Week 3 Recap: Washington (16) @ Dallas (18)

A 'win' is a beautiful thing, The Cowboys victory against Washington was far from beautiful, but it was a win.

This Monday Night Game was not a high octane, offensive battle with points being racked up left and right... it was a slow, defensive struggle where Dallas had to win with 6 field goals and no touchdowns, in fact the only touchdown of the game was a 5 yard screen pass to Tim Hightower who wasn't being covered properly and walked right into the end zone.

Tony Romo played with fractured ribs and you could see that they were trying to gameplan to protect him as best as they could. He utilized more screen passes and quick throws than he normally does, but was still efficient out of the pocket...although with Miles Austin out and Dez Bryant not 100%, the young receivers gave Romo some problems. They didn't know where to line up and Kevin Ogleetree ran the wrong route at least 3 times during crucial moments of the game.

Romo also wasn't helped out by Center Phil Costa, who had no less than 4 premature snaps resulting in Romo scrambling around to recover the loose ball. Luckily, none of those were lost and he even made a couple yards with one of the faulty snaps. All this with a fractured rib... unbelievable. His frustration was evident and his leadership (which many used to question,) was on full display as he seemed to be constantly yelling at his receivers and center.

Let's move on to the positives, shall we...

- Tony Romo played exceptional given the circumstances... he threw 22 for 36, 255 yards and 1 interception (which was moreso Ogletree's fault than Romo's.)

- Sean Lee had another outstanding game on defense, with 4 tackles, 4 assists and another interception.

- Dez Bryant made the catch that kept Dallas alive in the 4th quarter, converting a 3rd and 21 to set Dallas up for the game winning field goal.

- DeMarcus Ware added another sack, as well as Victor Butler and Anthony Spencer.

- Speaking of Anthony Spencer, he chased down and forced the fumble at the end of the game, extinguishing any chance Washington had for a comeback.

- Felix Jones finally broke off some nice runs, giving the team it's first carry for over 9 yards (21 and 40.) He finished the day with 115 rushing yards.


Overall, it was not an easy win, but Dallas managed to stay alive in the game the whole time and pulled it together in the end to finish with a field goal to give them the lead, and a defensive stand to close the game out. Dallas now leads the division at 2-1, although that doesn't mean too much this early in the year, it does feel good though.