Cowboys Pick Themselves Up

For three quarters, the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins looked like they really were playing the “Gutter Bowl.”

Then two of the NFL’s worst teams played to an exciting finish.

Tim Seder, whose kicking leg collided with a horse during pregame warmups, made a 26-yard field goal as time expired Monday night to give Dallas a 9-7 victory, its first of the season.

“There’s a fine line between winning and losing and we finally stepped over that line,” said Seder, who also made field goals of 28 and 39 yards but missed from 41 and 52. “Maybe we can get on a roll.”

The Cowboys (1-4) are rolling against the Redskins (0-5)--this was their eighth consecutive victory over their division rival. Washington, which led, 7-3, early in the fourth quarter, is off to its worst start since losing its first seven games in 1998.

“It was our game to win,” said Redskin linebacker LaVar Arrington, who was in tears.

The only positive for the Redskins was the close loss. They had been beaten by at least 14 points in every game while getting outscored, 135-25.

“It’s miserable,” Washington Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “I wouldn’t have thought that this was possible. It’s difficult. There are no prizes for losing.”

The wretched records of the once-proud teams prompted Washington defensive end Kenard Lang to give the game its nickname. He noted that the franchises that have won a combined eight Super Bowls are in the gutter and “are trying to climb out of it.”

Some expected the equally inept teams to be competitive. Instead, Washington and Dallas traded silly mistakes until Tony Banks threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Michael Westbrook early in the fourth quarter for a 7-3 Redskin lead.

Dallas--which fittingly won without scoring a touchdown--made it 7-6 when Seder kicked a 39-yarder with 6:36 left.

The Redskins answered by driving into Dallas territory, moving slowly and burning lots of clock, only to see Stephen Davis fumble at the Cowboys’ 38-yard-line. Davis gained 99 yards in 23 carries.

“Unfortunately for Stephen, he was just trying to make yards,” Schottenheimer said.

With 2:40 to play and two timeouts left, Anthony Wright completed passes to Darrin Chiaverini and Raghib Ismail to reach the Washington 34.

The Cowboys kept the ball on the ground, converting a third and two on a run by Troy Hambrick, then getting a 13-yard run from Emmitt Smith to set up the game-winning kick. Smith ran 25 times for 107 yards, his first 100-yard game of the season.

“We made the plays when we had to,” Smith said. “We were kind of limited. We worked with what we had, like we have all year long.”

Seder’s final kick was perfect. He showed none of the ill effects of having his right leg grazed by a horse that was on the field for pregame festivities. The kicker backed into the horse and their legs accidentally met.