DeAngelo Hall: Redskins Corner Wrong To Throw Jim Haslett Under the Bus

There were many things the Washington Redskins could have done better in their 18-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, but the game more or less unraveled on a 30-yard completion from Tony Romo to Dez Bryant late in the fourth quarter.

The play resulted in a first down for the Cowboys, and they got 15 more yards thanks to a facemask penalty. A few minutes later, Dan Bailey kicked the go-ahead field goal, his sixth of the night.

The man covering Bryant on that play was none other than DeAngelo Hall, and he made it clear in comments to CSNWashington.com after the game that he was not at all pleased about the way it went down.

Specifically, Hall was upset about defensive coordinator Jim Haslett's play call: an eight-man blitz that left Hall all alone with Bryant.

“You ain’t supposed to have to [cover for that long], but [expletive] happens,” he said.

When he was told that the call worked well for the Redskins in their first two games and early on against Dallas, Hall brushed it off.

"Yeah, but sooner or later, somebody is going [bleeping] figure it out,” he said. “You don’t have to be a [bleeping] rocket scientist to figure it out after a while.”

Translation: Haslett is not a rocket scientist. Further translation: Haslett is an idiot.

For what it's worth, Hall wasn't crazy about the facemask call either, calling it a "[bleeping] terrible call."

All around, it wasn't a fun play for Hall. Hence the griping.

Frankly, I'm inclined to agree with Hall that an eight-man blitz wasn't the best idea at that point in time. The Cowboys were facing a 3rd-and-21 in their own territory, and the Redskins had the lead. Instead of trying to force the issue with a blitz, I think the Redskins would have been better off dropping more men into coverage. Instead of risking it, they should have played it safe.

However, hey, it's easy to sit here and say these things after the fact. Had the play worked, Haslett would have been a genius, and Hall would have kept his mouth shut.

That second part is where Hall went wrong, and he shouldn't be excused for it. He was clearly frustrated with the way things went, but he went way out of line by insinuating that Haslett is to blame for the loss. As much as Hall may want to believe that, it's not true.

In fact, Hall himself deserves some blame for the Skins' first loss this season. He's the one who let Bryant get the edge on him, and he's the one who gave the Cowboys an extra 15 yards.

Shoot, if Haslett were to come out and say that Hall [expletive] up a perfectly good play, I don't think anybody would disagree.

So no matter where you want to place the blame for the Redskins' loss, I think you have to blame Hall for not helping matters with his post-game comments. I'd be surprised if they actually lead anything, but no doubt the Redskins would prefer not to go into damage control just because of one outspoken player.

Hopefully Haslett doesn't take a page out of his employer's book by suing Hall for slander.