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| Rookie RB Alfred Morris holds the Redskins' record for rushing yards in a season and carried the team to the NFC East title against Dallas. Photo credit to Redskins.com |
So with 11 playoff spots already determined, only one was
left to award, the NFC East champion. The winner of the Dallas
Cowboys/Washington Redskins matchup on Sunday Night would win the division and
host the Seahawks in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The loser would go
home empty-handed.
It was a fantastic game. As a Redskins fans, I couldn’t
breath for about half of it. But it was everything the NFL fan in me could hope
for – a close game where every play mattered, where mistakes and successes were
amplified.
The Redskins offense took a while to get into a rhythm, but
their defense came up with interceptions on two very poor passes by Tony Romo
to keep Dallas from scoring, despite moving the ball well early on. The second
interception was by fellow DeMatha grad and Terps alum Josh Wilson.
The Cowboys did strike first with a touchdown pass to Jason
Witten on a controversial play – it looked like Tony Romo got the snap off
about a full second after the play clock expired, but no flag was thrown.
Washington struck right back with a long drive of their own,
culminating in a 17-yard touchdown run by Alfred Morris, his first of three
scores on the day.
Kai Forbath missed his first field goal of the season on a
windy night in Landover, but the Redskins defense came to play in the second
half and all but completely shut down the Cowboys, who have been significantly
better in the final quarter all season. Dallas did score 10 points in the
fourth quarter, but the Redskins scored more and came away with the NFC East
Championship.
Alfred Morris had a terrific game with 200 yards to go with
his three touchdowns. The sixth round draft pick broke Clinton Portis’ team
record for rushing yards in a single season.
Morris was my MVP of the game, but my runner-up was
absolutely DeAngelo Hall. I give him a hard time, and I will absolutely not say
that I have been wrong to do so. He’s had good games in the past, but more
recent performances make those games look like flukes. Who knows, last night
may have been a fluke, too. But right now it doesn’t matter, because after a
rocky start early in the first quarter, Hall played shut-down defense all
night, taking away Dez Bryant and allowing Washington’s blitz packages to work properly.
He may make a fool of himself against Seattle, but he was a hero last night.
And it’s hard not to feel bad for Tony Romo. He is a quality
quarterback, but he is now 1-6 as a starter in elimination games in Week 17 or
the playoffs.
It was a fantastic season and it ended in a way I never
would have expected, with a fantastic division championship game between two
bitter rivals. Not focus turns to the postseason.
I am not yet sure what I will publish tomorrow. I may write
a 10 Things post or I may come up with something else. Ideas are certainly
welcome. Wednesday I will publish my predictions after The All-Sports Crew show. Thursday I will publish previews for
Saturday’s wild-card games and Friday I will do the same for Sunday’s.
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