Cowboys blow 20-point lead, rally late to salvage three-point victory. Jason Witten (above) led the way offensively, racking up a touchdown and a season-high 140 yards receiving. (AP Photo/Sharon Ellman)When your defense is this bad, even a 27-7 lead in the third quarter against a journeymen quarterback starting his first game in two years isn't safe.
The Dallas Cowboys (5-9) struggled yet again to keep a bad offensive team from lighting up the scoreboard, this time it was newly christened starter Rex Grossman and the Washington Redskins (5-9) who supplied the fireworks. Grossman threw for a career-high four touchdowns, two during the Redskins fourth quarter rally alone, and 322 yards - only the second time in his eight year career he has gone over 300 yards passing.
The Cowboys defense did step up to force a Redskins punt late in the fourth, sacking Grossman two straight times to push the Washington offense back 17 yards to the 8-yard line - setting up the offense in great field position near midfield.
Dallas then drove 31 yards, setting up the David Buehler 39-yard field goal that was good just inside the right upright.
Buehler nailed 3 of 4 field goals for the game (thanks to the Cowboys blundering some great field position early in the contest) along with the game-winner for the second straight week.
"I'm just happy I got that opportunity," Buehler said.
After being burnt for long passes and being apart of blown coverages throughout the second half, Cowboys' cornerback Terence Newman supplied the game-ending interception on Washington's next drive; reversing field twice to run out the clock and seal the Cowboys' victory.
"I'd take an ugly win over a hard-fought loss any day," Newman said.
This certainly is an ugly win and, watching it from home, you kind of hoped for the Redskins to complete the comeback - hey, they had already come that far - so the Cowboys have a better draft pick in April. It looks like the Cowboys will likely go 1-1 (beating the Arizona Cardinals and losing to the Eagles) and finish the season at 6-10, which still doesn't guarantee a top-1o pick as six teams have worse records than the Dallas and another five match them at 5-9.
This defense obviously needs a major overhaul - Dallas is on pace to set the franchise-record for points allowed in a season - and the status-quo is not going to cut it next year for a team that is supposed to be going into the 2011-2012 season with renewed Super Bowl aspirations. Combine that with an aging and mostly ineffective offensive line and your looking at an 8-8, 9-7 football team next season if everything goes right.
A top-1o pick to either draft a difference maker or trade down to get more first round picks is imperative for Dallas to rebound next season.
What's Next:
Dallas has a Christmas evening matchup with a former division foe in the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals have struggled mightily after the departure of Kurt Warner and various other starters on both sides of the ball as a result of the fallout from losing the former MVP. Arizona is 4-10 this season and is coming off a 19-12 loss to the Carolina Panthers, who are the only NFC team with a worst record (2-12) this year.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. central time, and can be seen nationally on NFL Network.
News and Notes:
- To add to his huge night, with 10 receptions for the game, Jason Witten become only the fourth tight end in NFL history with 600 career catches and is the fastest to do so in only 125 games.
(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)
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