SportsNetwork: NFL Preview - Dallas (8-5) at Washington (5-8)

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NFL Preview - Dallas (8-5) at Washington (5-8)

12/11/2003

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10650831&BRD=1710&PAG=740&dept_id=353124&rfi=6

SportsNetwork Game Preview

By Chris Catania, NFL Correspondent

(Sports Network) - The Cowboys try to end a two-game losing streak and shore up a playoff spot on Sunday against the Redskins, who avoided their second four-game losing streak of the season with a win against the Giants last week.

The Cowboys were blown out for the second game in a row last week. Dallas lost a huge NFC East showdown in Philadelphia, 36-10. Despite a two-game skid, Bill Parcells has the Cowboys on track to return to the playoffs. Dallas can clinch a berth with a win combined with a Minnesota win, Green Bay loss and losses or ties by San Francisco, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Seattle. While some luster has faded from the Cowboys' star, Parcells said it's important to remember the big picture. Dallas is 8-5 and controls its playoff destiny.

"I realize it's doom and gloom around here," Parcells said in a press conference this week. "And that's fine. But I'll remind all of you. If someone says we are 8-5 going into the last three weeks of the season, you guys would have a Conga Line here before the season started."

Parcells has told the Cowboys the two losses will be soon be forgotten if they win down the stretch. "What I will tell the team is that they're not going to be judged by what has happened to this point," Parcells added. "They'll either be a team that had a pretty good opportunity and let it get away or a team that kind of got the ship righted and accomplished quite a bit this year. That's pretty much how the season will play out, one way or the other. That's really where we are right now."

Washington ended a three-game losing streak with a 20-7 win against the Giants in Tim Hasselbeck's first career start at quarterback. Hasselbeck, who was a ball boy for Parcells as a teenager in New England, will start the final three games for the Redskins after Patrick Ramsey was placed on injured reserve. The Redskins won't be in the playoffs this year, but a victory would be the franchise's 500th and would harm the Cowboys' playoff hopes.

A win would also be sweet for Redskins veterans who have experienced lots of losing to Dallas. "I try not to look at it as payback, but I want to beat them bad," cornerback Champ Bailey, a five year veteran said. The Redskins have only one beaten the Cowboys once during Bailey's career.

SERIES HISTORY: Dallas leads the series 51-32-2 and has dominated even more in recent seasons. The Cowboys have won 11 of the past 12 meetings.

The teams played earlier this year in Dallas. On November 2, Dallas won 21-14 as Troy Hambrick had 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 21 carries. Dallas blitzed the Redskins relentlessly in that game. The pressure helped the Cowboys overcome four turnovers and a pair of penalties that wiped out touchdowns. The last time the teams played at FedEx Field was December 29, 2002.

The Redskins ended a 10-game Cowboy win streak in the series with a 20-14 victory. Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington forced two fumbles, with one leading to a second quarter touchdown. Parcells is 12-8 against Washington. Redskins coach Steve Spurrier has a 1-2 record against Dallas.

COWBOYS OFFENSE VS REDSKINS DEFENSE The Cowboys' offense has been on life support of late. Dallas has lost its last three road games, including two shutouts, and has averaged only 13 points a game over its past five. One problem has been a run game stuck in neutral.

Since gaining 100 yards and scoring twice against Washington, Hambrick has gained only 177 yards and has not scored a touchdown in the past five games. The lack of a running game set about changes on the offensive line. Parcells started right tackle Ryan Young at right guard for the first time in his career against the Eagles, replacing Andre Gurode. The substitution didn't help. It remains to be seen if the new lineup will stay the same. At right tackle Kurt Vollers returned to the lineup against Philadelphia after missing time with back problems.

Rookie Torrin Tucker, who started when Vollers missed the Thanksgiving game against Miami, is expected to split time at right tackle. Parcells refused to disclose his offensive line's lineup when asked earlier in the week about the muddled situation. Last week the lineup shuffle didn't help. Quarterback Quincy Carter had 93 yards passing and receivers Joey Galloway, Terry Glenn and Antonio Bryant did not catch a pass.

Washington defensive end Regan Upshaw said forcing Dallas to throw is the key to a Redskins win. "The biggest thing in this game is stopping the run," Upshaw said. "That's the foremost thing we have to do as a defensive squad. If we can score some points on offense and get these guys in a position where they have to throw the ball, we'll have them where we want them." Upshaw is new to the rivalry, but said the Redskins don't relish the spoiler role, they're only motivated by wanting another win. "Nobody wants to be spoilers," admitted Upshaw. "I'm not really thinking about spoiling their time. I'm thinking about going out and competing and winning the game."

Redskins defensive end Bruce Smith finally recorded his 199th sack last week, putting him in first place in sacks since the NFL began recording the statistic in 1982. Now that Smith has the record, the top pick of the 1985 draft said this will likely be his last season. "More than likely, these will be the final three games of my career." Smith said.

REDSKINS OFFENSE VS. COWBOYS DEFENSE The Cowboys made plenty of mistakes in their November game with the Redskins, but were able to pressure Ramsey, sacking him four times for a loss of a whopping 43 yards. Neither team expects as many blitzes the second time around, though.

"They're shorter setting with their linemen, trying to get the ball out more quickly," Parcells said of the changes in the Washington offense since the first game. "They're still using quite a few quick screens to the wide receivers to try to negate some of the rush."

The starting receivers had just five catches for 41 yards in Dallas, but Cowboys safety Darren Woodson knows there's a danger to blitzing Washington with the speed it has at wideout. "When you give Laveranues Coles time out there he's going to make some plays and that's what we're scared of," Woodson said.

Hasselbeck played with poise last week in getting his first win. He is confident the experience will help him develop as a quarterback.

"I'm getting more comfortable and when the play comes in I'm able to get in and call the play and get up to the line of scrimmage and see what is happening," Hasselbeck said. "I feel like I can play and I feel like I'll continue to get better."

The Redskins could be without their top two rushers, Ladell Betts and Trung Canidate, so Spurrier knows protecting his quarterback is vital to victory.

"We were pretty discombobulated against their blitz the last time," Spurrier said. "We thought we had a pretty decent plan, but as it turned out it wasn't very good at all. Hopefully we'll have a better plan this time. We're going to try and get rid of it quicker and block them better. We're going to try something hopefully a little bit smarter than the last time we played them."

Both Betts and Canidate were injured against New York. Betts is doubtful with a forearm injury and Canidate is questionable with an ankle sprain. If both are out, the carries will be split among Chad Morton (56 yards on 13 second- half carries last week), Rock Cartwright, John Simon and Sultan McCullough.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Dallas 24, Washington 10

[Leonard Washington]

21-14 isn't exactly a blowout and we we became pretty potent on offense in the 4th (as usual) but they just did a good job slowing us down. of course our defense didn't help when the game was on the line.

[Larry]

Originally posted by Cleotis

21-14 isn't exactly a blowout and we we became pretty potent on offense in the 4th (as usual) but they just did a good job slowing us down. of course our defense didn't help when the game was on the line.

You aparantly watched a different game than I did. They slapped us silly, and the only reason it wasn't 77-0 was because they played the second-worst game of football I've ever seen.

I consider that game to be the worst I've seen as a Skins fan.

[70Chip]

And can I just say -- if you had posted in July that these teams would have these records, I would have laughed to no end --