December 31, 2012
Ceci Ferrara
Sports Writer
Sports Insider
For the first time since 1999, the Washington Redskins are NFC East Champions. And the win could not be sweeter: riding a six-game victory streak, the Skins beat the Dallas Cowboys at home in front of over 82,000 roaring fans. “I was nine years old in 1999,” Robert Griffin III told reporters afterward. “I stand before you twenty-two, and the Redskins the champions of the NFC East. The Redskins haven’t won the division since 1999, and we came in and we did it in one year.”
It was a “win and in” situation for both teams–by game time Sunday night there were no available wild card spots, so the loser was automatically eliminated from playoff contention. The game started off slowly–scoreless through the first quarter and tied 7-7 by the half. Things started swinging in the Skins’ favor in the third quarter, when RG3 ran in for a touchdown to take the lead and Alfred Morris ran in for another score to make it 21-10.
Trailing by eleven points late into the fourth quarter, the Dallas Cowboys seemed to be done. But Tony Romo did not give up, and orchestrated what looked like a late-game comeback, pulling his team within three points with a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion. He then got the ball back with only a few minutes to play, and was driving the Cowboys on a potential game-winning drive when he threw what would be his third, and final, interception of the game. The crowd at FedEx erupted as Romo’s throw was picked off by linebacker Rob Jackson.
Jackson’s interception set the Skins up for another touchdown and the win. By the time the Cowboys got the ball back it was too little, too late. They were headed home and the Redskins had clinched their first playoff berth since 2007.
As RG3 might say, the win was “unbelievably believable.” The team, at one point 3-6, won seven straight games to take the NFC East title and the final playoff spot. Next they will host the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of playoffs.
Statistically, it was a mediocre game for Griffin, who threw for one hundred yards and ran another sixty-three. The star of the night was rookie running back Alfred Morris, who ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Morris, a sixth-round draft pick, also broke Clinton Portis’ franchise rush record (1,516 in 2005), netting 1,613 yards in the year. Both rookies have been phenomenal all season, and are two of the main reasons the team is headed to the playoffs. “All odds were against us,” Morris said. “But we believed in each other.”
