Recap

Of the three wins the Cowboys have this year, two of them came despite mediocre performances. Today against the Redskins their mediocre performance wasn't enough. Overall, both teams played well, but the 'Skins played better.

Despite rushing for a career high 142 yards against the Packers last week, Marion Barber was only given eight touches this week. That makes me wonder what was going through the mind of Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. On the other hand, it seems like many teams are most successful when under pressure, running the no-huddle offense out of desperation. Dallas is even more this way than most teams. Both at the end of the first half and at the end of the game the Cowboys were able to move the ball at will from a no-huddle shotgun-only offensive scheme. I realize that one of the reasons that such a scheme is effective is because the defense is usually in some sort of prevent defense which allows teams to gain 10-15 yards per snap, but if a dangerous offensive team were to go no-huddle for a large part of the game, a defense would be forced into undesirable situations where they wouldn't be able to blitz as often or set themselves to know what's coming. It just seems to me like an offense with such potency as the Dallas offense should be able to overcome a defense that gives up 26 points.

Anywho, this is a setback for the 'Boys, but maybe it'll wake them up a little. If Philadelphia wins the game they're currently playing against Chicago (as they should), three NFC East teams will be 3-1 with New York a half game ahead at 3-0 (they're on a bye week). It almost makes it look like by week 15 or 16 the top four teams in the power rankings could be from the East. That'd be something else, huh?