his defensive scheme did the team no favors. Today’s game was an epic disaster. Manusky continually used players out of position and not to their strengths in order to jam them into his scheme. For their part, players continually missed assignments but in most cases were either never benched or benched far too late. Today’s game was a microcosm of the failure that was the Redskins 2019 season. I say, goodbye and good luck to all of these coaches.
That’s it for The Takeaways for the 2019 Redskins. I’ll be on to bigger and better weekly columns as we transition into yet another offseason of upheaval and change.