Yeah, yeah, yeah – this is a day or six, and probably a couple of dollars short. The cool answer is that it took this long to work out the alcohol consumed during the Redskins thrilling 38-31 victory over the Cowboys last Thursday. The honest one is that I actually just forgot to actually POST the blog after I had written it. (Hey, maybe the alcohol can actually be blamed!)
I digress, here’s five no-longer-quick-thoughts on the game:
Alfred Morris – If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I fondly refer to Morris as the Shaved Bear. He peeled off another 113 yards on 24 caries (4.7 YPC) and once again provided Redskins Nation with ample opportunity to use the seemingly misplaced word ‘truck’ in a football game. Man this kid brings the wood. He runs with such purpose. The names Helu and Royster already seem like such distant memories.
Tyler Polumbus – Played a really good game against the Cowboys. He’s had a rough past couple of weeks and Thursday could have been a nightmare with Dallas’ formidable pass rush, but he pass protected well. More noticeably, he was big moving forward, and was responsible for paving some big chunks of Alfred Morris’ 113 yards. A solid outing from Polumbus seemed to really shore up the entire offensive line – who had easily their best performance in a month. It couldn’t come at a more appropriate time given the predictable news this week, that Jammal Brown’s season was again – finished before it started.
Kai Forbath – I was vocal about how the Redskins handled their kicking situation earlier this year, but it didn’t really have anything to do with Forbath personally. He’s made my concern look for naught anyway, because he hasn’t even missed a field goal yet. What do you say about a kid who’s a perfect 10-for-10, including a pretty money kick against the Cowboys of 48 yards? You say… Kai-abunga!!!
DeAngelo Hall – Is there a more polarizing figure on the Redskins than Hall? You love him or you hate him. Even if you’re not a fan, and were upset by some of his antics a few weeks ago, you aren’t paying attention if you don’t at least throw up an asterisk for his play the last two weeks. He has been exceptional. And like the aforementioned Polumbus, it seems to have the effect of drastically improving the entire respective unit; because the Redskins secondary hasn’t looked so ‘swiss cheese’ the last two weeks.
Robert Griffin III – I usually start with RGIII, but I’ll close with him in this instance, and I’m not even going to talk about his football performance, I just want to talk about his endless intangibles. This was a Thanksgiving Day prime time game against a team that has historically played very well in their Turkey Day affairs. After all, Tony Romo WAS 5-0 on Turkey Days and 14-0 at home in November BEFORE facing Griffin last week. The Cowboy Killer ended that though, didn’t he? The Redskins were 0-6 against Dallas on Thanksgiving before RGIII – they’re 1-0 with him.
There were a dozen places for a rookie quarterback to fold and cave to the pressure of the moment. Arguably Griffin’s most impressive drive was the final scoring drive that ended with the Forbath field goal. When the Redskins needed the points the most, RGIII was there to lead Washington to pay dirt. He was unflappable. After the game, Mike Shanahan alluded to this, and called RGIII “Cool Hand Luke”. As cool as the other side of the pillow.
I tweeted before the game that I didn’t expect Griffin to shine against the Cowboys, I expected him to glisten. That’s what the truly great ones do – they rise to the occasion, not shrink from it.
RGIII definitely rose to what was his biggest occasion to date; and then he towered over it.
This kid is truly very special.
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Giants next. Revenge time.
“DeAngelo Hall – Is there a more polarizing figure on the Redskins than Hall? You love him or you hate him. Even if you’re not a fan, and were upset by some of his antics a few weeks ago, you aren’t paying attention if you don’t at least throw up an asterisk for his play the last two weeks. He has been exceptional. And like the aforementioned Polumbus, it seems to have the effect of drastically improving the entire respective unit; because the Redskins secondary hasn’t looked so ‘swiss cheese’ the last two weeks.”
I’d say that has more to do with the other players in the secondary than just one lone defender…especially one who has been so spotty in coverage in spite of getting INT’s. The plays he makes don’t cover for the mistakes he makes. He should have been suspended for that bonehead argument with the ref.