Redskins Recap: Loss to Dallas should lead to full team evaluation

The Washington Redskins have lost to the Dallas Cowboys and will be unofficially eliminated from postseason contention. Sitting at 5-7, they are best served planning for next season.

This was a terrible effort by the Washington Redskins. There’s no two ways about it. In a game that they needed to win, a game that they were expected to win, they put forth one of the worst performances of their season. The 38-14 loss to the Cowboys will knock them further down in the standings and they now have virtually no chance of making the postseason.

The Redskins simply made too many mistakes on the offensive side of the ball Thursday night to emerge victorious. Their offense and special teams were completely brutal in the first half and that led to the slow start. Jamison Crowder was responsible for two turnovers, an interception that bounced off his hands and a fumble on a punt return. Kirk Cousins took many sacks due to his poor offensive line play, but he also fumbled twice in key scenarios and didn’t do quite enough to get the victory.

That’s not to say that Cousins didn’t play well. He led some nice drives in the fourth quarter, and he had very nice throws on the touchdowns to Josh Doctson and Ryan Grant, but he wasn’t consistent enough for the team. It took him too long to get going. That may have been due to the constant reshuffling of the offensive line that happened in the contest, but if he’s a franchise quarterback, he needs to be able to carry his team when necessary. He couldn’t do that today.

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Because of Cousins’ struggles and the offensive line struggles, Samaje Perine and the running game never really got going. Perine did manage to finish the day with 69 scrimmage yards, but a lot of his yards came in the fourth quarter when the Skins were already down big. Perine did show some flashes in the game, so he should continue to do fairly well as the starter.

On the defensive side of the ball, the unit played very well at the start of the game. They were getting a lot of pressure on Dak Prescott and forced four three and outs to start the day. However, as the day went along, the defense got tired and was too often put into tough situations due to turnovers. In the second half, they surrendered way too many rushing yards as the front seven got tired. That’s how the Cowboys controlled the clock and was able to get the win.

To add injury to the insulting loss, Morgan Moses was carted off for the team and didn’t return. Moses was the only Washington lineman who had started every game this season and while it’s unclear how severe his ankle injury, the team may be forced to sit him down the stretch. It may be time to put him and Trent Williams on the shelf to ensure they are healthy for next season.

Next: The story of the late, great Sean Taylor

At the end of the day, the Redskins need to evaluate their team after this loss. They had no energy and couldn’t consistently exploit the Dallas weaknesses in this contest. They should have had the upper hand. Instead, their divisional rival essentially knocked them out of the playoff race and they now should be looking to next year. The Redskins have to evaluate why their team didn’t perform well, aside from injuries. They have to fix this moving forward and make sure they can find a way to truly succeed this offsesaon.

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