Dallas Cowboys at Washington Redskins (+7, 42)
Sunday Night Football features the 100th edition of one of the oldest rivalries in the NFL, straight out of the Wild West – Cowboys and Indians.
Dallas looks to maintain a grip on a playoff berth while many of the Redskins are auditioning to keep their jobs.
Spread-sheet
The spread opened at -4 in favor of the Cowboys at the Vegas sportsbooks (6.5 offshore) but all have elevated to the key number of -7. This movement was likely driven by the must-win scenario facing Dallas and the throttling Washington took Monday night on national television.
Injury report
Quinton Ganther remains the Redskins feature back after Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts were placed on injured reserve.
Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware, who played in a reserve role against the Saints last Saturday after suffering a neck stinger the prior week, has fully recovered and is expected to be inserted back into the starting lineup.
Fat Albert
The $100 million man lost a portion of his bounty this week when the NFL fined him $10K following an altercation with Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. Albert Haynesworth is in the team doghouse, but for other reasons.
Head coach Jim Zorn sent Haynesworth home on Friday for “disciplinary reasons”. The run-stuffing D-tackle showed up 20 minutes late for a meeting that day, but Haynesworth doesn’t believe he was dismissed for his tardiness.
After the Skins dismantling loss to the Giants Monday, Haynesworth questioned the play-calling of defensive coordinator Greg Blache and assumes his post-game remarks are the primary reason for his exile.
"[The coaches] are all against me or whatever," said Haynesworth. "The main thing it's coming from is what I said after the game about leadership and about the team. But I know what I'm saying is right because I've been in a scheme that works. I'm still playing as hard as I possibly can. But you can only do so much within the system that's put around you.”
Zorn stated on Friday that Haynesworth would play Sunday night but might not start.
What’s your motivation?
Romo and the Boys got the December gorilla of their backs after defeating the Saints in New Orleans. If the Panthers can pull off the upset against the Giants on Sunday and Dallas wins at Washington, the Cowboys will secure a playoff spot.
Despite the Redskins looking offensively inept while only scoring 12 points (all in the third quarter) against the Giants, Dallas understands this isn’t a team that is going to roll over and die.
“If you go out thinking a team is not going to perform based on what they did the week before, you’re probably setting yourself up to get beat,” defensive end Marcus Spears told reporters. “These guys are professionals and there’s a lot of pride that goes into this game.”
The Redskins players are approaching the game as a job interview of sorts.
“This is an audition,” cornerback DeAngelo Hall told the media. “(GM) Bruce Allen pretty much got a head start on evaluating talent. If he looks at what he saw [Monday], he’ll scrap this whole thing.”
One piece of the puzzle that most likely be tossed on the scrapheap is Jim Zorn. Reports have said that a member of his staff interviewed for his job last week and rumors continue to swirl that Mike Shanahan is coming to the nation’s capital.
Revenge is a dish best served cold
Shaun Suisham served as the Redskins placekicker for nearly three seasons, but was cut on Dec. 8 of this year after missing a chip-shot field goal that essentially cost the team the game against the Saints.
After Dallas’ kicker Nick Folk shanked his 10th field goal of the season last week, the team cut him and promptly signed the experienced Suisham, who made his NFL debut with the Cowboys in 2005.
“It’s a really good feeling to have the Cowboys believe in me the way they do,” Suisham told the press. “[Facing his old team] certainly adds another dimension to the mix.”
Trendy solutions
The Redskins are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 meetings with Dallas.
In the 12 games of this series played at FedExField, eight have been decided by a touchdown or less while the other four saw winning margins or three scores or more. The underdog is 21-7 ATS in the last 28 meetings of this series.
The last two games between these teams resulted in a total of 37 points scored. The under has cashed in three of the last four games in this series.