Four Downs: Rex looking for first win vs. Cowboys

By Ryan O’Halloran
CSNwashington.com

1st Down
How are the Redskins using their tight end personnel near the goal-line. Here’s a snap-by-snap look during the first two games of plays from the 10-yard line in: 

NY GIANTS

1-G-1 – Chris Cooley, Logan Paulsen, Fred Davis. (Hightower 1R TD)
2-1-6 – Davis (Armstrong 6P TD)
1-G-9 – Cooley, Davis (Hightower 0R)
2-G-9 – Cooley (Hightower 5R)
3-G-4 – Davis as a WR. (Gaffney 4P TD)

ARIZONA

1-G-10 – Cooley (Hightower 5R)
2-G-6 – Davis (Grossman incomplete)
3-G-6 – Davis (Grossman INT)
1-G-10 – Cooley (Helu 7R)
2-G-3 – Cooley (Hightower OR)
3-G-8 – Davis (Grossman throwaway)
1-G-9 – Davis (Grossman incomplete, penalty)
1-G-1 – Cooley, Davis, Paulsen (Davis 1P TD)
3-2-12 – Davis (Grossman incomplete pass)
1-10-11 – Davis (Helu -3R)
2-13-14 – Davis (Helu 5P)
3-8-9 – Davis (Gaffney 4P)

TOTALS

Davis: 13 of 17
Cooley: 7 of 17
Paulsen: 2 of 17

2nd Down
How the Redskins fared in their third game the last five years they started 2-0:

2007: Lost 24-17 to the Giants.
2005: Beat Seattle 20-17 in overtime.
2003: Lost 24-21 to the Giants.
1991: Beat Phoenix 34-0.
1986: Beat San Diego 30-27.

3rd Down
Quarterback Rex Grossman will be facing the Cowboys for only the third time in his career.

2010 (with the Redskins): Lost at Dallas, 25-of-43 passing for 322 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.

2007 (with Chicago): Lost to Dallas at home 34-10, 15-of-32 passing for 195 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions.

Grossman is 2-0 in Monday night games. 

4th Down
The Redskins will be making an appearance on ‘Monday Night Football’ for the eighth straight year. During Joe Gibbs I, the Redskins played 22 times on MNF, including seven straight seasons of at least two appearances.

The last five results:

2010: vs. Philadelphia, lost 59-28.
2009: vs. Philadelphia, lost 27-17; vs. NY Giants, lost 45-12.
2008: vs. Pittsburgh, lost 23-6.
2007: at Philadelphia, won 20-12.

Overall, the Redskins are 26-33 on MNF.

 

Comments

[TCO]

1. The 1st/2nd down thing is annoying.

2. Only the first stat was at all interesting. The other three were the kind of stupidity that you hear on tout shows and just means nothing. Also, they are very different from each other in implication and would be better treated segregated.

3. Also there is no discussion of the implications of the analyses on the tight end numbers. I guess what comes out of it is:

A. Davis is used even more down near the goal, than his percentage in open field (have to crunch that, if not the implication is same usage).

B. Paulson was only used in 3 TE packages for short yardage.

C. Interestingly almost no 2 TE Cooley-Davis packages (probably a lot more in open field). Seems like the opposite of what one would expect.