Washington Redskins Defense Fails In Loss To Dallas Cowboys
The Washington Redskins made a late push against the Dallas Cowboys, but they were unable to win. They fell on Thanksgiving by a final score of 31-26.
The Washington Redskins were unable to get a win in their Thanksgiving rivalry game against the Dallas Cowboys. The team performed well on offense, but they were ultimately unable to do the necessary jobs on defense to pull off a win.
Kirk Cousins put together yet another terrific game. Cousins was unbelievable on Thanksgiving, posting a career high in passes thrown. Overall, he went 41-of-53 for 449 yards and three touchdowns. He came pretty close to breaking the Thanksgiving passing yards record. Cousins made numerous timely throws and he was able find his receivers for open touchdowns.
One of his scores went to Jordan Reed, on a bullet pass that only the tight end could catch. Another went to DeSean Jackson when torched the Cowboys defender. Cousins was really just spot on and he continues to put himself in the conversation as a potential Pro Bowl candidate.
In the passing game, Reed was an absolute beast. Cousins targeted him repeatedly throughout the game, and Reed came up big. He caught 10 of his 12 targets for 95 yards and two touchdowns. He looked good patrolling the middle of the field. The team got a real scare when he left with a shoulder injury, but he returned and played at a high level. He should continue to be a top option for the Redskins.
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Jamison Crowder also looked strong during the game. The shifty receiver was able to make a lot of yards by eluding defenders. On the last scoring drive for the Redskins, he was able rack up some yardage and juked out some of the Cowboys defenders. Overall, he got 88 yards on 8 catches and he looks to be in good shape.
In terms of the running game, today was a major disappointment. Robert Kelley got 14 carries for 37 yards and was unable to get much going. The Dallas run defense did a good job of bursting through the interior of the Redskins offensive line. That was part of the problem.
Also looming large was the health of Morgan Moses’ ankle. The right tackle did not look great during the game and the short week probably hurt him a fair amount. Kelley can blame some of his disappointment on this, but he still needs to do more to push forward in the future.
Defensively, the Redskins had some issues with the run. Ezekiel Elliott carved them up on the first drive and late in the game, he did the same. The line just did not look strong, and they were not able to get pressure on Dak Prescott to rattle him. That really helped to undo the defense.
On a final note, the first onside kick was a curious decision by Jay Gruden. I know that he was trying to catch Dallas off-guard, and maybe he was afraid that the Cowboys would chew some clock, but the fact is they may have been better off kicking it deep. I will not fault him for the choice though. He has shown an aggressive style as of late, and it has been mostly beneficial to the Redskins team.