Redskins defeat Cowboys in Dallas

Following an opening weekend loss to the Superbowl champion New York Giants in which the Redskins offense looked completely inept, Washington has responded under first year coach Jim Zorn by bouncing back with three straight victories.  Sunday’s win—26-24 in Dallas—was obviously the biggest yet.  It was the last meeting of the two heated rivals ever in Texas Stadium (the Cowboys move into a new stadium next season) and represented the Redskins 5th win against Dallas in their past 7 meetings.

Tony Romo had a decent game passing for the Cowboys, but the Redskins defense completely shut down Dallas’ rushing attack holding the team to 44 yards on the ground.  Marion Barber was limited to just 26 yards on eight carries and failed to score a rushing TD for the first time this season.  Statistically, the game was fairly even but the Redskins dominated the time of possession battle (38:09 to 21:51).
Dallas scored first on a TD pass by Romo as the first quarter was drawing to a close.  In the 2nd frame, the Redskins responded with 17 unanswered points but a Dallas FG with time expiring cut the Washington halftime lead to 17-10.  The Redskins offense bogged down somewhat in the 2nd half, but three field goals by Shaun Suisham provided the final margin of victory.

Redskins coach Zorn tried to maintain perspective despite the victory:

"It feels good watching our players take these strides. The football team believes in what we're doing and that feels good.  I've always said this is going to be a process. We have to maintain our composure after this win, too. We're not going to the Super Bowl next week."

On the other side of the ball, Cowboys’ QB Tony Romo remained resolute in defeat:

"The reality of it is, you have the opportunity to go 16-0 every year in the regular season, but that's not realistic. We're a confident bunch. I think we'll come back next week with a lot to prove."

The Cowboys should be confident heading into next weekend’s game, as lowly Cincinnati will travel to Dallas.  The following two weekends will see Dallas travel to Arizona and St. Louis.  The Redskins, meanwhile, play at Philadelphia next weekend followed by home games against St. Louis and Cleveland.