By Thomas Boswell
Sunday, December 18, 2005; E01
The joys of hate may finally return to the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry today at FedEx Field. It's about time. If Washington can sweep this season series from Dallas for the first time in a decade, and the second time since '87, it will take a vital step toward reigniting the mutual loathing between these two old foes that so many relished for years and have longed to restore.
If Joe Gibbs can beat his old nemesis Bill Parcells back-to-back, home-and-away, my-place, your-place, or anyplace, then the long-dormant blood feud between Washington and Dallas that was once the envy of the NFL will burst back into beautiful flames. Of course, if the Redskins lose, then the Cowboys will simply say, "We've licked 'em 15 of the last 17. What rivalry?"
From 1971, when George Allen came to town, until 1992, when Gibbs left after 12 seasons, Washington and Dallas established one of the great grudge matches in all of sports. O, during all those holiday seasons, what fun it was to ride in a one-horse open sleigh -- as long as Roger Staubach, Danny White or Troy Aikman was being dragged behind it.
Civilization needs incivility as a release valve, as long as it's channeled and controlled. For 22 seasons, Redskins-Cowboys games were a model -- short on drunken brawls in the stands, long on amazing last-second games. Thus, the nation's capital had the perfect way to vent frustrations and defuse partisan animosity. Instead of pitting parties or classes against each other, Washingtonians joined arms in despising the Cowboys. And it worked. Communism fell. Oh, sure, probably just a coincidence.
The Cowboys were the team America loved, but which Washington hated with a burgundy passion. With the whole country supposedly rooting against them, the Redskins licked the 'Boys as often as not. Allen went 7-8 against Tom Landry, including a victory with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. A decade later, Gibbs also beat Landry for a visit to Super Bowl XVII and amassed an overall 12-12 record against Dallas under Landry (eight years) and Jimmy Johnson (four seasons).
Then, as soon as Joe left town, the whole wonderful hate-fest went to Hades. The Redskins' inability to compete with the Cowboys, even in seasons when they were lousy, was merely part of a larger problem. Washington's annual battles with the Giants and Eagles, games that for decades stirred up fans almost as much as a Cowboys confrontation, also lost their sizzle. For the past 13 seasons, the Redskins have been the patsies of the NFC East. They don't admit it, even to themselves. But it's fact.
Since 1992, the Redskins are 6-18 against Dallas, including a 1-14 streak that was finally interrupted two months ago by a 14-13 comeback victory in Dallas that bordered on the miraculous. Not only did the Redskins' duels with the Cowboys disintegrate, but their battles with the Giants and Eagles also deteriorated into mismatches. In the same time frame, the Redskins were 7-18 against the Eagles and 9-15-1 against the Giants (including that razor-thin 36-0 defeat in New York seven weeks ago).
Throughout this ordeal, the Redskins persevered like the indefatigable, yet totally deluded Black Knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," who has his arms and legs chopped off yet thinks he's still winning the fight. Every year, the Redskins keep repeating, " 'Tis but a scratch," "I've had worse," "Just a flesh wound" and, at season's end, "Oh, all right. We'll call it a draw."
Now, in the final three weeks of this season, the Redskins have a chance -- a chance, mind you, not a probability -- of starting the process of reversing these longstanding and humiliating trends within their division. The Redskins-Cowboys match is a tossup. The two teams are virtually tied in offense and defensive ranking -- separated by 1.9 yards per game in each category, the Cowboys a hair better on offense, the Redskins on defense. FedEx noise and the blitzes of Gregg Williams's defense may make the difference. Against intense pressure, the Cowboys' offense tends to cope at home but crumble on the road. In its past 10 games, Dallas has averaged 25.3 points at home, but 13.5 on the road, where it is 1-3 with just a one-point win.
The following week, the Giants should be a clear favorite over the Redskins at FedEx. Redskins fans may assume that New York with Eli Manning blossoming at quarterback isn't really that much better this season. Sorry, the Giants are. In Drew Bledsoe and Mark Brunell, the Cowboys and Redskins have two aging stars who used to be as good as Manning will soon become. In the season finale, Washington probably has the edge in Philadelphia against the decimated Eagles.
If the Redskins beat the Cowboys and Eagles, but lose to the Giants, many fans may assume, because Washington did not reach the playoffs after a 3-0 start, that their season is somehow a disappointment. Perhaps. But there are many ways to measure progress. Such a finish would give the Redskins sweeps of both Dallas and Philly in the same year. In other words, after being Black Knight victims for so long, they'd finally be back in the NFL East mix -- in reality, not just in their minds.
Since '88, the Redskins have not swept the Eagles. Digest that. They've managed the trick just once against Dallas and twice against the Giants. Three sweeps over those key rivals in 17 years. That's pathetic. For years, every time the Redskins had a chance to establish themselves as the equal of a division rival, they regressed, usually in a hail of penalties and turnovers. Will that happen again in these final three games?
Or, this season, will the Redskins step over Parcells's Cowboys in the division pecking order and serve notice to the Eagles that, even when Donovan McNabb returns next season, those Washington games on the schedule may no longer be such an annual treat?
The Cowboys, no matter what they say, will enter FedEx firmly convinced that the Redskins were just amazingly lucky on Sept. 19. In the NFL, when you trail 13-0 on the road with four minutes to play and you haven't shown an iota of offense all night, you are dead meat. Yet twice the Redskins called what amounted to a street-ball play: "Santana, go deep down the middle. Mark, throw it as far as you can. Everyone else, cross your fingers." And twice the result -- against a Parcells-coached team -- was a clean catch behind the safety for untouched scoring passes of 39 and 70 yards.
Such things don't happen. But when they do, they can mark turning points in the competitive relationship between teams. If the Redskins fail to beat a merely pretty good Cowboys team with 90,000 raving Redskins fans behind them and the memory of the Brunell-to-Moss game as motivation, then a very large opportunity will be squandered.
Since '92, the Redskins have been pretending that they weren't the punching bag of the Cowboys, Giants and Eagles in the NFC East. But that horrific 22-51-1 record (including 3-6 since Gibbs's return and 4-17 the last four seasons) against their three oldest traditional division adversaries tells an entirely different and ugly tale. Year after year, as the Cowboys, Giants and Eagles march out with another victory at the Redskins' expense, our stubborn but sawed-off Black Knights bravely but ludicrously shout, "Oh, I see. Running away, eh? Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off."
In the next three weeks, the Redskins don't have to run the table or make the playoffs. Though that possibility is certainly offered to them. What they must do is stay focused for three consecutive, physically demanding games regardless of playoff permutations, and prove to the foes they play six times every season that they are no longer the doormats of the NFC East.