IRVING, Texas - Other than losing the game, and seeing his starting quarterback on the turf for several minutes, head coach Jason Garrett was rather annoyed by another aspect from Monday's game:
Poor tackling.
"That's the biggest thing that jumped out at me from watching the tape is the tackling," Garrett said on Tuesday. "And unfortunately for us, a few of those plays were possibly tackles for loss. We have him trapped in the backfield and they wiggle free and they make a 10-12 yard run, an 18-yard run, those plays hurt you. And some of our best tacklers, didn't tackle well."
Specifically, guys like Barry Church and Rolando McClain both missed their share of open-field tackles. Church called it the worst game of his career and described his own play as "terrible."
The Redskins ran for 123 yards on 31 carries for a 4.0 yard average. Alfred Morris led the way with 73 yards on 18 attempts. There was a big play in the third quarter when Washington trailed 7-3 and had first-and-25 but Roy Helu ran for 18 yards to get the Redskins back in position to score. On the play, Helu broke at least three tackles down the left sideline for a big chunk of yards. Two plays later, they took the lead.
McClain ranks second on the team with 57 tackles, while Church is third with 52. The leading tackler is Justin Durant with 61, but he's now likely out for a while, if not the entire season, with a torn bicep injury.
"The best defensive teams tackle well and we've did that a lot this year," Garrett said. "Those games should be four or five yards are four or five yards because we have a lot of guys to the ball and a lot of hats around the ball and we make tackles. We didn't' do that as much as we need to (Monday) night."
