Sunday, October 4, 1998

Redskins must beat Cowboys or watch season slip away

By David Moore

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

RALJON, Md. -- Jason Garrett is trying to hold onto the confidence of his teammates.

Trent Green is trying to hold onto the ball.

Norv Turner is trying to hold onto his job.

A lot is at stake when the Cowboys face the Washington Redskins at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. Come High Noon on Sunday -- or in this case, 12:01 -- at least one of the principals will be forced to watch a chance at redemption slip through their fingers.

The Cowboys are driven to atone for a 13-12 loss at home to Oakland last weekend in which Garrett looked like the backup quarterback he is. The loss squashed a chance to build momentum and establish themselves as the early favorite in the NFC East.

Washington's dilemma is far worse. The Redskins are 0-4 and, based on the sniping coming out of the locker room, on the verge of collapse. After last week's loss to Denver, Washington wide receiver Leslie Shepherd cautioned all those who were prepared to throw out platitudes about how it wasn't time to panic to rethink their position.

His message: Now is clearly the time to panic. A season -- and Turner's fate as the Redskins' coach beyond this season -- hangs in the balance. That's why Turner and Co. have labeled this a must game.

"I know any time you get down a couple or three games in the division, that makes it awfully hard to get back," Cowboys' Coach Chan Gailey said. "I don't care who you are.

"They're in that mode where they've got to win this, and they will come out fighting and clawing and scratching and all those other terms that we all use."

The Redskins have done that every week. The difference here is that that their desperate state may force them to use those tactics on the opponent.

Divisiveness has not been a problem in the Cowboys' locker room. Even though Garrett threw two interceptions in the final 18 minutes of last week's loss, no one was pointing fingers.

Garrett took the blame and moved forward. He got another week of practice snaps as the No. 1 quarterback and talked about how he hoped the repetition would allow him to become more comfortable and increase his chances of success. He talked about the need to remain aggressive.

"That's important," Garrett said. "You never want to be too aggressive. You want to play within yourself and the system.

"But when opportunities to make the play arise, you have to be able to make them."

Gailey is empathetic to the plight of his quarterback.

"That is the most difficult job in football," Gailey said. "You can't be timid. You can't be squemish. You can't be sensitive. It's a tough position. You'd better be mentally tough to play it.

"I think that's one of the things that everybody kind of believes about Jason, that he is that way. We have no qualms about saddling up with him again, and let's go."

That's perfect imagery for Cowboys-Redskins weekend. But with Green, Washington wonders if he could fall off the horse after it was saddled.

Green has thrown for 1,044 yards and six touchdowns since replacing ineffective starter Gus Frerotte. Green Bay's Brett Favre and San Francisco's Steve Young are the only quarterbacks in the league with more impressive numbers.

The other side: Green has thrown five interceptions and lost four fumbles. Washington has turned the ball over 12 times this season.

"They're making mistakes," Cowboys' safety Darren Woodson said. "There are times a guy might fall down right when the quarterback releases the ball. They've had big plays called back.

"They're a lot like what the Raiders used to be."

Of course, those Raiders didn't turn the ball over in beating the Cowboys last week. That loss won't sting as much if Dallas manages to beat Washington on Sunday, giving them road victories against the New York Giants and Redskins in a two-week span.

"With or without Troy Aikman, you feel like you're ahead of the curve if you win two division games on the road," Gailey said. "Those are always big."

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(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

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