The Washington Times is Dead Wrong on Dirty Play Article

Whatever. 

To me it looked like there was a hit on westbrook. I watched the game too, but man every face called and a couple that wasn't called were on 36west. I mean I dont blame westbrook for also grabbing the defenders facemask too. I mean if I was the one getting my head whip-lashed all night I would get pissed and purposely stiff arm to the face mask. Those picture only do justice for Brian Westbrook.

A few things, both hands are not on the facemask. If you look at the picture, the angle presented is deceiving. It would be impossible for both of his hands to be on the facemask. Secondly, an offensive player cannot grab a defensive player's facemask whether it is stiffarm or not. You are a complete fool for coming over here trying to argue that the pictures do not prove anything. 

One more thing.  Your little pictures don't really prove anything as there is no was to tell who initiated the contact.  Who's hand was there first.  Although again it doesn't matter if Westbrook's is there because its a legal stiff arm and I doubt that a stiff arm will twist the person's head around like the face mask that draws a penalty does.

Uh numbnuts the first picture is a downright dirty play.  Man what 3 times his size with both hands on his face mask dragging him down twisting his head around while at it.

For the rest, again numbnuts, that's called a stiff arm.  Most of the great RBs have used it and its completely legal until they change the rule.  I believe there has been some talk about it but for right now what he's doing there is legal.  On the other hand what the Cowboys players are doing is by rule illegal.  Please learn the game of football.

One incident is a mistake but the number of times it was done seems to point to a trend.  Now was it intentional.  I'm not saying injury was intended but was it a calculated plan to stop their best player or was it just in the heat of the game and possibly their best option to take him down and they took it.

Does anyone even read the times? I dont...The ink on the times actually smears onto your hands (no Joke) thats how crappy their newspaper is hahaha I pick up the express in the morning when I riding the metro to work...im so glad im not a fan of these crap ass sports teams here in DC...they suck ASS!!!

"We all knew the Washington Times was a right-wing garbage paper, and a horrible place to work, but we also now know that no one at that paper knows anything about sports,"

LMFAO same thing I was thinking and low and behold you wrote it perfectly!!!

As far as why he wrote the story....... it's washington the sports teams suck here. caps are slightly above average. arenas barely plays yet makes ridiculous amounts of money. skins are arguing on the radio and showing xxx pics. dc united... who? nats blow. They've only got the cowboys to watch and stew about.

the post is flaming liberals and the times is entrenched on the right... i wont pick either them up off the seat when riding the metro

There's no doubt that there was a lot of emotion in this game, and while some of this stuff is intentional (you all know it, if someone says something about momma you better watch your ass), a lot of these facemask incidents are unintentional. It happening to Westbrook is mostly because he is THE GUY for the Eagles. He gets receptions and carries more times than not, and the guy is low in his cuts also, so when a 6'5" guy goes to tackle him with his arms and he is only at hands reach, he will find a handle on something if he can.

As far as the equipment goes, a lot of this has to do with player preference. New equipment comes out all the time, and these guys usually wear what they know. Take McNabb for example. Helmet too big and jersey too tight. It is for a reason. You can't grab a tight jersey and if someone even gets close to the facemask on a loose helmet it looks like his head is about to fall off. AND it works. WHY CHANGE? It's obvious this guy hates the Cowboys and that was the reason for this article. The coaches aren't asking these guys to intentionally do this crap. Come on.

Intentional or not, they sure was a lot of "dirty" illegal plays. Asante Samuel had his face mask grabbed at the end of his interception return, Trent Cole nearly got his head taken off by Flozell Adams on the long TO TD, McNabb was hit late twice, and somebody dived on Jason Avant's leg after he was already down on the ground.

It could all just be a bunch of unintentional coincidences, or the Cowboys coaches could be encouraging dirty play. Nobody knows for sure except the players and the coaches.

Thanks Dave. This article was horrible and yellow journalism. The Cowboys should sue the Washington Times. He says the coaches told players to do this? That is insane!

I hate to say it, Dan.  But you are right.  There was nothing especially dirty about the Cowboy's play on Monday night.  I think Daly doesn't understand the rules changes with the elimination of the 5 yard face mask.  There is no doubt this is causing confusion nationwide.
One of the biggest problems with NFL rules today are that the equipment makes following some of the rules more and more difficult.  You can't lead with your helmet?  OK, makes sense, but with the giant neckbrace and rolls of padding back there, how am i supposed to lead with anything else?  I can't grab the face mask?  Makes sense, but they get bigger and bigger every year.  I can't horse collar tackle?  Fine, but when a guy is running away from me wearing slick, heat shedding artificial materials, what am I supposed to grab on to?
The NFL needs to pay more attention to its equipment.  For instance, why can't the visor that many players use extend fully over the facemask?  That way there's nothing to grab onto.  Why aren't the pads made of the lighter, more flexible materials available out there that the military is even using as body armor?  If the equipment was lighter and more functional, maybe they could avoid some of the accidental injuries and penalties.
At any rate, the Cowboys are no saints, but to say that they are being coached to be dirty is an exaggeration.  Particularly since we have umpteen billion hours of their coaching tapes in HBO vaults right now.  Every team is guilty of individual dirty plays (Roy Williams comes to mind) but there is nothing systematic about any given dirty play the Cowboys have commited.

-DW