As bad as the Dallas Cowboys season has been, at least the Washington Redskins are a mess, too. The Skins come into Dallas having lost four of their last five. They've had the Donovan McNabb benching controversy, they've had the Albert Haynesworth situation. They suffered a serious beatdown by the Philadelphia Eagles over a month ago, and last week lost because they couldn't kick an extra-point. Good times.
In injury news for the Redskins, they should be getting back cornerback Carlos Rogers. Along the defensive line, they have a couple of game time decisions in Phillip Daniels and Kedric Golston.
So last week, the Redskins missed two short field goals and one critical extra-point in a 17-16 loss to Tampa Bay. The fallout? The Redskins cut their long-time punter, who also was their holder on kicks.
Hunter Smith was the cuttee. The 12-year veteran was called to Redskins Park on Tuesday. He met with [Mike] Shanahan, general manager Bruce Allen and special teams coach Danny Smith and was given his walking papers. By the time he got to his locker, it had already been stripped clean.
If you're interested, you should read the whole article. I've never seen someone go so in-depth, and with such passion, over the cutting of a punter.
The rest of the Redskins kicking unit, kicker Graham Gano and snapper Nick Sundberg are playing with their jobs on the line.
More Skins stuff...
The Redskins real problems this year are on defense. What was normally a stout unit has plummeted.
The Redskins and their 4-3 scheme ranked in the top 10 in defense each of the previous three seasons under Joe Gibbs (eighth in 2007) and Jim Zorn (fourth in 2008, 10th in 2009). But there's been a titanic collapse this season. Washington ranks last in the NFL in defense.
A look at their 2009 and 2010 teams stats. (Read the whole article for a detailed look into the the Redskins year since they got rid of Vinny Cerrato and hired Bruce Allen).
2009 offense 22nd with 312 yards/ game, 26th with 16.6 points/game
2010 offense 16th with 338 yards/game, 28th with 18.3 points/game
2009 defense 10th 320 yards/game, 18th with 21.0 points/game, 32nd with 17 takeaways
2010 defense 32nd 395 yards/game, 22nd with 23.8 points/game, tied for 10th with 24 takeaways
The offense has stayed close to the same, but the yards per game and the points per game are way up. They've improved in takeaways. But much the same could be said about the Dallas defense. Paul covered this earlier in the week, and Calvin Watkins goes in-depth, here.
The Cowboys have allowed 30 or more points seven times this season and are 1-6 in those games. They have given up an average of 28.5 points the last four weeks.
I reminded everybody of the Week 1 debacle against the Redskins, but Jason Garrettt and Tashard Choice would like to put that play behind them. Their comments this week on it:
"Yeah, it was a poor decision," [Garrett] said. "Shouldn't have called the play."
The fumble was the first of [Tashard] Choice's pro career. "It was a mistake … You live and learn," Choice said.