Cowboys-Redskins rivalry survives changes

[TK]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/sports/topstories/stories/110103dnspocowlede.1ff11.html

Cowboys-Redskins rivalry survives changes

Game remains special, even during free-agency era

02:44 AM CST on Saturday, November 1, 2003

By TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News

IRVING – Sunday might be Bill Parcells' first taste of the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry, but that does not mean the coach is not aware of what it means. He did not need a tutorial.

"I am very aware of the history of this franchise as it is directed toward the Redskins," Parcells said. "I know about coach [Tom] Landry and George Allen. I know about it. I saw it.

The NFC East lends itself to these sorts of rivalries because, for the most part, all four teams have been successful. Rivalries are normally reserved for colleges: Texas-Oklahoma, Michigan-Ohio State or Florida-Tennessee.

"This is one of the games in the NFL where you have a college-type atmosphere," Cowboys defensive end Greg Ellis said.

Free agency might have lessened the hatred between the teams, because a Redskin today could be a Cowboy tomorrow. But to the fans it remains the same. Eagles fans hate Redskins fans, who hate Giants fans. And they all hate Cowboys fans.

As for the players, years ago they spent the majority of their careers on one team and never mingled.

"Listen, when I was coaching the Giants, if they weren't wearing blue, I didn't like them," Parcells said. "That's just basically the way it is. It's not personal. I have people within other organizations I've known, but if they weren't wearing blue – at that point – I didn't like them. It wasn't personal."

Said safety Darren Woodson, a veteran of these games since 1992, "It's about the uniform."

Tight end Dan Campbell does not know if he hated the Redskins while growing up in Glen Rose, Texas, but he remembers he wanted to watch when the Cowboys played them. He has a unique perspective on the NFC East, because he spent the first four years of his career with the Giants.

He is unsure if the feeling around the training facility is because it is Redskins Week or because the Cowboys are coming off of a 16-0 loss to Tampa Bay.

"I think everybody kind of knows it's different [this week], but nobody has to really talk about it," Campbell said. "We've got to look at it as just another game, but it's a game you want to win for obvious reasons, and one of them is that it's a rivalry.

"Now all that may change after I get a taste of the Cowboys playing the Redskins. Then it might be a little different."

La'Roi Glover did not know any better last season, his first with the Cowboys.

"You can be 0-and-whatever, but when you play the Redskins, it ups the ante a little bit," Glover said.

The Cowboys hold a 50-34-2 edge in the all-time series, and they have won 10 of the last 11 against Washington, their best stretch since the rivalry began in 1960.

"It hasn't been a rivalry until we renewed it last year," Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington said. "Obviously, it's been dominated by the Cowboys. There's wins and losses in rivalries, not just wins on one side all the time."

Parcells is not much of a fan of history. He discounted it three weeks ago when he prepared his team for Philadelphia, which had beaten the Cowboys six straight times, and he will not talk about this rivalry either.

"I look at it as this is an important game for the Dallas Cowboys at this point and time," Parcells said. "I think it's probably the biggest we've played to date at this time, to tell you the truth."

E-mail tarcher@dallasnews.com