All we could put together was one lousy TD?

Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys – 11/22/09

Running Game Time Diary

12:03 – Just settled into the IKEA chair that was given to us by my wife’s sister and husband. Thanks guys for making football Sunday so comfortable. Felix with an excellent return out to the 35 yard line. It looks like his legs are back for the first time since coming back from injury a couple of weeks ago. That’s a good sign.

12:05 – Fox just zoomed in on Big Albert Haynesworth on the sideline….wearing street clothes…what a relief.

12:06 – In typical Tony Romo fashion, he over throws Witten on 3^rd and 5 and is fortunate that it wasn’t picked off.

12:08 – Huge 3^rd and 1 stand by the Cowboys D. Keith Brooking has been the biggest acquisition for the Cowboys this season. Brooking looks like he should’ve been a character in the movie Gladiator. He just reminds me of this burly warrior that feasts on huge turkey legs and then snatches up a couple of women when it’s time for bed.

12:14 – RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN….I like where Garrett is going with his play calling.

12:15 – Just as I wrote the previous line…Barber fumbles and Romo injures himself making the tackle after. Maybe I should stop writing. Cue the eerie Kay Jewelers commercial…the one where the guy makes a comment about how bad the storm is and his wife says something cheesy and he follows it with up with “I’m right here, and I always will be.” I still have no idea how he got from the storm to opening up that flashy necklace.

12:19 – Jason Campbell makes his one and only highlight reel play of the season. He spins out the grasp of THREE Cowboys and converts a 3^rd and 13.

12:24 – Great shot of Dave Campo (yeah the former head-coach) manning up to Terrence Newman (the most overrated player on the Cowboys). I would to run see Campo sucker punch Newman like Buddy Ryan did to Kevin Gilbride.

12:26 – Martellus Bennett just made his first significant catch of the season…in week 11. Remember all the talk about “Double Dynamite” before the season started? Maybe, they just wanted to ease into it.

12:28 – The Redskins have exactly one running back left in the game. So, Jason Campbell will have to throw the ball 40-50 times today...(smiling).

12:31 – Back-to-back weeks with scoreless first quarters for Dallas, yuck. It’s sad when our most valuable player after the first quarter is Tony Romo and it’s not for his passing ability. He saved a sure fire touchdown when he made the tackle after Barber’s fumble.

12:34 – Brooking CRUSHES Campbell for a 6 yard sack! I can’t say enough about him…Uh oh, Newman kills us again with an illegal hands to the face penalty….HOW CAN YOU PUT YOUR HANDS IN SOMEONE’S FACE WHEN YOU KNOW IT’S ILLEGAL?

12:39 – Rock Cartwright makes his one and only highlight reel play of the year to convert a 3^rd and 2. (Shaking my head)

12:42 – Campbell get CRUSHED by Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Spencer…but guess what? He completes an 18 yard pass to Santana Moss to convert ANOTHER 3^rd and 8 situation.

12:46 – Redskins run a draw on 3^rd and 15 and settle for a FG. I sometimes wish the Cowboys would implement the FG strategy. FG’s are highly underrated in the NFL.

12:50 – The new Mastercard commercial with Peyton Manning is hilarious. I hope that he goes into acting full-time after retirement from the NFL. I’m afraid he’ll end up coaching some poor franchise that’s in an impossible situation for a few seasons, compiling an awful record and thus tarnishing is image forever with the younger generation. PLEASE PEYTON….DO NOT TRY TO COACH!

12:54 – Fox just cut to a highlight from the Vikings-Seahawks game. Favre to Harvin...what a combo.

12:55 – Roy Williams makes his presence felt with a key DROP on 3^rd down, again. Fool me once….shame on you? Fool me twice…shame on…you’re not gonna fool me again! Roy, please just take off your pads and give them to the equipment manager and turn in your pass to Valley Ranch before you leave the stadium. Thanks.

1:12 – Just noticed a graphic showing the Cowboys were about to be shut out in the first half of consecutive games for the first time since 2002. If we don’t get a FG soon, I might have to take a lap around my apartment complex to calm myself down.

1:16 – 2^nd and 23 from the Washington 43 yard line….pass complete to Bennett (3^rd big catch of the game) for 12 yards. Field Goal Range!!!

1:19 – 3^rd down: Romo to Williams….DROP. FOLK misses a FG from 40 yards. I’m depressed.

1:20 – Side note: I just checked in on the all-important Lions-Browns game and this is how bad those defenses stink: 24-24 with 5:01 left to play in the first half. Matt Stafford has thrown for 270 yards and 3 scores. Brady Quinn has thrown for 163 yards and 3 scores. They are terrible.

1:26 – Another one of those crazy challenges/ booth replays that happens in EVERY Dallas game. This one spurned from a play in which Campbell was running for his life and just ho-hum tossed the ball out of bounds as he stepped on the sideline. How can the Refs drop the ball on so many calls? How many zebras are out on the field? This game is still depressing.

1:30 – Troy and Joe are still rambling on and on about this booth replay and the repercussions of overturning the delay of game penalty. If I can sit here in my chair and know exactly what the call should be and where the ball should be spotted, but all of the refs on the field cannot even figure out how to clear this up, the NFL has a way bigger problem than Rush Limbaugh.

1:33 – Skins missed FG after all of that hoopla. I now understand why everyone in Washington and Dallas are fed up with their respective head-coaches: Washington 3 - Dallas 0 at the half. Break time! (Lunch, beer, laundry, and some more beer)

1:48 – Second half starts off just like it left off. Washington’s Devin Thomas has his career-best kickoff return out to the Wash 44 yard line.

1:58 – Campbell is 8-8 for 90 yards on 3^rd down so far this game. Unacceptable.

2:02 – It’s always nice to see Romo throwing out of his own end-zone. It’s kind of like running into your girlfriend at the movies and she happens to be with her “best” friend...who's a guy. It’s a little threatening, probably harmless, but you’re just waiting for her to screw it up.

2:07 – Campbell to Cartwright for 29 yards. We’re getting carved up by Washington’s scrubs. I feel helpless. I wish I had that “guy” that could take care of things like this. You always see them in those CIA/FBI thrillers, where they need some “specialist” to take out an impossible target. Target = Jerry Jones

2:14 – Romo airmails Williams on a 3^rd down play deep in their own territory. Our defense needs to make a BIG play. They’ve played their asses off up to this point, holding Washington to 3 points, and it’s about time that Campbell makes a critical mistake.

2:18 – Great pressure on Campbell again on 3^rd down…he completes ANOTHER 3^rd down pass for a first down. I’m glad Campbell saved his best game of the season for the Cowboys. The Redskins have cost me exactly 2 weeks worth of wins in my pick’em league because of Campbell’s ineptitude at QB.

2:22 – Campbell is now 11-11 passing on 3^rd down for 145 yards. Luckily, his last completion was short of the sticks. Field goal is good: Washington 6 – Dallas 0

2:27 – Romo rolls right and hits Miles Austin for a big gain! Why haven’t we thrown deep to Austin this game? Oh I forgot, we keep throwing the ball to Roy Williams.

2:29 – Following up the big play to Austin, Romo is sacked for a 5 yard loss.

2:31 – Back-to-back 1^st down passing plays for the Cowboys for a combined -5 yards. RUN the ball.

2:32 – Both 2^nd down plays have combined for 23 yards after those abysmal pass plays.

2:34 – 4^th and 2 for the Cowboys and Romo was in the grasp of the rookie, Brian Orakpo, and he forces a throw that’s picked off. Now I want throw something. Only in sports can you fail so many times at doing your job and still keep your job. Amazing.

2:36 – I’m almost certain the NFL instructed the Offensive coordinators in this game to keep the score low. I haven’t seen a single pass over 15 yards the entire game.

2:43 – Missed FG for Washington again! Wow, there’s no reason we should be in this game.

2:46 – Joe Buck just announced Romo’s QB rating – 35. Ouch. I think Chris Simms had a higher rating last week.

2:49 – Amazingly, Romo has hit Austin twice and Witten twice during their 5 play 50 yard drive. Who’s name wasn’t mentioned in that sentence? Roy E. Williams. Sit down, Roy.

2:52 – TOUCHDOWN Boys! Romo finds Patrick Crayton after buying some time and the Cowboys take a one point lead. Come on Defense it’s time to unleash DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff!

2:58 – Mike Jenkins goes to the ground for what seems to be the 8^th time in the past two weeks. Get out of the game. Where are the doctors in situations like this? If he keeps this up next week, I’m writing a letter to the head trainer of the Cowboys. Not only does it SLOW the game way down, it also makes Dallas appear to be desperate that Jenkins remain in the game.

3:02 – FINALLY! Spencer comes up with a huge interception after Bowen got a hand on Campbell’s pass. The Cowboys are kneeling it to clinch their 7^th win of the season. Ugly, horrific, boring, anticlimactic….insert your own negative adjective here to describe what everyone just witnessed.

A few thoughts about the game:

• There’s no reason Dallas should have won this game. The game-ball should go to Suisam who went 2 for 4 on field goals for Washington and unintentionally saved Wade Phillips from the media this week.
• If this is the same Dallas team that knocked off the Eagles in Philly earlier this month, I’m not looking forward to see how far we regress when December rolls around.
• Wade, oh Wade. You’re hanging by a thread big guy. He may be safe for now, but his team is seriously under-performing against inferior opponents. Nine times out of ten, that comes down to poor preparation and poor coaching.