Key Match Ups for Skins vs Cowboys

Since we didn’t have time to go in depth on the podcast about this week’s game here some of the keys to this week’s game.

1.       Dallas O-Line vs Skins front 7:  Dallas will have two offensive linemen out this week.  RT Marc Colombo and LG Kyle Koiser will be sitting out tomorrow night. 6 year vetran Alex Barron will be taking Colombo’s place while 8 year vet Montrae Holland will start in place of Koiser.   Barron has started 75 games in his career while Holland has started in 48.  The questions with this years Cowboys team has been around the o-line and these injuries won’t help at all.   If Jim Haslett can get his run blitzes to work and can get pressure on Tony Homo, I mean Romo, this will be a great advantage for the Redskins and play a big key into getting the win for the Skins.  Over the past years the Skins have struggled to create turnovers on D, switching to 3-4 will help get more pressure on the QB and hopefully cause more turnovers this year.

2.      Donovan McNabb vs Cowboys Secondary:  Donovan McNabb has been known as a QB that can make plays, even though he is older now and can’t scramble like he used to, he still has the pocket presence and if he gets the protection needed from the o-line he can tear up a Cowboys secondary that only has Terence Newman has a shut down threat.  McNabb may not have the star receivers besides Chris Cooley, but if he can get the ball in the hands of Santana Moss, Joe Galloway, Devin Thomas and Fred Davis, McNabb could have a decent day passing.

3.      Redskins O-line vs Marcus Spears and  DeMarcus Ware: First round draft LT Trent Williams is going to get welcomed to the NFL very quickly as he goes up against Marcus Spears and when the Cowboys blitz, the rookie might be assigned to all pro DeMarcus Ware.  Last Year Ware had 11 sacks.  Sine Williams is a rookie, mistakes will be made during this game and during the season. The question is when are these mistakes made? Are they going to be made in the 1^st qtr or in the 4^th qtr during a game winning drive?  If Williams can minimize his mistakes McNabb will be fine on his blind side.  For the rest of the o-line, can they solve last years problems and get protection on the QB? The addition of Artis Hicks and Jamal Brown will be great on the right side of the ball as long as they can stay healthy.  This team lacks depth at O-line so if we have multiple injuries on the O-line again, DC fans will start looking forward to Ovechkin and John Wall sooner than later.

4.      Redskins Secondary vs Cowboys WR’s:  The Skins don’t have that great of a secondary either, Carlos Rogers drops to many pics and DeAngleo Hall seems to play only when he wants to play.  LaRon Landry is back at his natural position at SS, which might explain why he was burned do many times at FS last year.  With Landry back at SS he’ll be able to make those big hits instead of worrying about having the deep part of the field.  If the Skins have problems getting pressure on Romo this week, then it will be up to the secondary to stop the likes of Miles Austin, Roy Williams and rookie Dez Bryant.   With this talent of wide outs the boys have big plays will be given up from time to time, but if the secondary can minimize those big plays the Skins will have a chance to win this game.