FanHouse T.O.

Well, T.O. wasn't a factor, but neither was Mark Brunell, the offensive line, the defensive line, the secondary, the play calling on offense and defense...

Other than Rock Cartwright's 100-yard kickoff return, the Redskins couldn't get anything going until late when Dallas was playing prevent defense. The Cowboys sent the Redskins to 0-2 with a 27-10 victory. The offensive line had a hard time giving Brunell time to find a receiver, giving up six sacks and forcing Brunell to throw several balls out of bounds and an interception. The running game scared no one without Clinton Portis even dressed to play.

The defense fared no better. Drew Bledsoe had all day to throw the ball and Julius Jones ran threw the middle of the line all night. Gregg Williams called a conservative game, blitzing lightly and finding no ways to get pressure on Bledsoe. The Cowboys averaged 5.2 yards per play, 4.5 yards per rush and converted 22 first downs.

The cameras were all on T.O. going into the game, but he had very little impact on the game. He dropped passes like a rookie (including in the end zone), only catching three passes for a mere 19 yards. Terry Glenn, on the other hand, pulled in six catches for just under 100 yards including a 40-yard TD.

Brunell completed 18 passes, but 11 were to non-WRs. Moss was quiet all game until the end of the game when he pulled in a couple of meaningless catches. Ladell Betts caught seven balls, most of the productive ones late in the game, but only rushed for 40 yards on 11 carries. Take away his 17-yard gain and he only averaged 2.7 yards per carry.

Other than the ineffective play on offense and defense, the Redskins committed 11 penalties surrendering 117 yards. Penalties allowed the Cowboys to drive the field 99 yards for the TD that essentially sealed the game.

It's not obvious why the Redskins can't execute Al Saunders' vaunted offensive playbook, but it is obvious that Mark Brunell doesn't look comfortable in the pocket, is having a hard time finding open receivers and that there isn't much to hang our hats on.

Two weeks into the season and already it feels like the playoffs. Starting the year off 0-2 with a division lose to the Cowboys would make a playoff berth an uphill battle the Redskins don't want to find themselves in.

After last week's performance, many experts believe the Cowboys will win. Las Vegas has the Cowboys favored by six points considering they're playing at home. Clinton Portis and Joe Gibbs see completely opposite at the severity of his ability to play. Carlos Rogers showed nothing last week to instill any confidence that he can handle T.O.

But anyone who thinks the Cowboys are the stronger team are seriously disillusioned. The amount of hatin' going on against the Redskins is just unbelievable sometimes. People say Redskins fans are in denial, but the anti-Redskins haters are even worse.

All week I've been hearing and reading stuff about the upcoming Redskins-Cowboys game about how the Redskins secondary looked so bad against Minnesota that they should make Bledsoe look good again. The theory is that second-year CB Carlos Rogers won't be able to maintain T.O., let alone Kenny Wright or Mike Rumph.

Looking back at the Vikings game, Gregg Williams did not employ a lot of blitz packages. Brad Johnson was pretty much given a break because of the injuries suffered on our defensive side of the ball. With Pierson Prioleau going down early in the game and Shawn Springs still nursing his injury, that left zero depth in the secondary. If you blitz Rogers and Taylor, you have recently acquired Mike Rumph covering one-on-one with only Adam Archuleta covering the top. Not a good idea. The backup safeties are Vernon Fox and Reed Doughty, neither of whom has proven anything yet.

With Gregg Williams holding back on bringing the heat we're used to seeing, that left the pressure up to an injured Cornelius Griffin, Phillip Daniels and Renaldo Wynn. And where in the world is Andre Carter? Going against Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk and Bryant McKinnie, you HAVE to bring some heat.