By: Taren Vaughan
This was Donovan McNabb’s first regular season appearance as a Washington Redskin. Playing in one of the biggest rivalry games known to NFL football, the bar has set high. And McNabb rose to the challenge.
McNabb had 171 yards passing, hitting only half of his 32 attempts for his debut game as the Skins starting quarterback. The score remained 3-0 until a Dallas fumble occurred at the near end of the 2nd quarter. The Redskins capitalized on it, resulting in a touchdown. Instead of being only 3 points down, the Cowboys went into the locker room down by 10. Probably should have taken a knee guys.
Although they ended the half on a sour note, Romo and company were able to re-group. Tony Romo hit wide receiver Miles Austin several times throughout the game, resulting in 10 catches for 146 yards for Austin, one of which he scored a touchdown. Even with a sound effort from Austin, this was by far not a good night for the Cowboys offensively. And the penalty flags were raining on the field all night long, with the majority on them at the fault of Dallas.
But at the very last second, and I do mean last, Romo hit Roy Williams for a pass in the end zone. Redskins’ fans grew quiet for moment but were instantly revived after the referees waved off the touchdown. “Bad News” Barron cost the Cowboys the game, at the final second of the 4th quarter on a holding call. Cowboy nation was livid to say the least. Hopefully, the team didn’t make him find is own way back to Dallas after that bone head move.
Aside from the careless mistakes made, Dallas still has that force that could land them at the top of their conference. As for the Redskins, acquiring McNabb may have been the one addition they needed to get them out of their losing slump. The season has just begun and both Romo and McNabb have proven that they can handle themselves well in pressure-filled situations.
