DALLAS — No other NFC East foe has won more times at FedEx Field in Washington more than the Cowboys. Not the New York Giants, not the Philadelphia Eagles, but Dallas owns the best record for a NFC East opponent in the Beltway confines at 14-7.
Originally named "Jack Kent Cooke Stadium" after the second-ever owner of the team, the Cowboys earned their sixth win in that building on Sept. 27, 2004. Both Dallas and Washington were bringing 1-1 records and former great coaches from the NFC East of 20 years prior into the match-up with Bill Parcells on the Dallas sideline and Joe Gibbs with Washington. And on Monday Night Football, it was the NFL's range war on television's largest stage.
By the way, it was also on Dallas-Fort Worth's biggest stage, WFAA. The Cowboys were 42-32 on the then-Belo owned TV station at that time.
The two sides traded three-and-outs to start the game, and the third series of the game featured a challenge apiece by Washington and Dallas. So, ABC and their sponsors were winning by 7:57 to go in the first quarter with the commercial breaks.
On the second drive for the Cowboys from their own 17-yard line, quarterback Vinny Testaverde, filling in for Quincy Carter who was cut during training camp, led the Cowboys on a six-play scoring drive. He was largely aided by a 40-yard pass interference call on defensive back Walt Harris against receiver Terry Glenn that setup the Cowboys at the 1-yard line. Running back Eddie George of Tennessee Titans fame punched it in to put Dallas up 7-0 with 4:09 in the first quarter.
Washington was quarterbacked by Mark Brunell of Jacksonville Jaguars lore. The organization had let him walk in favor of their young quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and David Garrard. Brunell put together three consecutive three-and-outs before finally getting Washington on the board with a 14-play, 91-yard drive that led all the way down to the Cowboys' goal line. Washington could not pass, literally, as Brunell missed a connection with tight end Chris Cooley. Washington had to settle for a 19-yard John Hall field goal and the Cowboys led 7-3 at the break.
After trading punts to start the second half, the Cowboys started first-and-10 at their own 20-yard line. George carried and lost a yard. Meh. Then, Testaverde completed a 48-yard pass to receiver Antonio Bryant, a 23-yard pass to wideout Keyshawn Johnson, and then a 10-yard pass to second-year tight end Jason Witten to give Dallas a 14-3 lead with 8:53 to go in the third quarter.
Washington responded with a 14-play, 62-yard drive that took forever. How do you squeeze out 14 plays with that length of the field to drive? Brunell got his first touchdown pass of the game when he completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Rod Gardner. By the way, this was the second time of the game Washington passed on the goal line on third-and-goal. Dallas still had the lead 14-10 with 48 seconds to go in the third quarter.
Dallas and Washington traded three-and-outs, which, again, ABC and their advertisers won with those two series with how quickly the network could go to commercial. Not to mention, the first play of the fourth quarter was a Washington punt, so another commercial break.
But the Cowboys got their act together on that drive, and fullback Richie Anderson was the star of the series. On third-and-5 from the Dallas 33-yard line, Testaverde threw to the fullback for 28 yards. On the next play, he threw to Anderson again for a gain of 13. On first-and-10 from the Washington 26-yard line, Parcells dialed up a trick play and had Anderson toss a touchdown to Glenn on a halfback pass to give the Cowboys a 21-10 lead with 13:08 left to play.
Safety Tony Dixon and defensive end Greg Ellis harassed Brunell on the ensuing drive with back-to-back sacks that gave Washington a third-and-27 from the 50-yard line with 8:26 to go. No chance of that being converted, so Dallas got the ball back and couldn't ice the game, but they were hopefully the fact Washington was down two scores would do it.
First-and-10 from the Washington 36-yard line with 4:45 to play, and Brunell connectedd with Gardner for 49 yards. He then hit him again for a 15-yard pass to trim into Dallas' lead 21-16. Then, Brunell found receiver Taylor Jacobs for the two-point conversion to make it a field goal to tie at 21-18 with 4:38 to play. The Cowboys may have won 66 of the 105 games these two teams have played but they're never easy.
All Dallas had to do was pick up two first downs to ice the game. Unfortunately, they were only able to pick up one of them as a false start on left tackle Flozell Adams pushed Dallas back to a first-and-15 at their own 34-yard line. George lost a yard on the next two carries, and the Cowboys ran him again on a third-and-16 for five measly yards. Rookie punter Mat McBriar booted it away and Washington took over at their own 24-yard line.
It was a fire drill with Washington having no timeouts after having blown their third and final timeout challenging Anderson's touchdown pass to Glenn earlier in the quarter. Brunell was able to find Gardner for nine yards with 13 seconds to go. Then, Gardner caught a deep pass for 46 yards down to the Cowboys' 31-yard line, but time expired before Washington could get Hall and the field goal unit onto the grass field to attempt a 50-yarder to tie the game and send it into Monday Night Football's first overtime game since Oct. 6, 2003 when the Indianapolis Colts beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-35 in a Monday Night Miracle.
This Sunday, it won't be under the prime time lights that Dallas and Washington hook up, but they are teams with still a lot of optimism left in the season despite some very embarrassing early moments. Heaven knows there will be passing from the 1-yard line in this game by both sides, but whoever calls the halfback pass for a touchdown might take first place in the division.
Will the Cowboys pad their 66-39 all-time series lead in this one-sided rivalry against Washington on Sunday or is Washington up to the task of keeping the Cowboys down on the road? Make your predictions to Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
