Behind Enemy Lines: Redskins and Cowboys Meet Up Again in Different Roles

As we get ready for this week's matchup between bitter rivals Cowboys and Redskins, I exchanged e-mails with Dave Halprin from Blogging The Boys. Dave was nice enough to offer some insights on Dallas for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

If you remember, Dave came in in Week 4 to break down the first Cowboys-Redskins game. Since then, Dallas has gone from the NFL's best team to one in trouble of making the playoffs and Washington has turned into a Super Bowl contender.

Sportz Assassin: A lot has happened to the Cowboys since their first meeting with the Redskins. What has been the most damaging issue Dallas has had to deal with in that time?

Dave Halprin: Injuries, especially Tony Romo's pinkie. Brad Johnson was a certified disaster at QB for the last three games and we only won the Tampa Bay game because our defense played out of their mind. So his absence has been issue numero uno. But we have other problems, too. The offensive line has had trouble protecting the QB and opening running lanes and our secondary is still hit and miss. We hope that Roy Williams (the receiver) will be ready to really contribute after learning the offense and that will open up things for T.O. who has been getting mugged by defenses. If Felix Jones can play, that will also be a big boost, we've missed his speed over the last few weeks.

Sportz: Jerry Jones has come out publicly to back Wade Phillips. Is Phillips in real trouble?

Dave: He's not in trouble in terms of being fired in-season. At least as long as we stay in contention for the playoffs.

That's not really Jerry's style, he believes in someone until the point of no return and even that doesn't stop him sometimes. But if things start going south for the Cowboys over these next seven games, I don't think Jerry will have any choice but to go in a new direction. He's opening up that new stadium next year and he wants to go in with either a winner, or with a new direction. My opinion is that Wade has to go deep into the post-season to keep his job.

Sportz: Since we played, Dallas has gone from the best team in the NFL to a team that is in a dogfight for a wildcard berth. How important is Sunday night's game for the Cowboys?

Dave: It's huge. Obviously in the standings it will make a big difference and it's a division game. All of those factors mean a lot as the Cowboys can only lose one or two games down the stretch to seriously think about the playoffs. But mentally, it's almost as big. Things had gotten so ugly with the losses and the injuries that we've kind of thrown all our eggs into the basket of the post bye week turnaround. If we go out and blow this one, the mental letdown will be as big as the trouble in the standings.

Sportz: Who has been the biggest disappointment in Big D?

Dave: The coaching staff. They just haven't been able to get this thing going again once the injuries hit. And Jerry Jones as the GM should have had a much better plan for the backup QB position. I know that players play and they have to own up to their own failings, but it just seems that this coaching staff has no answers for the problems that have cropped up. We seem to do the same things every week even though they're not working. Some of the players have been disappointments, but the coaches just have no answers right now. Maybe Romo will save everybody's butt.

Sportz: What did the Cowboys do well in the first game that could help them Sunday night?

Dave: Wow, I can't really think of anything. That's a little bit of an exaggeration; we did throw for a lot of yards and utilized Jason Witten and the rest of the receivers pretty well. It's what we didn't do that we need to learn from, so I'll go ahead and answer your next question now because we didn't do enough of anything well in that first game. We gave up on the running game way too early, we didn't give Felix Jones any touches and we couldn't stop the run. Those were failures of the coaches and on the defensive players, especially with all the missed tackles.

See everyone, Cowboys and Redskins fans can again have a discussion without name-calling, underhanded jabs or keyboards thrown.

Thanks again to Dave Halprin from Blogging the Boys for his breakdown of the game from Dallas' point of view.