IRVING, Texas - Even without catching a touchdown pass, Santana Moss once again had a big game against the Cowboys.
Remember, in 2005 it was those two late-fourth quarter touchdown receptions. Then last season it was two 100-yard receiving games. And Sunday at Texas Stadium, here he came again, catching eight passes for 145 yards, with five of those catches for more than 10 yards, while helping the Redskins to a 26-24 victory over the Cowboys.
"(Moss) is a great receiver," Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell said. "He's always saying give me the opportunity. He had a great day today. We wish we could've gotten him a touchdown catch."
In the second quarter, Washington outscored the Cowboys, 17-3, and took a 17-10 halftime lead, never to trail again. In that pivotal quarter Moss caught four passes for 103 yards, including a 53-yarder over Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman to set up one of kicker Shawn Suisham's four field goals and accounting for all but six yards on the drive.
"Santana Moss is a very good player," Cowboys safety Patrick Watkins said. "You've got to stay as deep as you can because you know he has the ability to beat you with the pass."
Newman spent most of the game chasing Redskins receivers down and across the field, not working out wide, but also from the slot.
On Washington's first touchdown of the game, Newman got caught following James Thrash who went in motion before the play. Thrash lost Newman when he slipped and was all by himself in the end zone.
"I was trying to make a play scrambling and it happened to be a touchdown," Newman said. "That was a play that our offense ran the same play in mini-camp, in training camp, Pat (Watkins has) never seen it, but me and Roy (Williams) know to switch it, me and Ken (Hamlin) know to switch it, so I'm trying to get his attention and he's focused in on his guy. So I'm a sitting duck basically, you can't guard that play unless you switch it."
Newman took the blame, though for Moss' 53-yard completion, biting on the stop when Moss ran the go.
"(Moss) made some big plays today," Newman said. "He had one on me that I wasn't very smart on. Coach had went over the play in meetings, they ran the double-move; that was my fault. It was just something where I saw the opportunity to try and make a play, and I tried to take it and it didn't pay off."
Cowboys' head coach Wade Phillips was also ready to take blame for the long pass to Moss in the second quarter.
"On the one long one, we knew what they were going to do when the receiver runs that route," Phillips said. "I say, we the coaches knew, but the players didn't know. That's our fault for not getting it over to them. I'm not going to get into who was there and who wasn't there."
It was those plays in the second quarter that helped Washington get a lead with breathing room. The Redskins picked up 177 yards passing in the first half, 147 of those yards coming in that second quarter.
"I was frustrated early in the game," Newman said. "The first half was basically a terrible half for me. The second half didn't have much come my way, so it's just one of those things where I just couldn't get anything going."
The Redskins were able to use the passing game to open up Clinton Portis and the running game.
"They can line up in a pass formation and run the ball," Watkins said. "Anytime you can do something like that it's a (disadvantage to us)."
Washington balanced their 220 passing yards with 161 rushing yards. And once again, Portis got more than 100 yards rushing, 121. The 381 yards total offense are the most the Cowboys have given up this season, and the most since Detroit went for 390 eight games ago.
"We let them in the game and once they got in the game, they were able to control the ball," Phillips said. "They had 160-something yards rushing and we had 44 at home. That's not what we expect to do. We've got to be better in that area."
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