Earlier in the week, I lamented over the fact that the DC area has not been full throttle over this Sunday's matchup between NFC East rivals, Dallas and Washington. A five-game losing streak and a second consecutive year of empty quarterback promises has left the franchise followers a bit depressed over the state of their team. All that will wash away, however with an upset victory over the Cowboys on Sunday at Fed Ex Field.
As the old saying goes for Washington, beat Dallas and nothing else matters.
Beating Dallas hasn't been something the Redskins have been particularly adept at in recent years. Dallas has won an unconscionable 21 of the last 28 meetings between the club; a mind-boggling three wins in every four matchups.
Let's be honest here, that's no rivalry... that's domination.
In fact, Dallas owns the upper hand when looking at the lifetime series between the teams, 61-40-2. The two teams have been in the same division since 1961, and have played twice a year ever since. The Redskins were almost moved to Dallas, but owner George Marshall changed the sale deal at the last minute and it fell through. The competition has been on ever since.
Dallas and founding owner Clint Murchinson, Jr. was approved for an expansion franchise in the late '50's; gaining the necessary unanimous votes thanks to disgruntled musician Barnee Breeskin, who had written 'Hail To The Redskins'. Breeskin sold the rights for the song to Murchinson, who returned them to Marshall in exchange for his vote in approving the new franchise.
Looking over the history, Dallas has come out on top in each decade they've been in existence, and the gap is widening.
| Decade | Cowboys Wins | Redskins Wins | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 10 | 7 | 2 |
| 1970s | 12 | 9 | 0 |
| 1980s | 11 | 9 | 0 |
| 1990s | 12 | 8 | 0 |
| 2000-current | 16 | 7 | 0 |
But hey, Redskins fans will quickly point out that they won the two playoff meetings, then pretend that those are the only ones that matter. Whatever rocks you to sleep at night... short of a DeMarcus Ware body slam of course.
Dallas has more Super Bowl Victories (5 to 3) and appearances (8 to 5) than Washington does as well.
The rivalry used to be magnificent, before the days of the internet and people moving a million miles an hour. The storied history is littered with pranks and shenanigans, including Cowboys fans putting a wild turkey in then-team owner George Marshall's hotel bathtub. There are classic games between the clubs throughout the rivalry, but with neither team winning a championship or maintaining excellence since the mid-90's, fans are left to battle each other.
The recent dominance by Dallas normally doesn't dampen the spirits of the Redskins fans during what they refer to as "Dallas Week".
To check out the vaunted history of the rivalry, head over to Wikipedia here. If you want to talk trash with Redskins fans, like I do on the @BloggingTheBoys twitter account, follow @HogsHaven, SB Nation's Redskins blog.
Toss a joke or two in their direction and tell them KD sent you.