Link: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/62322-redskins-cowboys-keys-to-victory

The Washington Redskins visit the Dallas Cowboys in Week Four of the
2008 regular season. As the marquee match-up for this Sunday, I have
taken an extended look at this game.

For my detailed breakdown of this game see HERE, HERE AND HERE.

And now we'll note the keys to victory for each team as I see it.

The winning formula for the 'Skins on offense:

Score TOUCHDOWNS, early.

The Cowboys will likely be capable of running the ball nearly at will if given the opportunity. The Skins will need to put points on the board to prevent Cowboys' offensive coordinator Jason Garrett from feeling comfortable enough to to lean on their running game as they did against the Packers last week. The Skins can force him to put the onus on quarterback Tony Romo to make plays, perhaps enough pressure to force Romo into mistakes, which he has shown he can be counted on for maybe two per game. And if that happens, the Skins have to take advantage of those mistakes and score touchdowns, not field goals.

The winning formula for the 'Skins on defense:

See above first. A good defense often starts with the offense and it will be that way for the Redskins this week. Washington Redskins' defensive coordinator Greg Blache has done a fine job thus far game planning against three very good offenses. While the Redskins defense has allowed high yardage totals, and two 100 yard rushers, his defense has held three of the highest scoring teams to only 17 points or less (the Saints had a punt return for a touchdown to give them 24 points in Week Two). That said, this is the most potent offense Blache and the Redskins' defense have seen yet. Their focus has to be preventing the big play. But they also can't allow the Cowboys to hold a large advantage in time of possession. Last season, then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams tried to use a "bend, don't break" mentality against the New England Patriots. It didn't go very well. Williams couldn't get his players out of the mentality once the Patriots showed they could handle it, and it went down hill fast. Blache can't let that happen against the Cowboys. The will need to make plays behind the line of scrimmage early with penetration and early hits on the beast, running back Marion Barber and the speedy rookie Felix Jones.

The winning formula for the 'Boys on offense:

Pound the Skins into submission first, second, and third, and then show your explosiveness. Sounds easy enough. But the Redskins have played well against the Cowboys' running game in the last six meetings overall. Their last meeting, at the end of last season, the Redskins' defense held to Cowboys' to ONE yard rushing. ONE. The Cowboys entered that game having already clinched home field advantage through out the playoffs, and didn't bring any intensity with them from Dallas. Wide out Terrell Owens was the offensive starter who didn't play in that game, with Romo and the other starters playing into the third quarter before Wade Phillips gave up trying to save some momentum and sat the "important" guys. The Cowboys' offensive line is big, very big, and they should be able to wear down the Skins' defensive front, but they will need to prevent penetration into the backfield so Barber and Jones can get a head of steam before being hit. If they can do that, they likely won't be stopped.

The winning formula for 'Boys on defense:

The Cowboys' defense has shown itself to be very inconsistent. Giving up a lot of points to the Eagles, but nearly shutting the Packers out of the end-zone completely. They will need to stand up and show us who they really are. Stuffing the running game, and not letting Cowboys' Killer Santana Moss get loose for ALL FOUR QUARTERS could make for an easy win. But they will need to be very careful in putting too much attention on Moss. Redskins' head coach and primary play caller Jim Zorn has displayed dramatic improvement in his game management and shown a knack for keeping defenses off guard with his play calling. The Redskins also have many weapons other than Moss and the Cowboys defense will need to stay focused the entire game to prevent the Skins from finding a rhythm and keeping it.

If the Cowboys can keep the Skins out of the end-zone, they'll be able to pound on the Skins' defensive front, and cruise to a win much like they did against the Packers last week, thereby limiting the opportunities for Romo to make costly mistakes. The Redskins are currently leading the league in turnover ratio with a PLUS FIVE in that category. Zorn will run the ball when it seems he should throw it, and throw it when it seems he should run it, and has done both with relative success.

It should be fun to watch the game being played on the sideline just as much as on the field.

Link: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/56433-tom-bradys-injury-and-sept-11-a-commonality

With New England Patriots' Quarterback Tom Brady's injury being one
of the biggest stories of Week One in the NFL, we also get the
opportunity to see some of the worst in people.

A very disturbing thing to me considering what today is. The Seventh "anniversary" of the most terrible attack ever suffered by the United States, a senseless and gutless act of terrorism not matched by anything we have ever experienced before, and hopefully ever will again, 9-11.

While I
understand the "feeling" of being happy that one's hated team lost it's
starting quarterback, it's leader, the man that makes the machine go, hat I don't understand, and never will, is the idea that some people
simply revel in the fact that a "person" got hurt.

A number of Jets' and Steelers' fans consider it quite humorous, even an opportunity to make money:

http://www.jetsinsider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177243

http://www.believemerch.com/product/bernard-pollard-fan-club-red-tee

This issue has also been written about elsewhere, in may places and by many people, one such writer does a good job of making the point as well:

http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2008/09/09/apparently-a-lot-of-people-hate-tom-brady-and-cheered-loudly/

Tom Brady
has become just as hated for his success as any "big time" athelete
ever is, it comes as part of the job description, win as often and for
as long as he has in his young career, and people will certainly not
like you for it. But to be glad he actually got hurt, that his career
is actually threatened by his injury is about as "small person" a
sentiment as I can imagine.

What's the difference between feeling
this way and a terrorist who believes that all "Americans", or all
"Jews", or "all whatevers", should die because of their religious
beliefs? Is this really any different?

So while you or your
friend are talking shit about Brady getting hurt, just think for one
minute, that you are putting yourself in company that is not very different from the extremism that so tragically killed nearly 3000
Americans 7 years ago.

Just think about it.

Link: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/55934-for-redskins-fans-change-is-a-painful-process

As difficult as it may be for Redskins' fans to admit, owner Daniel Snyder is a "Redskin" at heart. Surely he has made many mistakes during his tenure as owner, but he has also showed that he has learned and grown during that time.

With the apparent direction the team/organization has taken since the second retirement of Redskins' Icon Joe Gibbs, I do believe that the Redskins are undergoing a serious transformation of sorts. Very quietly, the Redskins are no longer the oldest team in the NFL. Add to
that the fact that so much of the youth is low round draft picks and undrafted players, workman type guys that most Redskins' fans can relate to and appreciate, just like "the old days".

What makes it difficult is the reality that so many people, the media and fans alike, simply won't let go of the past. Snyder screwed up with big name signings early in his ownership, trying to "buy" a championship. There is no debate about that, not even from Snyder himself.

The reality is that he really hasn't done that in a long time. What "big name", "over the hill" players have been signed in the last seven years? That's right, SEVEN YEARS. There have been several free agent busts during this time. But I would contend that Daniel Snyder hasn't "meddled" and made these decisions himself. I would contend that Snyder has in fact done what his Head Coach asked him to do. Offered full
support to his selected coach.

Marty Schottenheimer was a valiant effort to make dramatic change. Perhaps too dramatic. Schottenheimer wasn't given enough time for anyone to know whether or not the direction he had set forth would work, and that was another mistake by an inexperienced owner, an owner who has since outwardly admitted that
his impatience with Schottenheimer was one of the biggest mistakes he has made as an owner.

Steve Spurrier was apparently a mistake as well. But fans and the media don't remember that Snyder didn't fire Spurrier, Spurrier quit. Snyder was by all appearances prepared to live through the difficulties of a changing franchise, and let the coach he believed in try to get the job done.

Fans also don't recognize that the past four years were on Joe Gibbs, completely. The draft trades, the free agent busts, the poor planning for the future, all on Gibbs. Snyder just wrote the checks that Gibbs requested, and Cerrato did what Gibbs asked him to do.

For Gibbs' part in the "problems" everyone sites (free agent busts, trading away draft picks) his efforts here were devoted to turning over the roster, trying to re-create the character of the team as a whole, and he did that. One can look at the roster he had when he started and see that in his first 2 years, he turned over nearly 70% of the roster. Mostly with free agents (most of whom were, and still are, productive, as much as any other free agent signings around the league). Snyder deserves to be criticized for "over paying" players, but the players themselves were not of his choosing. They were Gibbs' choices, from recommendations by his coaching staff, his personnel men.

Now is the time to move forward with a plan. Vinny Cerrato, although people want to crucify this guy for the Redskins issues for the last 10
years, wasn't the guy making the decisions before now. And Jim Zorn is a new kind of coach and needs to be given the time to work through the identity of the Redskins and "Zorn" himself. The time to work through the difficulties of a new system, new coaches, and many young players.

The media and Redskins' fan base have been clamoring for real change in the direction of the franchise, to use draft picks to build the team, and now that it seems to have taken place, without instant success, these same people, the media and fans, want ANOTHER CHANGE. Isn't that what we have been complaining about for 10 years?

The impulsive, reactionary, and often misguided efforts of a rookie owner are now being called for by the very people who have ridiculed the Redskins' leadership for years.

Everyone knows that one cannot properly rate any drafted players for two to three years. So why the call for Vinny Cerrato's head? There is NOTHING to indicate that the Redskins' 2008 draft class will be anything at all, good or bad. There is arguably plenty of talent within each selection, and football critics have lauded the picks themselves as being good talent at each of the points in the draft which they were taken.

There are many drafted players that have outstanding rooki campaigns. Many of those players go on to fall apart, and never live up to the promise they created in their rookie years. There are many other drafted players that were invisible in their first two years in the league, and then the light comes on the they become pro-bowl caliber players.

So why don't we just calm down and let time tell us whether or not Cerrato (and Snyder) have done good things since Gibbs' announced his retirement? Why not let the 2008 draft class play a year or two and find out if any of them can really play the game? Why not let Jim Zorn learn from his mistakes, and grow into the head coach he can be, and
then pass judgement? Why not let Jason Campbell learn ONE offense for more than ONE year and see what he can do without THINKING about what's to take place on each and every play?

Why not show the patience that we have been calling for?

Change can be painful, but it may just be the road we need to travel in order to bring back the respect, the stability, the pride, and the tradition of one of the oldest and grandest franchises in football.

And maybe, just maybe, it will also bring a championship.

According to reports, wide receiver Billy McMullen will be signed by the Seattle Seahawks on wednesday. Billy McMullen was a pre-season fan favorite and was a surprise cut by the Washington Redskins. Most media and fans alike were surprised that the Redskins' Head Coach Jim Zorn didn't make room on the roster for a sixth wide receiver, especially considering McMullen's strong performances through out the preseason and rookie Malcolm Kelly's injury status at the time.

With the signing, the Seahawks have attempted to solidify a wide receiving corps that has lost it's top four players. Contract terms are, as yet, unknown.

I have already stated my case for the Redskins poor performance, but here is an excellent breakdown of the offense from Greg Trippiedi.

He does a good job of showing the pitfalls and a few of the positives of the Redskins' offense against the Giants last Thursday.