Redskins Halftime Takeaways: Good early, rough later

The Washington Redskins were off to a good start against the Dallas Cowboys until penalties made a massive impact on their ability to stay with their archrival. They trail 14-7 at the half.

At the half, the Washington Redskins are in trouble. They started the game well, but since the end of the first quarter, they have struggled to stay disciplined and keep pace in this game.

The Redskins offense looked really solid in that first quarter. The team came in with a creative gameplan that allowed them to move the ball. They gave return-man Steven Sims a handful of carries to take advantage of his speed and elusiveness. The misdirection plays they used kept the Cowboys defense off balance.

Additionally, Adrian Peterson had a really good first half. He was able to help the Redskins methodically move the ball downfield and generated push at the line of scrimmage. He also was able to notch a touchdown on a short-yardage score from the one-yard line. He was entrusted with two carries from that distance from the I-formation. So clearly, the Redskins have a plan about how to use him.

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However, as the game went along, the play-calling got less and less creative. Jay Gruden tried to throw the ball too much and Case Keenum wasn’t as sharp as he was last week. The team needs to stick to the run and grind out yards against the Cowboys; going for big plays in the passing game simply isn’t working.

On the defensive side of the ball, the unit looked very in the first quarter. They were expected to struggle, as they were missing two of their three best corners for this game as well as their leader on the defensive line (Jonathan Allen). Instead, the contained the Dallas offense early on.

Daron Payne has had a phenomenal game so far. He had a shot at two sacks and while he didn’t get them, they resulted in big plays (a Montae Nicholson pick and a Ryan Kerrigan sack). If he can keep disrupting at the point of attack, he will help to lessen the blow of losing Allen.

And despite the losses in the secondary, the Redskins held up well on the back end early. Jimmy Moreland and Montae Nicholson stepped up to solidify the back end of the defense and Nicholson had a key pick and return to set up the Washington touchdown.

As the half went along, the issues started to rear their heads. The mistakes started on a big completion to Devin Smith where Josh Norman couldn’t keep up with the speed threat. From there, Dak Prescott was able to make some bigger plays including a long run to put the Cowboys in scoring position. And Montez Sweat and Moreland were called for key penalties in the red zone that set up the Cowboys’ second touchdown.

Norman and the defense are going to have to play better moving forward if the Redskins want to win. They haven’t looked good at all this year and need to improve quickly. The team in general is going to have to avoid costly mistakes all over the field; they continued to be whistled for too many holding penalties during that first half.

dark. Next. Keys to victory for Redskins vs. Cowboys

We’ll see what ends up happening, but it seems that the Redskins have blown yet another good start.

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