Redskins Newsletter

Volume 12 #10

November 20, 2007

Redskins lose to Cowboys 28-23

How did the Dallas Cowboys find a way to defeat the Washington Redskins 28-23. The formula was to throw it to Terrell Owens. His touch down catches of 4, 31, 46 and 52 yards was all the scoring the Cowboys needed to get to 9-1 for the first time since 1983. And Sunday’s win was their third in a row against division opponents.

Redskin’s cornerback Shawn Springs may have lost his concentration in the game. He was beaten on several of Owens' touchdowns, and later said he was overcome by emotion during warm-ups because he was thinking about his father, former Cowboys running back Ron Springs, who is comatose at a nearby hospital. "It was tough for me," Springs said. "It brought back a lot of memories of coming to this stadium as a kid."

Campbell was 33-of-54 for 348 yards, the most by a quarterback since Coach Gibbs returned to Washington in 2004. Santana Moss, playing with a specially rigged cleat to protect a bruised right heel, caught nine passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. Chris Cooley caught eight passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

Washington led 10-7 with just under four minutes in the third quarter when the momentum of the game shifted to the Cowboys. Dallas challenged an interception by Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh which would have given the Redskins the ball on the Dallas 3 yard line. Officials ruled the ball had hit the ground, and McIntosh's protests were ignored. "I cupped the ball, that's all I know," McIntosh said. From there the Cowboys went deep on the next play, moving 51 yards on a pass-interference penalty. Then the Cowboy really got in full momentum getting three touchdowns on their next 13 snaps. From then on the Redskins were playing catch-up ball. Of the called back interception Coach Gibbs said: "I'm just curious how close it was. I want to see it myself." And of the game he said: "We've got to find a way to make a couple of more plays.”

The Redskins were always in contention during the game and made things interesting in the end. With under two minutes to play, Jason Campbell and team were on the Redskins 19 yard line, and trailing by five. Campbell throws the go ahead touchdown pass into the arms of Dallas cornerback Terence Newman, and the Redskins loss another game after leading at half time, (their 14th during Coach Gibbs reign and the fourth this season). "I should have just tucked the ball and run as hard as I can," said Campbell.

Another factor in the game was injuries and inexperienced replacements. Dallas targeted second-year safety Reed Doughty, who made his first career start after Sean Taylor was injured. He was charged with a 51-yard pass interference call on third down. Doughty was later replaced with veteran Pierson Prioleau in the fourth quarter. Then on third and 19 from the 31, rookie safety LaRon Landry came in rather than staying deep, allowing Owens one of his four touchdowns. "With both of those guys on the back end, [the mistakes] came in an untimely fashion," said Gregg Williams,. "I appreciate their fight, but we looked inexperienced a couple of times."

"You make the wrong decision in a split-second and you lose the football game," Prioleau said. "You make plays you win football games and you give up big plays and you lose them. Sometimes it's not about the other team; sometimes it's about me, this person right here. It's about the guy next to me and us in this locker room, what we do to win football games and what we do to lose football games."

"A loss is a loss," center Casey Rabach. "Until we learn how to make the big plays it won't do us any good."

Next Game: Redskins at Tampa Bay next Sunday at 1:00 P.M.

Trivia: Last week’s question was: What was the first year of the George Allen reign?

1971: In George Allen's first season as Coach, the Redskins win their first 5 games with newly acquired QB Billy Kilmer. The Redskins would only play mediocre football down the stretch, but their 9-4-1 record was good enough to earn them the Wild Card spot. In their first playoff game in 26 years the Redskins faced the 49ers in San Francisco, and would take a 10-3 lead into halftime. However, the 49ers would make a thrilling comeback to end the Skins season with a 24-20 win. (Even back then the Skins could not win in the second half.)

This week’s question: In 1972, the Miami Dolphins had a perfect 17-0 season. Who did they play in the Super Bowl?

beganjrfl@comcast.net