Cowboys vs. Redskins - My Week 1 Recap

The Dallas Cowboys are my team, but man, they sucked this past weekend. They gave us with pretty much, more of the same from last year. Defensively, they are pretty much the same; a pretty solid team that's relied upon way to much to bail out our offense. And yet again, they were asked to do the same in the season opener again this year.

More than anything, we found out that we still have one huge problem that even the best team cannot overcome.......offensive penalties, especially in the form of the false start and holding variety. That, mixed with the offensive coordinators questionable play-calling we could be in trouble again this year.

So here, I'll go through the Cowboys most critical mistakes then I'll give some props to those who performed well in the game.

Mistake #1A, 1B & 1C: 1A) Jason Garrett got desperate and decided to call a Hail Mary on the last play of the 1st half instead of asking Tony Romo to take a knee and go into the locker room down only 3 - 0. 1B) Instead of throwing the ball away or sliding down, Tony Romo decides to shovel the ball to Tashard Choice for what would be at best an extremely minimal gain. It would be highly unlikely that he'd run the ball more than 60 yards for a touchdown. 1C) Tashard Choice deciding not to run out of bounds or just falling down on the ground.

Instead all three mistakes led to a fumble that was picked up by DeAngelo Hall for an easy touchdown to close out the half. More than anything the brunt of this mistake goes to Jason Garrett.

Mistake #2: David Beuhler, pronounced (Bee-ler) missed an easy 30 yard field goal. He was rock-solid in the preseason making 9 of 10 field goals. I guess when it really counted, his mind wasn't where it should have been. I'll give him a two more opportunities, but Jerry Jones might end up regretting not going after a proven field goal kicker in the off season. I hope he can put it together though, because I really like him. He's one of the few kickers in the league who is a true athlete. Let's hope is let is as accurate as it is strong.

Mistake #3: Alex Barron. We acquired him in the off season in a trade with the Rams for Barbie..ahem Bobby Carpenter. Come to find out, he was the most penalized player in the league over the last five years, right ahead of Flozell Adams. Flozell got us in a lot of trouble because he was notorious for false starts. Now all of a sudden, because right tackle Marc Colombo was out with an injury, Barron was called to fill in as his backup. 2 of his 3 penalties negated first downs, but no was more costly as his last penalty for choking...ahem holding as it negated a last second touchdown to Roy Uno Uno Williams and ended the game. He's proven that he is a penalty machine. If he has to perform in anymore games we will have to get lucky. Otherwise, we'll be shaking our heads in frustration for the rest of the season.

But, there were a few bright spots in the game on Sunday. Cornerback Mike Jenkins kept us in the game with two awesome stops of passes that were thrown to his receive in the endzone.

Romo didn't throw an interception and did a great job of protecting the ball when he was flushed out of the pocket on the last play of the game that allowed him to find Roy Williams in the endzone.

Miles Austin is proving that he is a STUD! No falloff after penning his new contract. 10 receptions to equal the 10 passes thrown in his direction. 149 yards and 1 touchdown.

Dez Bryant could be a stud in the making. This dude can catch. He's big and strong. He'll punish most cornerback. 8 receptions in his debut with the team. By midseason teams will have to pick their poison as to who they'll want to double cover. Bryant or Austin.

I'd also like to give props to Roy Williams. He made one spectacular catch where he got popped and still held on to the ball. He was also found a way to get open on what would have been the game winning touchdown had it not been for Alex Barron's stranglehold of Brian Orakpo.

Now we just have to wait until next week when the Cowboys face the in their home opener. I really hope the Colombo is available and healthy enough to play.