Thinking back to facing the Redskins at RFK

It's now been twelve years since the Redskins played at RFK, which is amazing when you consider that it's still standing. When the Redskins played there, particularly against the Cowboys, it was deafening. "The fans would stomp or bounce and ENTIRE rows would move up and down in rhythmic waves like an earthquake " to quote Skip Bayless, the respected Sports Journalist who used to cover the Cowboys. He also quoted in a book called THE BOYS written back in the Jimmy Johnson Super Bowl era, "watch too long from the opposite side of the stadium and you could get dizzy". He also went on to say how " sometimes the noise itself seemed to be rocking RFK on it's rickety foundation". Pretty good idea coming from someone who had been to an actual game inside there. With only 55,045 capacity, the stadium was described by Bayless and others as having the feel of an oversized minor league ballpark. It was a pretty intimidating place for the most part for the opposition. But I could have the best "DID YOU KNOW?" of all time when it comes to the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry. And it puts in proper perspective what this rivalry has been all about in terms of forgetting the records. Now this year, at least on paper, these are two evenly matched teams. But who can forget 1995 when Dallas lost both games to a Redskin team that went 6-10 on the year yet the Cowboys went on to win the Super Bowl still? Or 1991 when the Redskins were a dominant team for the last time in the Gibbs first era and really to date for that matter? The Redskins would win the Super Bowl that year and were 11-0 when the Cowboys, who were a year away from their dominant run, came in at 6-5, lost Troy Aikman to injury in the third quarter, and Steve Beurlein came on in relief to help preserve the 24-21 Cowboys win and lead them to the playoffs. But the did you know is an amazing overlooked stat. Going back to the abysmal days of Tom Landry's final year of 1988 and Jimmy Johnson's first year of 1989. The Cowboys would lose ten straight in '88 before beating the Redskins in RFK to knock them out of the playoffs. The Cowboy lost the next week to Philly in the regular season finale to finish 3-13. In 1989, the Cowboys then went 1-15 with their only win at RFK, again knocking the Redskins out of the postseason. DID ANYONE KNOW , for that matter, that were it not for those two upsets at RFK, games that that Cowboys group had no business winning, Dallas would have lost 28 straight games?! The all time NFL losing streak record would belong to the Dallas Cowboys without those two upsets. Think about that. And ofcourse, the dubious honor of going 0-16 in 1989. And somehow, the Cowboys avoided all of that by winning back to back games at RFK against what was then one of the better teams in the NFL. The losing streak would have gone, without those two wins, from October 1988 until the opener of 1990, when Dallas beat San Diego

winning at Fed Ex Field

Well the Redskins have lost twice here this season despite their 6-3 record and the fact that they did Dallas on the road. The Rams somehow won here. And the Redskins weren't missing any significant players like when the Cowboys got embarrassed the following week in St. Louis. The Steelers came in and made the Redskins look somewhat bad. And that game was sandwiched between two Pittsburgh home losses. The only thing keeping the Steelers from a suffering a three game skid was their 23-6 win at Fed Ex Field. The Cowboys haven't won here since a Monday Nighter in September of 2004. And aside from a young Jason Witten, I don't know if any of the current Cowboys were even on that 2004 squad. That 2004 wasn't very good. The Redskins weren't good that year either, which was Joe Gibbs' first year in his return stint with the team. That year Philadelphia was a power at 13-3 on their way to the Super Bowl while the rest of the NFC East all went 6-10. Eli Manning was a rookie for the Giants, who were bad too. Now every team in the NFC East is above .500. It's funny how the Cowboys were in this stretch where they beat Washington thirteen of fourteen from 1997-2004, including nine straight at one point. And the Cowboys record in that eight year span was 55-73, with three playoff visits and no playoff wins ofcourse. Since 2005, however, the Cowboys have gone 36-21 but only 2-5 against the Redskins. And twice in that time, Washington has managed to win in Dallas. The Cowboys dropped a meaningless regular season finale last year at Fed Ex field when they were resting players and had the NFC's number one seed locked up. Two years ago, the Cowboys blew out the Redskins in week 2 in Texas, and then blew the game in Fed Ex field in November of that year. The going against the Redskins has been tough these last few years. The Cowboys probably should have won three of those games that they lost to Washington since 2005 but what's done is done. Winning this Sunday will atone for the earlier setback against the Skins and also put the Cowboys firmly in control of their own destiny, which they control. Winning this week will is priority number one. Forget everything else. This team will be locked in and focused. They are due, due to win in Washington for the first time in four years, due to bust out with a couple of game changing big plays, due to have Romo, Felix Jones, Terrence Newman, and Kyle Kosier back, and due to finally resemble at least somewhat, the team that everyone billed them as at the beginning of the year and after their first three games. It's up to them to decide if this can still be the year. Could they get it going and be that team? Maybe like the 2005 Steelers? Or last year's Giants? I know what ended up happening last year, noone saw coming. And in 2005, the talk was about the Colts going unbeaten and for good measure, they soundly defeated a Pittsburgh team that fell to 7-5 and made the Colts 12-0. And a month or so later, the Steelers knocked off the Colts and Broncos and were headed to the Super Bowl. Last year the Giants ofcourse lost twice to the Cowboys who won the NFC East going away. New York only went 3-5 at home. I don't think anyone's ever done that and made the playoffs much less win the whole flippin' thing. The Cowboys have the talent but do they have the leadership? If the Redskins play like they did against Pittsburgh sure Dallas ought to win. But it's an important game for the Redskins too. So they'll be up obviously. And I expect Portis to play. Dallas needs to take away the run. And for hell's sakes, somebody get on Santana Moss and Jam Chris Cooley. And Romo needs to be Romo. Oh, and the Cowboys need to run the ball more than eight times like last time these teams met. Big game. Might as well be a playoff game for Dallas.

A big game this Sunday

This Sunday, the Cowboys, who trail the Redskins by a game, go into FedEx Field where they haven't won since 2004, the last time they swept the two annual meetings with the Redskins. The Cowboys know that if they lose, they will fall to 5-5, and be two games behind the Redskins, and essentially three games behind them for one of the wild-card slots. The Redskins will have swept the season meetings with the Cowboys and therefore own the tiebreaker if the two teams were to still SOMEHOW finish with identical records. A loss would leave the Cowboys fighting for a final wildcard-spot most likely with suprising Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Philly, Green Bay, Chicago, and Minnesota. Whoa! No Thanks! In other words, I predict that a loss on Sunday will almost put them out of contention. Forget the division title for now, it's about making the playoffs. Make the playoffs, it's anybody's game. But if you don't get there................well no excuses. Romo, Felix Jones, Terrence Newman, and Kyle Kosier will be back on Sunday. Lots of shoring up. But the team can't wait for a half to get going. And don't buy the 50-50 thing on Clinton Portis' status. I think he'll play, albeit not 100% but I would be suprised not to see him at least take a whack at it. Win Sunday, and it's a huge step in the start of the playoff chase. But a loss could really prove to be too much to overcome. Nobody expected the Cowboys to be in the middle of the pack at this point of the season. Nobody. But it is what it is and the time is now or else it's on to next year.

I'm ready for next week already

Well, it was a much needed week off for the Cowboys as the lick their wounds. But I'm probably like most Cowboys fans in that I'm ready already for next week. A win next week puts them at 6-4 with the lowly 49ers and almost equally hapless Seahawks back to back at home. The latter game against Seattle is on Turkey Day, with extra time to get ready for the December 7 clash against Pittsburgh. Speaking of the Steelers, how about two games at home that they let slip away, to the Giants and Colts(today) sandwiching an impressive road win against the Redskins last Monday Night? By the time the Cowboys play the Steelers, they could be about as healthy and fully strengthed as they've been all season, ESPECIALLY if they go into that contest 8-4. But it's one game at a time for Dallas. Washington is a must win game considering that the Redskins stole one in Dallas in late September. It seems that since that game EVERYTHING has fallen apart for the Cowboys. Every bad break. You name it. Namely the injuries. Losing Romo hurt the most, obviously. That was resoundingly proven. The Cowboys just need to remember that they control their own destiny for the playoffs. PLAYOFFS!? Anyways, they can't worry about anyone else. They just need to beat Washington and then look ahead to the next opponent. That simple. They need to get back the swagger that they had. The one that they had before the first Redskins game. And the Redskins may be 6-3 but their offense has struggled too. Whatever break that Dallas can get in catching them right, they'll take and they need to score early and often. 28 points will definitly win this game. That's the only prediction that I'm making. If Dallas scores 28 they will win for sure. 24 might be enough too, the way the Skins offense has struggled as of late. If Dallas gets up in this one early, they could very well be back on track.

The BYE week and the good news

The Good news is that the BYE week is finally here and the Cowboys therefore don't have to play another game this week without Romo namely who wouldn't necessarily be ready if there was one this Sunday. But because there isn't a game this Sunday, he'll be that much better come Sunday Night the 16th. The Cowboys ever since the Sunday Night Football in America telecast started at the beginning of 2006, have been on it seven times winning six of those times. The lone defeat was against New Orleans back on December 10, 2006 at home. That was a game that saw the Cowboys make a few mistakes early on, get behind the eight ball and then getting carved up by Drew Brees. It was also only Tony Romo's seventh start. The other games on Sunday Night with Romo at the helm were his first start against Carolina on Oct. 29, 2006, a 35-14 win. The 2007 opener on Sept. 9 against the Giants, a 45-35 win. Then again three weeks later at Soldier Field, a 34-10 rout of the Bears. On November 4, 2007, on Sunday Night, this time in Philadelphia, Romo and the Cowboys ransacked the Eagles 38-17. And on Sept. 25 of this year, in Green Bay, the Cowboys won, believe it or not, their first ever game at Lambeau, and again in convicing fashion, 27-16. So that's good news, playing at Washington, who lost Monday Night at home to Pittsburgh, on Sunday Night. Romo returns. So does Felix Jones, Offensive guard Kyle Kosier, and in the secondary, Terrence Newman. Could Pac Man maybe not be too far behind that? Also, could the Cowboys be signing CB DeAngelo Hall, cut today by the Raiders. I'll say one thing, if we think that the Cowboys are a train wreck, they are still 5-4 with key players, namely one of the five best QBs in the game, coming back. But nothing compares to the Raiders. Al Davis is scenile. Period. I've talked to some Raider Fans, asking them if they think that Al Davis needs to sell the team. Their response: He just needs to Die! Hope we're not saying that someday about Jerry Jones. I don't think so. He's not as bad as he used to be. The guy wants to win and he's far more willing to swallow his Texas-sized Ego at least to some degree. There was a time early in this decade where I really thought that Jones should sell the team. But he's got a little bit more self-restraint than he used to so let's give him some credit. I sure got off on a tangient.

Well, I just kind of got frustrated on Sunday because of the fact that our defense had three takeaways against the Giants. The only problem was, as we GAVE IT AWAY four times. We were going into that game with a hand tied behind our back arguably. If we don't turn it over, we would have been in it. That said, our team didn't just roll over. But, wow, I thought our offense would still be able to do some of the things with Brad Johnson, not like Romo, but more than 14 points a game. I feel really bad for Brad. I think that he deserved better but he's still a part of this team, and he's been around and I think he's been a big help as the holder for place kicks and field goals as well as with the coaching staff. He's just not what he once was. He wasn't ever the most mobile but more than this. And he used to have a quite an arm and just doesn't anymore. I think he did what he could. He did lead us to a win over Tampa Bay, which was the very least that the team needed to be able to do. I think he could've beaten the Rams, but the whole team was just not ready to play that one. But enough said. Romo is back, as are the other aforementioned. And beat the Redskins on Nov. 16, and we're at least in second place. The division title might be out of reach, however, remember this: We play the Giants again in December, where we'll look more like ourselves again. The Giants only have three more home games. They have to go to Washington, play Philly twice still, go to Dallas where the Cowboys definitely will be pumped up, they have a tough Ravens team to play. They have to go to Phoenix. The Cards have proven that they can play with anyone, at least at home. So the Giants could still lose a few of their remaining eight games. Easily. But the Cowboys first and foremost, want to get into the playoffs. The rest will take care of the rest. The Dallas Cowboys goal is to make the Playoffs at this point. They control their own destiny. And in the thirty two starts by Romo, Dallas has averaged 28 a game. That fact alone is encouraging. When you average 28 a game, you have a chance to win almost each time out. 23-9 record in those games. Good to have him back. Hopefully, he won't have much rust to knock off.

Obituary on the three game disaster stretch

The Bye week didn't come nearly soon enough. Dallas is losing badly in the second half, thanks mainly to four turnovers in their own side of the field and the ineffective play of Brad Johnson and with Brooks Bollinger going even worse. Down 28-7 in the third, it's painful to even watch so I've bailed off of the Titanic at this point. The three game stretch was a disaster. A disaster. Yes, I know they won one, luckily, but today renders it almost meaningless. No fight. No heart. Nothing. And the Bye week will be a time for them to evaluate the season, as far as do they even want to salvage it.

My Favorite win against the Giants

My favorite win against the Giants was one that I didn't even get to see, an extreme rarity. I was in the Midwest on a cold Sunday the second day of 1994. This year was actually the first time that the NFL regular season had spilled over into the New Year. I was living in Utah then like now but visiting my then Fiancee' in her hometown of Geneseo, Illinois. I would marry her the following Labor Day Weekend and then we'd split some three years after that (me unscathed NO KIDS!) I had been visiting there over the Holidays while she was living and going to school there and working a waitressing job, saving for the upcoming day of ours. I was out here in Utah doing the same and would be heading back home later that day (early evening) after a two week visit. I was 22 years old and the Cowboys were on their way to their second straight Super Bowl under Jimmy Johnson. The 1993 season had been chaotic for Dallas. Emmitt Smith held out the first two games and Dallas, distracted by the drama of it, started out 0-2. He and owner Jones finally came to an agreement on a deal that made Emmitt the highest paid player in the game at least for the moment. Smith returned and the Cowboys went 12-2 the rest of the way but had to go into the cold windy hostile Meadowlands on the for the regular season finale to face the suprising Giants who still had veterans Phil Simms and Lawerence Taylor. Michael Strahan was a rookie then. The Giants had gotten drilled by the Cowboys in early November at Texas Stadium 31-9 but they had otherwise played stout defense and safe conservative offense and had beaten just about all the teams on their schedule that they were supposed to beat, giving them an 11-4 record heading into this showdown against the mighty Cowboys. The Cowboys had the same record coming in and had been thinned a lot by injuries to key players, most of them playing through it. Plus everyone was out to knock off the Cowboys. And I didn't get to see the game because they showed a game between I think the Rams and Bears, two teams that weren't even going to the playoffs. I couldn't figure that out. The winner of Cowboys-Giants would have the NFC's number one seed and they were showing a game that nobody gave a freaking damn about . And the updates and scores that you see of other games throughout games nowadays didn't happen so much back then, when it was just occassional. So then I finally see them mention, "In overtime, the defending Super Bowl Champion Cowboys defeat the Giants 16-13 to capture another division title and lock up the NFC's Number One seed and homefield throughout" Wow, I remember not even caring about any style points. I knew that Dallas was vastly superior to that overachieving Giants cast but I also didn't care how they'd done it but that they had. And was PO'd that I didn't see it. It was probably on out here. I actually had stayed in Illinois for two days longer than originally planned because of some snow storm rolling in and I remember having to call my employment place back here at the time to arrange for a couple of more days off. The story of that game however that I didn't get to see is legendary ofcourse. Emmitt Smith separating his shoulder right before the half in a game that was close to being a Dallas blowout. It was 13-0 Cowboys at the half and the stats were twice as lopsided. But the Cowboys went conservative in the second half, made a couple of miscues that allowed New York to creep back in it and the game went into overtime. The Giants won the toss and got the ball first but the Dallas Defense stopped them cold, the offense took it down with the injured Emmitt Smith getting most of the touches and they got close enough for the winning Field Goal from 41 yards out by veteran Eddie Murray. And the Cowboys would get their much needed rest before rolling through the playoffs. Emmitt Smith was able to come out of the playoff wins over the Packers and 49ers when the outcomes were each secure by the start of the fourth quarter. He was back to just about 100% by the Super Bowl where he was MVP in defeating Buffalo. That win over the Giants, even though I didn't get to see it, is my favorite one of all time against them to date because had Dallas lost that game, it would have been a much tougher road trying to get back to the Super Bowl. Other considerations ofcourse include the 30-29 Sunday Night Thriller at the Meadowlands in week five of 1985. The win later that year in Dallas against them to clinch Landry's final division title at the helm. The 1986 opener when Herschel Walker scored the winner on a 10 yard draw late in the fourth quarter on Monday Night. Week Two of 2003, another overtime thriller at the Meadowlands where PK Billy Cundiff nailed seven field goals uncluding the game winner for Parcells' first win as Dallas' coach. And the December 2006 showdown at the Meadowlands as well, when Romo hit Witten on a long pass down the sideline to set up PK Gramactica's winner. But I'd take the 1993 season finale because that's the highest the stakes were between the two as far as the ones that Dallas won. Would a win tomorrow for Dallas top the list of the ones mentioned though? Absolutely!