Redskins 28, Cowboys 18 — Postgame Recap

In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel wrote that a good man can undo his entire reputation with one evil act. For Tony Romo, he undid his entire December winner reputation with an evil interception inside the Dallas 25 yard line. It was Romo’s third interception of the night. Alfred Morris punched it in with 1:08 remaining, to give the Redskins a 28-18 win, their fifth series sweep in rivalry history, and the NFC East championship.

Tony Romo finished 20/37 for 208 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Robert Griffin finished 9/18 for 100 yards, but had 6 rushes for 63 yards and a touchdown. Alfred Morris was the true MVP of the game with 33 carries for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. Dez Bryant had 4 catches for 71 yards, and Jason Witten had 7 catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Dallas played like its typical “same ol’ Cowboys” self. On their first possession of the game, after Dwayne Harris set up the Cowboys at the Redskins 27 with a good return, Tony Romo threw a pick. Thankfully, the Redskins couldn’t do anything with it, but Romo threw another interception on the very next drive. Again, the Redskins did nothing with it, thankfully.

Linebacker Rob Jackson celebrates that Romo Claus gave the Redskins the NFC East for Christmas.

On the first drive of the second quarter, Tony Rom hit Jason Witten on a 9-yard touchdown after going 78 yards in 11 plays. The Redskins responded right back with a 17-yard Alfred Morris touchdown run. At halftime, it was 7-7. The Redskins went ahead with 3:17 left in the third quarter to go up 14-7. Dallas countered with a 49-yarder from Dan Bailey to be down 14-10. Alfred Morris, who had gashed the Cowboys’ defense the entire night, ran for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 21-10. On the next drive, Romo took a sack on third down, but thankfully the Redskins weren’t able to do anything and Dwayne Harris set the Cowboys up at the Redskins 16. In three plays, Romo threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Ogletree and then completed a two-point conversion to Dwayne Harris on a fade route to narrow it to 21-18.

All the Cowboys need was a stop, and they got it with 3:33 left at their own 15 yard line. What more could you ask for from an offense and a quarterback that had 3 fourth quarter comebacks in this month alone?

How about a picked off screen pass to Demarco Murray? This was worse than Joe Theismann’s lob in the flats at the end of Super Bowl XVIII.

Now, it was 21-18. If the Cowboys held the Redskins to a field goal and Dallas burned all their timeouts, they could get the ball back and go ahead and have a chance to win the game on a touchdown. They almost had that chance on 3rd and 7 from the Dallas 12 when Griffin’s pass fell incomplete. But the referees threw a roughing the passer flag on Jason Hatcher. Alfred Morris banged it in 3 plays later and the NFC East was Washington’s for the first time since 1999 — the year The Matrix came out and your mom was storing Spam in an underground Y2K shelter.

For the Washington Redskins, anything is possible. They face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, as the Dallas Cowboys join the Eagles and Giants on the losers’ couch. For Tony Romo, everything he did in December 2012 is ashes. He cost the Cowboys the biggest game of the season with a lob in the flats under pressure. The pressure won’t end as the Dallas-Fort Worth mediots now have their off-season agenda. Fans and mediots alike will stand in Victory Park to draw and quarter him, or maybe he’ll be thrown in effigy off of Reunion Tower. Whatever the case, this off-season will be roughest for Romo and the questions won’t go away about his clutch abilities.

For Jason Garrett, he will get somewhat of a pass for rallying this team despite the injuries and Josh Brent’s drunk driving that killed teammate Jerry Brown. For Rob Ryan, he could be interviewed for any one of the vacancies given the fantastic job he did couching this depleted defense that had players missing and injured.

For the second time since 1990, the Dallas Cowboys will miss the postseason for three consecutive years. Pick a team to adopt again, Dallas, for your Cowboys haven’t seen the postseason since Nancy Pelosi wielded her gavel in Congress.