Dallas Cowboys defense shines against Redskins
The Dallas Cowboys are back above .500 thanks to a defense that overwhelmed its opponent for the second straight week, this time against the Washington Redskins.
It was known early on that the weather in Washington, D.C. would be chilly and wet for Sunday’s Week 8 match-up between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins. This would not be the kind of game that would see a ton of passing yards put up – and probably not many points either.
The Cowboys, still riding defending NFL rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott as hard as possible, had no intention of taking a bunch of chances downfield, which they didn’t. While Elliott set a career-high for carries in a single game with 33 for 150 yards, the Dallas coaching staff knew that a recently surging defense had to duplicate its dominant performance over the San Francisco 49ers last weekend.
The Dallas Cowboys defense was up to the task.
The last time a Cowboys defensive player intercepted a pass was all the way back on Week 2 during a blowout loss to the Denver Broncos. Could anybody join rookie cornerback Jourdan Lewis in the pic column?
Well, with the Redskins trying to make a 13-26 game a contest in the fourth quarter, rookie defensive end Taco Charlton tried, but he couldn’t prevent the ball from hitting the ground during his athletic attempt.
Moments later, virtual rookie linebacker Jaylon Smith gave an even better effort on an errant pass from Kirk Cousins, but that ball also hit the ground despite a fantastic attempt by the former Notre Dame star who’s finally finding his niche in the NFL after a horrible knee injury in his final game with the Fighting Irish in January of 2016.
With a half minute remaining in the game and Washington now down by just seven points and the ‘Skins 88 yards away from potentially tying the game with no timeouts left, third-year safety Byron Jones intercepted a pass tipped by stud-defensive tackle David Irving before scampering across the field for the game-clinching touchdown in a 33-19 win that shouldn’t have even been that close.