Redskins vs. Cowboys: Why MNF Loss Will Not Unravel the Redskins

In football, if you can keep the opposing team out of the end zone for an entire game, you're doing something right.

You're also supposed to walk away with a win. The Washington Redskins were not so lucky on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys, as five Dan Bailey field goals ended up sinking the Skins by the final of 18-16.

It was the first loss for the Skins on the season, and there is no doubt many people out there who want to use it as an excuse to say that the Redskins are who we thought they were going to be.  This would be to say that they are lousy, no good overachievers.

I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind. But I think when you sit back and put Washington's primetime loss in perspective, you'll notice that it's not quite the end of the world.

For starters, I think you have to consider what the Redskins did well, and that was playing defense. Sure, the Skins let the Cowboys rack up 375 yards of total offense, but they needed nearly 32 minutes of clock and 62 plays to do it. Average that out, and the Cowboys gained barely over six yards per play, which is not horrible.

Then there's, once again, the fact that the Redskins didn't let the Cowboys find the end zone. They were able to do that by primarily stopping the Cowboys on third down, as Dallas converted just three of 13 third down attempts. For that matter, the Cowboys gained only 17 first downs all night, as opposed to 20 for the Redskins.

The point is that a performance like this on any other night is going to be coupled with a win. It would be a simple matter of the offense holding up its end of the bargain.

Obviously, that didn't happen on Monday night, as the Redskins scored just 16 points and gained fewer than 300 total yards.

In my opinion this had a lot to do with the quick abandonment of the running game. After averaging more than 30 runs a game in their first two contests, the Skins ran the ball just 22 times against the Cowboys. One of those attempts came from Rex Grossman, and two others came from Chris Cooley.

I would be able to understand this if the Cowboys had put the Redskins in a big hole early. Instead, Mike Shanahan seemed to get frustrated by the lack of production in the running game, and was thus too quick to trust Grossman.

Unless I'm sorely mistaken, this is not the way the Redskins figure to win ballgames. They run a very conservative offense, and the Redskins are at their best when they're running the ball and eating up clock. We saw as much in their first two games, both wins.

So if you ask me, the Redskins clearly got away from their game plan on Monday night, and it ended up costing them. The best thing they can do now is learn what they can from it and move on.

If you want to look on the bright side, I don't think the NFC East is going to run away from the Redskins any time soon. The Philadelphia Eagles don't look like much of a dream team, and both the Cowboys and New York Giants might be too banged up to sustain their early success (a term that I use quite loosely).

So if you're a Redskins fan who's looking to panic, I'd advise you against it. The Redskins can easily bounce back from their Monday night loss, and I think they will.