NFL Games of the Week: Week 17

NFL Games of the Week: Week 17- Washington Redskins v Dallas Cowboys


Fedex Field is the venue for this weekends Sunday Night Football and for V2s game of the week. It's the final week of the regular season and there is plenty up for grabs, particularly in this rather tasty match up. It's truly a winner takes all encounter, the victor will claim the NFC East crown, also securing a home Wildcard spot. There is a possibility that their NFC East colleagues in New York could sneak in if Dallas lose and the Giants win. In the NFC North, we have the Vikings and Packers clash, where Adrian Peterson is trying to break Eric Dickerson's single season rushing record of 2,105 yards, the last time the Packers met the Vikings, Peterson rushed for 210 yards, he will need to have a similar type of performance to beat the record. Peterson needs 208 yards to beat the record and I feel it may be an insurmountable task for the Vikings running back.



Things have changed since I last previewed the Cowboys for their week 9 clash against the Falcons. Back then, they were 3-5 and the outlook was relatively bleak, the playoffs seemed to be a pipe dream. The Cowboys are on a pretty good run of form winning 5 of their last 7. The key to their renaissance has been their passing attack and the emergence of Dez Bryant as a bonafide top receiver in this league. Bryant's stats from week 9 to week 16: 47 receptions 823 yards, ten touchdowns. Bryant had his struggles earlier on in the year, I recall the Chicago game where he had a couple of big drops and was in my opinion at fault for a Tony Romo interception. Most fans will be aware of the whole situation Bryant has off the field with his "handlers". Maybe they have steered him in the right direction who know but Bryant is certainly on the right track at the moment. He can feel aggrieved for missing out on the Pro Bowl (as a Buccaneers fan I can also say that Vincent Jackson could also be annoyed at Victor Cruz's inclusion!) and his performance last weekend against the New Orleans Saints was arguably the finest performance by any receiver in the league this year (9 catches, 245 yards and 2 TDs.). Tony Romo has also improved somewhat, while I was one of those who believed that Romo was doing a fine job at the QB position and that improvements were needed in other areas (Bryant was one of those who could have been replaced as a number one receiver) such as the offensive line, Romo wasn't superb in some of his earlier outings this year. Like the rest of the offense though, things have improved dramatically, from the Week 9 game against the Falcons, Romo has thrown for 17 TDs and only 3 interceptions. Romo has a 68% completion percentage, and an average QB rating of 108.6 across this 8 week spell. Simply, I don't think there are many other Quarterbacks who are playing better than him right now. The Cowboys and Romo have a reputation of not performing well in December or when the pressure is on, this season, they seem to have shrugged off this tag a bit. I think their defence could do with some work however, they are not creating turnovers at all and if they are to make it to the playoffs, they will need to generate some. The Cowboys have only created a measly 16 turnovers all season, and their defence is bordering on quite poor. They lie 19th in terms of yards given up but 23rd in points given up per game. Perhaps most importantly for a game against the Redskins with incredible talents like Alfred Morris and Robert Griffin III able to run the football, they lie 17th in run defence, they will need to put out all the stops this weekend to stop the Redskins in their tracks. Their offense has been key to their victories in the last while, and their defence has been relatively average bar one decent outing against the Bengals. The Redskins can also fling it as they proved in their victory over the Cowboys earlier on in the year, RG3 threw for 4 TDs. The Redskins offense is a potent machine, the Cowboys will need to step up their efforts to keep Romo and co. in the game.



The Redskins have continued their winning ways since I last talked about them in Week 14. The Redskins have won their last 6 games, what makes this more remarkable is that they won one game without rookie sensation RG3. Fellow rookie Kirk Cousins filled in for the Redskins QB in the latter stages of the Ravens game, spearheading a drive that led to a TD at the end of regulation which tied the game and then led the Redskins to a game winning field goal in overtime, quite remarkable stuff. Cousins also deputised for the injured Griffin in the game against the Cleveland Browns. Cousins made one particularly amazing play. While it's not exactly advisable to throw into triple coverage, Cousins threw to Leonard Hankerson who made a brilliant play for the TD. I mentioned the Redskins prolific rushing attack above, they rank first in the league despite having 29 less attempts than the 2nd place Seattle Seahawks. Running back Alfred Morris can feel hard done by in the Pro Bowl stakes, he is 4th in the league in rushing, ahead of Frank Gore by some distance. We all know about RG3 and his ability to run the ball he has totalled some 752 yards this year, quite astonishing. The Redskins offense is 4th in the league in terms of points scored per game, they are certainly up there with the best, a lesson the Cowboys learned on Thanksgiving day when the Redskins beat them 38-31.