What Happened to Dallas Week?
Lawrence Bates, SkinsGridiron.com, Sept. 23, 2004

Ashburn - As I was walking through the halls of my office building this week someone stopped me and asked, "Who do the Redskins play this week?"

Sigh.

In case you haven't noticed, it's Dallas week. Back in the good old days ("good" because we were good and "old" because it was a loooooong time ago), nobody had to ask who the Redskins were playing during Dallas week. You didn't even have to be a Redskins or Cowboys fan to know when these two teams were playing each other. It was the lead story on the news in the D.C. area, not just the lead story in sports.

The Washington Post and Washington Star had front-page, back-page, and every-page-in-between coverage. Some radio stations would play "Hail to the Redskins." People who normally wore suits or dresses to work would wear Redskins T-shirts and jerseys on the Friday before the Dallas game. And this was before jerseys became popular. There was a definite buzz in the air.

Monday night the Redskins play Dallas at FedEx Field. Joe Gibbs is facing arch-nemesis Bill Parcells for the first time since 1990. The Redskins have a quarterback problem. One has a bad hamstring and one doesn't know that his teammates don't wear blue jerseys. In the past, this would be cause for a special 10-page pullout section in the Post. There would be hourly updates on all D.C. area radio stations. Nightly hour-long specials on this game would pre-empt whatever may be on TV. Schools would be cancelled.

But life goes on this week as if it was any other week. I opened up the Washington Post this morning and saw an article titled "The Showdown Begins." An article on Dallas week, no doubt. Nope. It's an article on Peter Angelos and Major League Baseball. Sportstalk radio isn't giving Dallas week it's due. They are talking about baseball coming to DC. George Michael is reporting that Steve Blake is out 10 weeks with a fractured ankle. And horror of all horrors, the NHL preseason has been cancelled. Baseball, basketball, hockey? These sports never existed in the D.C. area during Dallas week. (One might argue that these sports still DON'T exist in the D.C. area, but that's a different subject.)

The Redskins-Cowboys rivalry used to be the greatest in the NFL, if not all sports. And now Dallas week has been reduced to "Who are the Redskins playing this week?"

What happened to Dallas week?

The first thing that happened is that the two teams stopped playing games with a playoff berth or division title on the line. Since the Redskins moved to Landover in 1997 there haven't been many years when the Redskins were within a sniff of the playoffs. The only game with playoff implications that I can remember was in 1997 when the 5-5 Cowboys beat the 6-4 Redskins ending any realistic shot we had at making the playoffs. Even that game is a stretch. The Redskins won the division in 1999 with the Cowboys finishing second, but the two teams played twice in the first seven weeks of the season. The most meaningful Redskins-Cowboys game in recent memory was Darrell Green's last game as a Redskin.

Another reason why the rivalry has become less intense is that, as the old saying goes, the hammer and the nail are not rivals. The Redskins have been the nail to the Cowboys hammer in 12 of the last 13 games since the Redskins beat the Cowboys in the first Monday night game ever played at Jack Kent Cooke stadium in October 1997. Most of those games were not even contests with Dallas' 12 wins coming by an average of 11 points. Even in 1999, the last year that the Redskins won the division, we started the season 4-2 with those four wins sandwiched between two losses to the Cowboys. The two teams have played few great games recently, with the Cowboys come-from-behind overtime 41-35 victory on opening day in 1999 being the only one that comes to mind.

Then there's free agency and the salary cap. It's hard to have a good, constant rivalry when the players on the teams are different every year. I can't imagine Diron Talbert and Roger Staubach being such fierce rivals if Talbert went to the Falcons or Staubach to the Browns.

There may someday be a revival of this rivalry. Maybe Monday night Sean Taylor will stop Eddie George at the goal line on the last play of the game a la Ken Houston and Walt Garrison in 1973. Maybe Patrick Ramsey will leap into the endzone in overtime (Kilmer, 1975) or run out the clock in the endzone (Joey T, 1978). Or maybe Cornelius Griffin will return a tipped ball for a touchdown in front of a raucous crowd (Darryl Grant, 1983). Perhaps this Monday we'll see Bill Parcells yelling "No, Vinny, no!!" on the sidelines on a key fourth down play (Tom Landry, Danny White, 1983). Maybe Fred Smoot (Darrell Green) will come out of nowhere to chase down Julius Jones (Tony Dorsett) from behind saving a TD (1983). Or maybe unknown backup QB Tony Romo will come off the bench and throw a last minute TD pass (Clint Longley, 1974) or Vinny Testaverde will throw two TD passes in the last two and half minutes (Staubach, 1979) to rip our hearts out once again. Maybe after the game is over LaRoi Glover will throw a wreath into the Redskins locker room as the Skins players lick their wounds (Harvey Martin, 1979). Whatever happens, it won't be the same as it once was. This rivalry can never be as intense as it once was.

For some of us though, Dallas week is still special. We'll always hate the Cowboys and their 30,000 fans who manage to get tickets for the games at FedEx Field. We see those blue stars on those silver helmets and want to get out of the stands and hit someone. We'll rejoice more than we would for any other victory and cry a little more than we would for any other loss.

If anyone I know is reading this, don't call me on Monday. I'll be at home preparing for the game and tailgate. Don't call me on Tuesday either because I'll be at home recovering from it.

After all, it's Dallas week. Or haven't you noticed