The Road Will Tell

Of course, Campbell could not shake the memory of the day's most crucial play. On third-and-10 from the Cowboys' 19-yard line, Campbell scrambled to his right, improvising as he'd done on successful runs for first downs twice before. In a blink, he thought he saw an open Antwaan Randle El and flipped a pass more in the style of Romo than his own more analytical play. "I probably should have run it," said Campbell, who saw Terence Newman jump the route and steal the pass. "I should have hit the safety, head-on-head."

In a Redskins season of nauseating near-misses and might-have-beens, this game contained one of the most haunting. Leading 10-7 in the third quarter, Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh appeared to make a diving interception of Romo and return it nearly 30 yards to the Cowboys' three-yard line. The Cowboys challenged the catch, hoping the ball had come loose and touched the ground as McIntosh tumbled on the ground.

The Cowboys won the challenge and instead of being three yards from a touchdown and a 10-point lead, the stunned Redskins defense was back on the field and was hit with a 51-yard pass interference penalty on the next play. Four plays after the reversal, Owens caught his 31-yard bomb behind Shawn Springs, adding to a collection of scoring catches that included four-, 46- and 52-yard efforts.

"Maybe [the referees] had a [TV] angle nobody else saw. That could be," said Gibbs, in the corner of the locker room. "But, let me tell you, I was in shock when they upheld the challenge. I thought it had to be conclusive to overturn it. 'Conclusive evidence' -- that's why we have replay."

The biggest issue from this game may be the Redskins' reaction to yet another dispiriting defeat. Next week in Tampa, when they will face a Buccaneers team with fewer weapons than the Cowboys, which Redskins will show up?

"We have a huge game next week," said Gibbs. "If we keep on playing like this, our season is [still] all in front of us."

If they don't, then three narrow heartbreaking losses to the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys, their bitter division rivals, will loom larger as their postseason hopes expire.

"We always fight for Coach Gibbs. You saw how we played for him today," said Samuels. "But we've just got to stop letting these games get away."

If they don't, then the memory of too many games like this -- years of them, it sometimes seems -- will be their playoff epitaph.