Let’s all take a deep breath, and – for just a moment – forget that Monday night ever happened. Yes, it was a tough loss. But this is Dallas week.<\/p>\n
Dallas week.<\/p>\n
And for Redskins fans, the prospect of a Dallas game has not felt this good in a decade.<\/p>\n
Nothing can match the satisfaction that Skins fans experienced while watching Monday Night Football in Week 2 of last year. The Cowboys, expecting the Skins to perform as if Spurrier were still their coach, treated Washington like a homecoming game, and used the Monday Night platform to honor three of their greatest players in the \u201cRing of Fame.\u201d <\/p>\n
Indeed, the first 56 minutes of the game were all Dallas: It was Texas Stadium on a Monday Night; Aikman, Smith, and Irvin were all honored; Emmitt Smith guest-commentated in the booth; the Cowboys took a 13-0 lead in the 4th quarter, and ABC was quick to point out that Coach Bill Parcells was 77-0 when leading by 13 or more points in the fourth quarter. It was all Dallas, all night.<\/p>\n
All Dallas, that is, until the last 3:56. Then it was all Redskins, with Mark Brunell and Santana Moss creating two touchdowns seemingly ex nihilo<\/i> and giving Washington its most exciting finish of the season. What made it even better was that the Brunell-to-Moss bombs were virtually identical to each other. The scene has been forever sketched in our minds: Moss runs a fly route and whizzes by Aaron Glenn and Roy Williams, Aaron Glenn waves his arms in a futile gesture as Moss brings in the pass from Brunell, and Roy Williams trips over himself as he can only watch Moss from behind\u2014too far away for any chance at a horse collar tackle. <\/p>\n
Rinse, let the D do its thing, and repeat. It was magic.<\/p>\n
Yes, nothing could match this euphoria for Skins fans\u2014that is, until Week 15 brought the Cowboys into a loud and proud FedEx field. Washington simply walked all over Dallas the entire night. Brunell was in solid form, throwing for 163 yards and 4 touchdowns<\/b>. Portis carried the ball for 112 yards and had a 5 yard-per-carry average, while Sellers caught another one of his patented 2-yard, goal-line touchdowns. Chris Cooley had a career night on Dallas\u2019 linebackers and secondary, catching 6 passes for 71 yards and 3 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
On defense, the Skins made Dallas look like a practice squad, forcing Bledsoe to throw 3 INTs. Marcus Washington sacked Bledsoe twice, and Philip Daniels dropped Bledsoe 4 times. 11 out of Dallas\u2019 13 drives ended in a punt, a missed field goal, or a turnover. By the time Dallas managed to put a single point on the board, it was the 4th quarter and the score was 35-0.<\/p>\n
Troy Aikman, the color commentator for the game, put it this way: “The Redskins have just manhandled the Cowboys and shown they are better prepared and wanted it more. This is about as bad as you can beat a team on both sides of the ball.”<\/p>\n
As a Redskins fan it is tough to pick a favorite win from last year. Is it Monday Night\u2019s 14-13 thriller, stealing one from the Cowboys on their special homecoming night? Or is it the 35-7 slaughter-fest with playoff implications? Decisions, decisions.<\/p>\n
And what about the future? Is it possible that we\u2019ll taste a victory as sweet this season? With the rivalry “renewed,” can we expect another nail-biter that will ultimately brings tears of joy to one team and tears of heartbreak to the other? The Skins-Dallas history is rich with tales of close games and heroics, with clutch last-minute performances and heart-wrenching flops. For Redskins fans, Dallas week contains all of the passion, excitement, nostalgia that football drama can offer. <\/p>\n
The truth is that anything<\/i> is possible when Dallas week rolls around. The Cowboys seemed to own us for 8 seasons, but last year could not have been better for Skins fans, nor worse for Cowboys fans.<\/p>\n
This is a rivalry that will never die. There may come a decade every now and again where the rest of the nation doesn\u2019t recognize it, but to Washington and Dallas fans, these are the 2 most important weeks of the year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Dallas week, baby. Come check out the view with us from The Cheap Seats.<\/p>\n
-Daniel Coleman<\/i><\/p>\n
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Daniel Coleman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"