Around 11:30 Sunday night I was definitely happy. The worries of an increasing academic load were suddenly lighter. My Cowboys had defeated the hated Redskins 14-10 at a hostile FedEx Field for a huge win, stunning the 90,000-plus in attendance.
The win was that much sweeter for the Cowboys, who badly needed to boost their chances of making the playoffs. Additionally, it was against their arch-rival, who handed them their first loss of the season in Big D Sept. 28, perhaps starting the tailspin that saw Dallas drop three of its next five games and go from first in the NFC East to last, prompting a flood of questions as to whether they would even make the playoffs.
This was a very important game, and I had to give it my all as a fan. After the Virginia basketball game against VMI where I wore my ‘Hoo Crew T-shirt, I took a special trip to my car to get my Tony Romo jersey and bring it to The Cavalier Daily office. (Note: I had worn it this past weekend when I was visiting my girlfriend. No, I don’t keep it in my car and throw it on when I want to tick someone off.)
Despite the forthcoming kickoff, I was busy fulfilling my editing duties at 8 p.m. and once the game started, I would do a little work and spin around in my chair to try to catch every play. I watched in vain as the Cowboys went three-and-out on their first offensive possession and let the Redskins march down the field quite easily and go up 7-0.
The Cowboys, however, showed resiliency uncharacteristic of their time under coach Wade Phillips. Though the offense was slow to get going, Dallas tied the game in the second quarter with a Marion Barber run and played solid, hard-hitting defense throughout the game — as did the Redskins — befitting of the nature of the rivalry.
My optimism following the Cowboys’ first score turned into disbelief when Rock Cartwright returned the kickoff for Washington all the way down to the Dallas 37, leading to a field goal to put the Redskins up 10-7 at the half.
As I finally found time to don my jersey at halftime though, I still had liked what I had seen through the first half. Dallas was sticking around, and Romo had thrown really only one bad pass, which was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall. A second interception came when Terrell Owens was decked by Carlos Rogers, popping the ball into the air where it was intercepted by Rocky McIntosh. The Cowboys, despite only scoring 7 points, were beginning to move the ball down the field and seemed to be on the verge of more scores.
The hard-fought game continued into the second half; neither team scored in the third quarter. Dallas finally broke through with 10:36 left in the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Romo to rookie tight end Martellus Bennett, who looked nothing like a rookie on the catch as he was blanketed by two defenders but still hauled the pass in. John Madden said Romo made a great pass on the play, and while I agree, it was a poor decision and could’ve been intercepted. One of Romo’s best plays of the night, though, was the play before on third-and-7 when Romo scrambled around and showed his playmaking abilities, shoveling a pass forward to Miles Austin for a crucial first down.
The Dallas D held firm for the rest of the game, and “Marion the Barbarian” and the offensive line enforced their will on Washington’s defensive line, eating up precious time. I gleefully watched the clock slowly tick down and my peppered yelps of joy and arm-raising drew chuckles from some of my fellows staffers, but I didn’t care, as Dallas eventually squeezed out a road win against the Redskins, 14-10.
Dallas now sits tied with Washington at 6-4, along with Atlanta, for the second wild card spot in the NFC. Tampa Bay, at 7-3, stands just ahead, alone in the first wild card spot.
The return of Romo, cornerback Terrence Newman and offensive lineman Kyle Kosier no doubt helped the Cowboys, because Romo infused life into a stagnant offense, Newman stopped a Redskin drive into Dallas territory with a big interception during the middle of the third quarter and Kosier was at least partly responsible for the strong game Barber had running the ball.
The win for the Cowboys was no doubt great for them. If they had fallen to 5-5, with tilts against the Steelers, Giants, Ravens and Eagles still to come, making the playoffs would have been a tall task. At 6-4 and home games against subpar San Francisco and Seattle up next before the tough gauntlets already mentioned, the Cowboys stand a good chance of moving to 8-4 if they can take care of business.
Unfortunately, however, a big win for the Cowboys has negative side effects as well. The media is back on the bandwagon singing praises for the team. Some fans are making ridiculous statements on message boards again as if they go into hibernation during the bad times only to spring up again when the team gets going.
So, please, can we take a dose of reality with our bloated optimism? I’m as excited as anybody and believe Dallas has a chance to make a strong second-half push into the playoffs and hopefully beyond. But the reality is, we are tied for the second wild-card spot and look like we are still behind teams such as Arizona, Carolina and of course, the Giants in terms of looking like a playoff team. So let’s just save the hoopla for a possible late-season run.
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