The Dallas Cowboys are, quite miraculously, still in the playoff picture and can go a long way toward legitimizing that thought against the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. Thanks to a disastrous Giants outing on Sunday, though, Washington is in the driver's seat and has a chance to erase two very unsatisfying seasons in a row. Can they get it done?
Here's what we're watching for tonight ...
1. Can Kirk Cousins keep winning at home? Quarterback wins are an absurd stat, and so is the fact that everyone is dogging Cousins for being 5-1 as a starter at home and 0-5 on the road. The Redskins played the Patriots, the Giants, the Falcons during their win streak, the Panthers and the Jets on the road this season, meaning a divisional game against the Giants on the road was probably the easiest contest away from home that they've had all season. Now, Cousins gets the chance to beat a very desperate Cowboys team at home to take a solid lead in the division, perhaps showing everyone that all wins are good wins, regardless of where they happen.
2. Here's another meaningless quarterback statistic:Matt Cassel is 3-1 on Monday Night Football. He is, unfortunately, 0-4 as the starter of the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones will take whatever momentum he can get at this point as the thought of a playoff run slowly slips away again. There is talk among Dallas faithful that this is just the preamble to a great comeback. If that's true, Cassel needs to show that his understanding of the offense has improved from his month under center.
3. Stop the game for Jason Witten: A lot of legendary NFL players will have the game stop when they break some type of record. Perhaps that won't happen Monday when Witten inevitably hauls in his 1,000th career catch (he is just two away at the moment). Witten would be the only other tight end aside from Tony Gonzalez to break the 1,000-catch mark, which is a tremendous achievement.
4. Will DeSean Jackson continue lighting it up? Jackson's ability to consistently take the top off a defense has been one of the reasons why we're talking about Washington as an ascending team. He has been at top speed for two games now. In each of those two games, he's scored a touchdown of more than 50 yards. Coupled with Bill Callahan's work on the running game, it's making the transition for Cousins easier -- something we wish Robert Griffin III had the chance to experience.
5. Can we finally get the Matt Jones breakout game? Remember that Week 2 game against the Rams when Jones rushed the ball 19 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns? Fumbling problems aside, Jones has been relegated to a change of pace back that still makes explosive plays. While Alfred Morris has been wonderfully patient and is effective enough, Jones represents the next step this offense can take if he manages to take care of the football. Let's see it Monday against a suspect run defense.
