That game was a just a little bit too close. The Redskins were good and Jason Campbell is now on my radar permanently. I knew some about him before but after reviewing his game from last week for the Scouting Report and watching him today, he’s looked impressive.
I guess the rivalry thing really does work in the pros too, or maybe the Skins are getting better because Campbell is getting better. Either way, I’m not looking forward to playing them at the end of the season now, especially if it means something for us at the time.
The game started just like it has for us over the last few weeks, driving down the field for a TD. But once Andre Gurode hit Tony Romo in the facemask with a snap, and then proceeded to send a few more over his head, the Cowboys were struggling. We still haven’t found the running game we had earlier in the year and that isn’t encouraging.
I thought the pass rush was basically limited to DeMarcus Ware and our entire secondary couldn’t cover a lick. We gave up too many 3rd and longs and you can't do that and be considered a good defense. After all the progress on defense over the season this game seemed like a step back. I will give them credit for limiting the amount of points scored in ratio to the amount of yards they gave up, and also for some good run defense, but it still wasn’t a satisfactory performance overall.
Here’s the twist though, given all the bad plays and bad things we can find about this game, we still won it. We won again in the NFC East and remain perfect in NFC play. Everybody has to play through games like these – except for New England – and win them if you want to secure the top-seeds in the conference playoffs. It’s winning while not playing your best that is the measure of successful teams. So for all this game's faults for the Cowboys, it’s still a win and we are now 9-1. I mean think about that, how good does that sound?
The Associated Press has discovered the Cowboys secret to victory.
Their secret? Throw it to Terrell Owens.
Wow, I haven’t been so excited to finally find out a secret since Geraldo showed me what was in Al Capone’s safe. I kid!
T.O. has transformed himself from troubled player, to pod-person, to semi-deity. I mean seriously, the guy has been sick over the last few weeks.
"What can you say about a receiver who catches eight passes, four for TDs?" Phillips said.
I can say that the haters need to get in the back of the line because I’m lovin’ me some T.O. right now.
Now that he plays on defense, I think our secondary will improve.
"My assignment was to knock the ball down and I knocked the ball down," Owens said. "Interceptions are not going to do me any good. If that's a drop, that's a drop."
And he still has his sense of humor.
Credit Paul Pasqualoni for a huge play in the game. The Redskins interception that was overturned on review was all due to the fiery assistant.
"Coach [Paul Pasqualoni] said he might not have caught that ball," Phillips said. "We were in dire straits. I credit coach Pasqualoni in the press box."