No no. With the exception of Barron, the Oline was quite good. Seriously.
Offensive line analysis Week 1 vs Redskins
Doug Free
Played 67 snaps. Had 4 negative plays. Allowed 2 QB pressures, 0 QB hits and 0 sacks. His first negative play came on a run that was designed to go to the right, but Witten failed to seal his man to the left, forcing Felix to go left where Free's and Holland's man made the tackle. I don't really fault Free too much on this play as he initially made a good block and Witten's failed block is what ultimately upset the play, but he could have done a better job keeping his hands on the guy and finishing the play til the whistle. His second negative play came on a bull rush from Orakpo where he got shoved backwards pretty good and basically surrendered a QB pressure. His third negative play came on a pitch to the left where he and Deon Anderson pulled to the left. Free and Deon basically targeted the same guy and kind of got in each other's way. If Free had turned upfield and allowed Deon to take the wider angle, he could have picked up the defender that ultimately made the tackle on the runner. Guess this one was a case of the right hand not knowing what the left would do, and Deon may have been just as much at fault. His 4th negative play was a QB pressure allowed, though Romo had kind of moved to the far left side of the pocket, so it was easy for Free's man to come around the edge to Free's left to get in Romo's face. If you're wondering about the false start that was called on Doug Free, it was actually Holland who false started, the ref got it wrong. Free was adequate in the running game, rarely whiffing on a block but not really dominant at the point of attack either. He got sufficient push though.
Montrae Holland
Holland played 67 snaps and had 8 negative plays. All but one of Holland's 8 negative plays came on pass plays. The one negative play that was a running play was the play mentioned above with Free where Witten's initial failed block blew the play up, but Free and Holland's defenders made the tackle because they failed to stay locked on through the whistle. 6 of 8 of his negative plays came on pass plays where he allowed pressure. His other negative play was a pass play where he false started, and the ref called the penalty on Free, but the replay clearly shows that it's Holland who starts to rock back a little early. Holland looked pretty good in the running game showing good strength and adequate balance when pulling and looking for LB's. He also had one pancake though Gurode already had hands on the guy, so it's not like he single handedly pancaked the guy.
Andre Gurode
Gurode played 67 snaps and had 2 negative plays. His first one he allowed a sack from a blitzing LB and was also called for holding on the same play, which was declined. His other one he allowed a QB pressure.
Leonard Davis
Davis played 67 snaps and had 1 negative play which was a QB pressure allowed. Very good game by Davis.
Alex Barron
Last but not least. Barron played 67 snaps and had 10 negative plays. 3 of his negative plays were holding penalties. His 2nd penalty turned what would have been a first down pass to Witten into a 3rd and 21. And of course everyone knows about the penalty on the last play of the game. 2 of Barron's 10 negative plays were on running plays. The other 8 were on passing plays. He allowed 5 pressures in addition to his 3 holding penalties. I think it should also be mentioned that Barron was penalized on the play before the Choice fumble. So had Barron not been penalized, that play likely would have never happened. Not his fault that Choice fumbled, but he did contribute to the play in a backwards sort of way. He was also pretty bad in the running game, but I didn't mark it as a negative unless he simply fell on his face or got shoved backwards pretty good. But rarely did he actually drive any defenders backwards and create any space. His "positive" plays were more stalemates where he got in the way enough that his defender didn't make a tackle.
So as you can see, the backups are backups for a reason. Both Holland and Barron did pretty bad, but at least Holland was good in the running game. This analysis means I'd really like to see the Cowboys run the ball more often should Holland and/or Barron have to play again. Hopefully Kosier and Colombo can return and play like their old selves. If they do, I think this offense can be special again, as Free, Gurode and Davis played pretty solid games against the Skins.
I also noticed in re-watching the game that alot of people were upset about the play where Marion Barber would have scored a TD but Wade Phillips had called a timeout. After watching it again, I noticed that London Fletcher stopped running when he heard the whistle, and Fletcher had the angle on Barber. Barber would have had maybe a 5 or 6 yard gain assuming Fletcher makes the tackle. So don't feel like we got cheated there, because that would NOT have been a TD.
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Sorry, LL but that doesn't look like a good performance to me.
