Five reasons why Washington kicks the stuffing out of Dallas....Again!!
Kirk Cousins is playing football at an extremely high level as the Redskins take on the Cowboys on Thursday afternoon.
It almost seems fitting that the Cowboys and Redskins are playing football on Thanksgiving. Two teams that have a deep historical significance to this Thanksgiving holiday, and two teams that come into this afternoon's contest playing some of the best football in the NFC.
While it almost seems sacriligious to stick a fork in the 9-1 Cowboys, the Redskins, after starting the season 0-2 are 6-1-1 in their last 8 games and come days end the Redskins will be toasting their thanksgiving spoiling of Dallas' nine game winning streak.
Here's how it goes down:
1. Kirk Cousins is on fire: While the Cowboys have been rattling off win after win, those wins, toss out the Steelers, have come against subpar QB competition. They beat the Niners (Gabbart), beat the Bengals (Dalton), beat the Packers (Aaron Rodgers has been subpar this season), squeaked by the Eagles (Carson Wentz), beat the Browns (Who was the QB that week), beat the Ravens (Joe Flacco...zzzzz).
Let's face it, Kirk Cousins is none of those guys and he's coming off a 375 yards, 3 TD performance in a blowout win over Green Bay.
2. When do the Cowboy rookies hit the wall:
Dallas Cowboys rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliot, counting the pre-season are playing their 14th game of the season.
While Dallas rookies Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott have been nothing short of MVP like, they are rookies and the rookie wall is real. For fourteen games, including the preseason, these guys have shown up and gotten it done, week after week. But, fresh off collegiate seasons, this is the most football they've ever played.
For all the hype around these two, they haven't had to play from behind and the Redskins have shown the ability to put people in their rear-view mirror, and early!
3. Redskins have weapons galore on offense: While Rod Marinelli's defense has far exceeded ALL expectations this season, today, the Cowboys run into a Redskins team that can really get after you in a lot of ways.
Jordan Reed 49 535 10.9 28 3, Pierre Garcon 48 593 12.4 70 2, Jamison Crowder 47 637 13.6 55 6, DeSean Jackson 34 467 13.7 44 2m Chris Thompson 31 231 7.5 38 1, Vernon Davis 26 382 14.7 44 2
Two high caliber tight ends in Reed and Davis and good receivers all over the place. Expect Dallas to give up some yards today through the air.
4. Look out for Ryan Kerrigan and Chris Baker - Who? Oh yeah the two guys from the Redskins that get after the other team's QB, and hard. Baker leads the team with 8 sacks, Kerrigan with 7 and the team is ranked 6th in the league with 27 sacks so far this season. Washington is kinda middle of the pack in defense....22nd ranked overall, so if they are able to slow down Dallas, they will either have to make them one dimensional, OR, be the recipient of some turnovers.
5. Will the Cowboys overlook the Redskins on a short week: Buddy of mine just texted me and instead of wishing me Happy Thanksgiving, he simply said Cowboys 41-28. Short weeks have a funny way of creeping up on teams as they break from their normally customary routines. Dallas, prime-time, Thanksgiving day, in the spotlight: Hey, the wheels gotta come off sometime, this team is not finishing the year 15-1....
Redskins 28-27.....Happy Turkey Day everone!
