Romo Overcomes Mistakes, Redskins

Anthony Spencer forces the game clinching fumble from quarterback Rex Grossman
(Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) 

De'Angelo Hall opened up the talking this past week saying that he hoped "to put my helmet on whatever's hurt." Instead it was where he put his hand that ultimately rang the death knell for the Redskins last night as Dallas won 18-16. With time winding down in the fourth quarter, an errant snap forced Romo out of the pocket and found Dez Bryant on the corner route for a 30 yard gain. Hall then compounded the play, with a 15 yard face mask penalty that put Dallas in position to kick and make the go ahead field goal. After the game; Hall commented, "I told the ref after that call, that might have been his worst call of the game," Hall said. "He's going to get demerit points for that call. Because that wasn't no facemask."

The Cowboys fumbled the ball 6 times last night, half of them coming from second year center, Phil Costa who either would send errant or mistimed shotgun snaps to Tony Romo. However, due to a marvelous stroke of luck each bad snap was recovered by Romo and twice threw the ball for positive yards on the play. Romo's frustration was apparent throughout the night, not only at Costa but at his wide receiving corp, namely Kevin Ogletree who misread routes and made poor decisions, putting pressure on the injured quarter back.

The visitors had their own problems with the snap as on a field goal attempt, punter Sav Rocca mishandled a snap on a field goal which could have meant the difference in the game. Instead, Graham Gano had to double clutch and had his attempt blocked by Gerald Sensabaugh and recovered by the Cowboys.
In their final drive, Tony Romo went 3 of 4 for 57 yards, including the long pass to Bryant to make the final kick a possibility. Despite getting no touchdowns on 3 attempts in the redzone, including a first and goal from the 2, Dallas did just enough to beat their hated rivals, on the leg of rookie kicker Dan Bailey who went 6 of 6 including a pair of kicks from 41 yards out.

The much maligned Dallas defense from last season had a shot at redemption and cashed in as Anthony Spencer chased down a scrambling Rex Grossman and knocked the ball loose. The Cowboys defense covered it up and Romo took a knee with 30 seconds remaining to make the score official.

One of the main stories of the night was Tony Romo's broken ribs. When asked after the game how he felt the quarter back said, "It feels good right now because we won. I'll be alright." At one point, the Washington defense was getting to Romo enough that he had to go in and get a second pain killer shot to the area.

The Cowboys improve to 2-1 to form a three way tie atop the NFC East with the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. More importantly, to owner Jerry Jones it was the first home opener the Cowboys have won since Jones opened the stadium three years ago. Next week the Cowboys face an upstart Detroit team who is undefeated back in Dallas while Washington goes on the road to face the St. Louis Rams.