The Dallas Cowboys pulled off a thrilling victory over the Washington Redskins, 19-16, off the foot of Dan Bailey's 54-yard field goal. The victory pulls the Cowboys within one game of the division lead in what has been a roller coaster of a year in the NFC East.
There had not been a single touchdown scored with 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, and within a 30 second time frame there was a touchdown scored by both teams. Darren McFadden scored a six-yard touchdown run with 1:14 remaining that was helped set up by a DeSean Jackson fumble inside the Redskins own 15 yard line on the prior punt return.
Kirk Cousins would respond however, as he helped march his team right down the field and connected with DeSean Jackson in the endzone for a 28-yard touchdown with 44 seconds left.
Matt Cassel would respond after Lucky Whitehead gave the Cowboys good field position on their own 42. Cassel would find Dez Bryant a couple times on the crucial drive that would put Dallas in field goal range. Dan Bailey would nail the 54-yard field goal right through the uprights with nine seconds remaining to give the Cowboys their fourth victory on the season.
The Cowboys really had no business being in this game as they had three fumbles committed by the offense, two by McFadden. Give credit to the defense for keeping the Redskins under wraps. Dallas linebacker Sean Lee was all over the field making plays all night long and led the team in tackles with 12 and recorded one sack as well. Dallas did a very good job limiting Washington's running game and throughout the ball game forced them into field goals instead of touchdown scores.
Dez Bryant looked like his old self more so in this game than in any other game this season, and could've had a much bigger game had it not been for Cassel's inability to find Dez open a few times. But nonetheless, Bryant had three catches for 62 yards and forced multiple pass interference penalties against a weak Washington secondary.
This is a huge win for Dallas as it gives them life in the wild wild NFC East division, and is a huge killer for Washington who could have gained sole possession of the division lead if they had pulled out a victory. Despite the loss and being in a three-way tie with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, Washington is still in first place as they hold the tiebreaker.
Jason Witten recorded his 10,000th reception of his career and became just the 12th player in NFL history to accomplish such a feat.
The Cowboys will now travel to play the Green Bay Packers for a rematch of last year's NFC divisional playoff game. The Redskins will go on the road to play the Chicago Bears.