The play that possibly turned Dallas' season

This week, there were plenty of game that were close on the scoreboard. But this week, I am looking at a Primetime match-up between Divisional rivals. At a glance, the NFC East looks like the division nobody want to win. All 4 Teams show flashes of why they might just claim the top spot, but nobody really shows any extended success. Looking both Washington and Dallas, they are both having the seam problem. Scoring points. Dallas currently sit 29^th in Scoring Offence, with Washington at 21th (assisted by the big outing against the Saints). This was evident in Monday Night’s game as the 1^st score didn’t come till around midway thought the 2^nd Quarter, and the Half Time Score sat at 3-3.

The Key Play we are going to take a gander at is a punt return. Its 4^th and 10 on the Dallas 43 with 1:47 on the Game Clock. Dallas have decided to punt the ball away.

As you can see from the picture above, the Redskins have 2 blockers aligned over the Cowboys gunners. This normally suggests they are full focused on setting up a good return. There won’t be too much of a rush from the main part of the Return formation, just enough to hold the Cowboys line in place during the process of the kick. Out of shot, Washington have Desean Jackson as there returner instead of their normal returner. Jackson was a full time returner during his tenure at the Eagles and had a reputation of being a good returner.

 

Special Team doesn’t always get a lot of love in the football world so I will give you some background info.

As a ST Coach on Punt Return, you want a few things. Clean Catch, Pick up your blocks, and Play safe with the Fair Catch etc. etc... But the Bold, Underlined RULES are, don’t lose Yards, and Don’t Lose the Ball. They don’t care if you don’t get any yards. You could Fair Catch all day and still do a good job on Punt Return. Just get the ball safely to the Offence while gaining as many yards as you can.

Having those rules in the back of your mind. You would think this would be the safest return lane. You have the chance to get a nice little return down the sideline. Pick-up around 10-20 yards, step out of bounds if you sense a bit hit coming and give Cousin’s and the Redskins Offence the ball around the 30 yard line.

Jackson stutters a bit on the return to try and open a bigger lane but it really just costs him a handful of yards. He has started the Return down the sideline. But 10 yards isn’t enough for Jackson. He’s looking for another lane to try and take this one all the way for 6 points.

So when I see Jackson starting to go backwards across the field I am thinking someone is going to get a right talking to when they get off the field. You best only have 1 man to beat if you’re going to give up ground. There is too much speed at the NFL Level and you are normally running away from your blocks. The moment you give a Coverage Team chance to recover, the half decent ones will make you pay.

 

Here we can see how far back Jackson goes before he starts going forward again. He is on his own 2 yard line. That’s a 20+yard loss compared to where he was when he started to reverse field. To prove my point about running away from blockers. Count the Redskins I have marked out. These are all the blockers that are out of the play. That’s 7 Redskins that can’t help Jackson right now! Now count the Cowboys I have marked out. These are the players that are in a position to make a play on Jackson. That’s 8, and all 8 have the pace to get the job done.

Just to prove that I am not lying about the speed on Punt Coverage. This shot is just before Jackson gets tackled. He has 6 Cowboys surrounding him

 

 

And the Tackle is just brutal. Soo brutal that...

Jackson loses the football. So going back to what a ST Coach wants, Jackson has not only lost his team yards, but he has also failed in keep hold of the ball! Double whammy. Dallas now have the ball deep in Redskins territory. They go on to score the 1^st TD of the Match, giving them a foothold they desperately needed to eventually go on and win the game.