Wouldn’t you know it but ESPN has scheduled another NFC East matchup for Monday Night Football. And as usual, this game doesn’t quite live up to the hype, with Washington hosting the Dallas Cowboys and both teams being a combined 8-14.
Cowboys vs. Washington 2015 live stream: Time, TV schedule and how to watch online
The Cowboys’ season is hanging by a thread after losing Tony Romo again.
Believe it or not, Washington is actually in first place in the division despite its 5-6 record. That about sums up the NFC East this season. Washington “earned” that spot by beating the New York Giants last week, 20-14. With its final upcoming games against the Cowboys twice, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills, Washington might not even have to finish .500 to win the division.
Washington isn’t a flashy team, but it’s mostly doing enough to hang around .500. Kirk Cousins had one of his better games of the season against the Giants last week, throwing for 302 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions on 20-of-29 passing. On the season, he’s up to 16 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 2,787 yards and a 68.4 completion percentage in 11 starts. Cousins is playing the kind of game manager role Jay Gruden wants him to be, and with his contract set to expire in the offseason, it will be interesting to see how much Washington wants to commit to him.
After a promising start, the Cowboys’ season went up in smoke on Thanksgiving. As if the 33-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers wasn’t humiliating enough, Tony Romo broke his collarbone and is done for the season. The Cowboys, being the Cowboys, won’t put Romo on injured reserve because they want him back in time for a potential playoff run. At 3-8, that seems unlikely at best.
So Dallas is turning back to Matt Cassel, who ran up an 0-4 record as the starter in Romo’s previous absence. In his five appearances this season, Cassel has thrown for 902 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 63 percent of his passes. He’s been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league, but Cassel is still a better option than Brandon Weeden, which says more about Weeden than Cassel.
The Cowboys will likely turn to Darren McFadden to be a workhorse again. Since replacing Joseph Randle as the full-time starter in Week 7, McFadden has averaged 25.1 touches per game, putting up 634 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the season. McFadden hasn’t been a truly dominant back since 2011, but he’s at least staying healthy right now, which is a big improvement over most of his career. Dallas’ best chance of winning might be to run McFadden early and often against Washington’s 27th-ranked run defense.
Dallas is at least getting some reinforcements back on defense, with cornerback Morris Claiborne set to come back after a hamstring injury kept him out two games. Claiborne’s return should move Byron Jones back to safety, which would be a boon for Jones, who was picked on by opponents as a cornerback fill-in. Either way, the secondary could have its hands full containing DeSean Jackson, who is fully over his hamstring injury.
How to watch
When: 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: FedEx Field, Landover, Md.
TV: ESPN
Announcers: Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters
Online: WatchESPN
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