Film shows just how much Fletcher Cox dominated Redskins

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I actually feel bad for the Redskins’ backup offensive guards who had to try to stop Fletcher Cox on Sunday afternoon with a playoff berth on the line for the Eagles. 

If you don’t want to see the evidence of how well Cox played, just know that he dominated. 

If you want to see how much he dominated, stick around. 

Cox had the second three-sack game in his career, with all three sacks coming in the fourth quarter, but he was an absolute game-wrecker for 60 minutes in the 24-0 win. He enters the playoffs as a Pro Bowler at the top of his game.

It started early against Washington. 

This is the second Washington drive. They doubled Cox for a lot of the afternoon as most teams do, but when he was in 1-on-1 situations, these poor guards had no chance. 

Here he is against Luke Bowanko, who is about to learn just how long of a day this is going to be for him. 

Josh Johnson got the ball out of his hand quickly for a seven-yard pickup on 1st-and-20, but Cox just moved a 305-pound man like it was nothing. 

On the very next play, (2nd-and-13), the guard is going to get help from the center and it still doesn’t really matter. 

Johnson moves out of the pocket thanks to the pressure from Cox and Bennett and throws an incompletion. The Redskins punt two plays later. 

This is the last play of the first quarter. The Redskins had three offensive yards until this point, but Cox is about to make sure they have just two going into the second quarter. 

The whole play is heading toward the offense’s left. We think of Cox as being this super powerful guy, but he makes a play like this and you remember how savvy he is too. 

At this point, the left side of the field is stacked against Adrian Peterson, so he’s going to try and bounce it back to his right, but Cox is seeing this the whole way and stops to wait for AD and makes a TFL. 

Smart, heads-up play from Cox here. 

The Eagles’ best defensive player is about to go through this poor No. 69 again. Bowanko wasn’t signed by the Redskins until November and the former sixth-rounder had no answer for Cox on this play. 

I like this from Cox because Bowanko didn’t get good leverage and space between he and Cox, so the wily vet let his right shoulder do the work as he pushed the guard back. Then he nearly sacked Johnson over top of the 6-6 O-lineman. This would have been his first sack of the day. He could have ended up with four if he got this one. 

OK, let’s get to the sacks. 

This time, Cox is going to be 1-on-1 against Kyle Fuller, who didn’t sign with Washington until Dec. 11. Guess how this went. 

Not sure about their assignments, but maybe Washington should have had Chase Rolllier helping to block the best player on the field instead of looking toward the side with two defensive ends. Just double Fletcher Cox. Just double him. 

The Eagles didn’t fall on the ball, but it was fourth down anyway, so it was a turnover on downs. It was also one of two forced fumbles on the day for Cox. 

This time, Cox is going to get a 1-on-1 vs. the center, but the part that amazed me about this play wasn’t his strength or his smarts as we’ve seen before … it was his speed. 

Johnson is going to get out on the run and Cox is going to run him down. 

This looks like a hold, but Roullier didn’t hold for long. The amazing thing is that as big as Cox is, he was able to run down a fast QB. 

The great part about this play is that Johnson first thinks he can simply outrun Cox, but when he realizes he can’t, he tries to cut back inside. That doesn’t work either. This is sack No. 2. 

The last sack comes off the third different offensive lineman. The Eagles show blitz with Nigel Bradham, so there’s 5-on-5 up front, which means a 1-on-1 for Cox. 

This time, he’s back on No. 69 and this is just a great player winning a 1-on-1 easily against a guy who is simply outclassed. 

Almost too easy. 

As the Eagles head into the playoffs, they won’t face guards who joined their team a month or two ago, but Cox is a handful for anyone. He has a unique ability to ruin a game for any offense. And he just happens to be playing his best football right now. 

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