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Writing Another Chapter In NFC's East Side Story
A Lot of Talk Precedes Loaded Division's Marquee Matchup
By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page E01
The trash-talking began well before the season did.
Calls and text messages were exchanged between Washington, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia throughout the summer, with players in each city boasting that they had the best team in the NFC East. All could agree on one thing -- that after years of mediocrity, this was the most competitive division in the NFL. Nearly everything else was open to debate.
Washington Commanders defensive lineman Renaldo Wynn could tell from the area code alone which provocateur was on the line. Former teammate LaVar Arrington, fresh from a nasty divorce from Washington, was adamant that his new club, the New York Giants, would clobber the Commanders twice this season. Jeremiah Trotter, another former Commander and an eager agitator, checked in frequently from Philadelphia to inform Wynn that after a one-year hiatus in the basement of the NFC East, the Eagles would rule again in 2006.
Even a youngster who had yet to play his first NFL game -- Sam Hurd, Wynn's nephew and an undrafted free agent wide receiver on the Dallas Cowboys -- got in some verbal shots at the Commanders' expense. It was a bold salvo for a rookie that, Wynn suspects, was made at the behest of Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Beginning today, months of rhetoric will be put to the test, with the NFC East opening its divisional schedule with several teams having struggled in Week 1. By the time the Commanders (0-1) meet their arch-rival Cowboys (0-1) at Texas Stadium tonight, the Eagles (1-0) and Giants (0-1) will already have played.
Half the division could remain winless entering the third week of the season. The Commanders and Cowboys have additional pride at stake, renewing a 46-year feud before a national television audience.
"Our guys get revved up talking to the guys on the other teams," Wynn said. "They all think they're the team to beat, and we feel that we're the team to beat. I always talk to LaVar, and he swears not only are they going to win the division, but they're going to whip the crap out of us, too. Trot, in Philadelphia, they feel they're healthy again and heading in the right direction and they're coming for us. And my nephew, he's with T.O. a lot, so that rubs off on him, and now my whole family is trash-talking, too.
"I love it. That all just gets me pumped up, and however you get that extra motivation you thrive off that. Everyone has a different perspective; everyone thinks they're the guy. So we've got to take care of business when we play in the division."
The Commanders, who lost 19-16 to Minnesota last week, set spending records on acquiring players and coaches during the offseason, revamping the offense. Dallas beefed up its defense and added Owens, one of the league's premier athletes and sideshows. Philadelphia replaced Owens with wide receiver Donte Stallworth. The Giants, who handed Washington its lone NFC East loss with a 36-0 thumping in 2005, added Arrington and retooled a spotty secondary.
"No one sat on their hands in this division," said Joe Bugel, the Commanders assistant head coach-offense whose days in the division go back more than 20 years. "The NFC East is back, man. It's like it was back in the 80s."
NFC East teams compiled 36 wins last season, tied with the AFC West for the most in football. Within the NFC, the East dominated, going 16-8 outside the division. New York, the reigning division champions, and Washington won 10 games apiece and the Cowboys won nine. The Commanders caused the most havoc in the division, going 5-1 against NFC East opponents, with decisive victories over the three other teams down the stretch to clinch their first playoff appearance since 1999.
"It lets you know you can play with those guys," said running back Rock Cartwright, a 2002 draft pick. "Early on when I was here, we were just one of those teams that kind of knew we weren't going to do anything in this division."
Washington, which last enjoyed such a prosperous record in the NFC East in 1991, its last Super Bowl season, was just 3-15 in the division from 2002 to '04. Whether last season's turnaround will carry over is anything but ensured.
"Last year don't mean a thing," said defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin, a Giant before signing with the Commanders in 2004. "It's was nice to go 10-6 and make the playoffs, but we're going to be judged on what we do now."
A year ago, the Commanders first tasted divisional success in Week 2 at Dallas. The Cowboys had won 14 of the previous 15 meetings between the two teams. But Mark Brunell hit wide receiver Santana Moss on two long passes in the final minutes to pull out a 14-13 victory in the Monday night game, Washington's first win at Texas Stadium since 1995.
"I got home and had a couple of voice mails and a couple of e-mails saying, 'Congratulations on the win,' from people who had turned the game off and gone to bed not realizing that the Commanders had come back and beat us," Cowboys quarterback Drew Bledsoe said during a conference call with reporters. "It was a disappointing game for us, certainly, but we were able to bounce back from that."
When the teams met again in December, both were fighting for the playoffs. The Commanders dominated from the opening snap in a 35-7 win, their largest margin of victory ever against the Cowboys. They swept Dallas for the first time since 1995 and made the playoffs, while the Cowboys sat home knowing a split with the Commanders would have put them in the postseason and not Washington.
"When I first came here [in 2002], we had that streak of losing to Dallas, and I was like, 'Who cares?' " Wynn said. "But sometimes it starts to work on you mentally when you lose to a team for so long and you almost feel as if -- not that we're expected to lose -- but it was just a weird feeling playing them.
"And now I feel like this is a new era and a new mentality. It wasn't a true rivalry before when one team always beat up on the other one. Now, it's a rivalry. Hopefully, we've instilled in a lot teams in the NFC East that this is just not a game you can automatically call a win on your schedule anymore. That's over. We draw the line."
It is rare for expectations to be so high for both Dallas and Washington. This is the first time since 1997, and just the third time in the 20 years, that the Cowboys and Commanders are both coming off seasons of nine wins or more. The Commanders won three titles in Coach Joe Gibbs's first stint with the team from 1981 to '92, then finished with more than eight wins only three times between 1993 to 2005. Dallas was below .500 from 1986 to '90, won the Super Bowl in 1992, 1993 and 1995, and by 1999 was in another funk.
"This is a great rivalry even when both teams are not playing great," said Troy Aikman, the Cowboys' Hall of Fame quarterback from 1989 to 2000 and now an analyst for Fox Sports. "But there's no question that it only intensifies when those games are really being played for something. I look back towards the end of my career, and the more heated rivalries we had were with San Francisco and Green Bay and some of those teams we kept meeting in the playoffs while the Commanders were struggling.
"But there's no question that with these two teams now, with how much is expected of them and for them both to be 0-1, that makes it a big game. There has to be a tremendous sense of urgency and pressure from both teams to win this game."
Both teams blew leads last week and looked disjointed.
"Dallas is in the same situation we're in," Commanders tailback Clinton Portis said. "No one wants to go into the season 0-2. We both [gave] away a game, and now our backs are against the wall."
Bledsoe joked about the doomsday mentality gripping Washington and Dallas last week -- "The sky is falling, the world is coming to an end, that whole thing" -- then turned serious and conceded the "meaningfulness" of tomorrow's game. That neither team shined in the preseason has exacerbated the angst.
"If the preseason went smoothly for both these teams, I don't think there would be as much controversy," said former Cowboys fullback Daryl Johnston, an NFL analyst who questions the Commanders for not implementing more of their new offensive game plan in the preseason. "I don't think the fans are pushing the panic button because of last week. It's really because of what has happened over the last five weeks."
The Cowboys, amid the circus that accompanies Owens, also are dealing with calls for untested backup quarterback Tony Romo to replace Bledsoe after the veteran threw three interceptions in Dallas's 24-17 loss at Jacksonville. The Commanders' offense is still trying to master associate head coach Al Saunders's challenging new playbook, while Gibbs has grumbled about the difficulties of facing a short work week for the game coming off a Monday night contest.
"You couldn't have a tougher assignment," Gibbs said, fearful his team will have as many NFC losses by tonight as it had all of last season.
Gibbs's Commanders went 0-2 in 1984, yet reached the playoffs. They rebounded from an 0-2 start to finish 10-6 in 1989, but missed the postseason. Dallas Coach Bill Parcells recalled his teams starting seasons 0-2 and 3-6 and reaching the playoffs. Another defeat by Washington or Dallas would certainly increase the public scrutiny and leave someone chasing the pack in the NFC East, but would not exact a death sentence on the 2006 season.
"I go to the racetrack once in a while, and they've never paid off at the half-mile pole or at the five-eighth-pole," Parcells said during a conference call with reporters. "So it's a little early to be discussing what's going to be going on in Week 16 right now."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600410_2.html
A Lot of Talk Precedes Loaded Division's Marquee Matchup
By Jason La Canfora
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page E01
The trash-talking began well before the season did.
Calls and text messages were exchanged between Washington, Dallas, New York and Philadelphia throughout the summer, with players in each city boasting that they had the best team in the NFC East. All could agree on one thing -- that after years of mediocrity, this was the most competitive division in the NFL. Nearly everything else was open to debate.
Washington Commanders defensive lineman Renaldo Wynn could tell from the area code alone which provocateur was on the line. Former teammate LaVar Arrington, fresh from a nasty divorce from Washington, was adamant that his new club, the New York Giants, would clobber the Commanders twice this season. Jeremiah Trotter, another former Commander and an eager agitator, checked in frequently from Philadelphia to inform Wynn that after a one-year hiatus in the basement of the NFC East, the Eagles would rule again in 2006.
Even a youngster who had yet to play his first NFL game -- Sam Hurd, Wynn's nephew and an undrafted free agent wide receiver on the Dallas Cowboys -- got in some verbal shots at the Commanders' expense. It was a bold salvo for a rookie that, Wynn suspects, was made at the behest of Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens.
Beginning today, months of rhetoric will be put to the test, with the NFC East opening its divisional schedule with several teams having struggled in Week 1. By the time the Commanders (0-1) meet their arch-rival Cowboys (0-1) at Texas Stadium tonight, the Eagles (1-0) and Giants (0-1) will already have played.
Half the division could remain winless entering the third week of the season. The Commanders and Cowboys have additional pride at stake, renewing a 46-year feud before a national television audience.
"Our guys get revved up talking to the guys on the other teams," Wynn said. "They all think they're the team to beat, and we feel that we're the team to beat. I always talk to LaVar, and he swears not only are they going to win the division, but they're going to whip the crap out of us, too. Trot, in Philadelphia, they feel they're healthy again and heading in the right direction and they're coming for us. And my nephew, he's with T.O. a lot, so that rubs off on him, and now my whole family is trash-talking, too.
"I love it. That all just gets me pumped up, and however you get that extra motivation you thrive off that. Everyone has a different perspective; everyone thinks they're the guy. So we've got to take care of business when we play in the division."
The Commanders, who lost 19-16 to Minnesota last week, set spending records on acquiring players and coaches during the offseason, revamping the offense. Dallas beefed up its defense and added Owens, one of the league's premier athletes and sideshows. Philadelphia replaced Owens with wide receiver Donte Stallworth. The Giants, who handed Washington its lone NFC East loss with a 36-0 thumping in 2005, added Arrington and retooled a spotty secondary.
"No one sat on their hands in this division," said Joe Bugel, the Commanders assistant head coach-offense whose days in the division go back more than 20 years. "The NFC East is back, man. It's like it was back in the 80s."
NFC East teams compiled 36 wins last season, tied with the AFC West for the most in football. Within the NFC, the East dominated, going 16-8 outside the division. New York, the reigning division champions, and Washington won 10 games apiece and the Cowboys won nine. The Commanders caused the most havoc in the division, going 5-1 against NFC East opponents, with decisive victories over the three other teams down the stretch to clinch their first playoff appearance since 1999.
"It lets you know you can play with those guys," said running back Rock Cartwright, a 2002 draft pick. "Early on when I was here, we were just one of those teams that kind of knew we weren't going to do anything in this division."
Washington, which last enjoyed such a prosperous record in the NFC East in 1991, its last Super Bowl season, was just 3-15 in the division from 2002 to '04. Whether last season's turnaround will carry over is anything but ensured.
"Last year don't mean a thing," said defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin, a Giant before signing with the Commanders in 2004. "It's was nice to go 10-6 and make the playoffs, but we're going to be judged on what we do now."
A year ago, the Commanders first tasted divisional success in Week 2 at Dallas. The Cowboys had won 14 of the previous 15 meetings between the two teams. But Mark Brunell hit wide receiver Santana Moss on two long passes in the final minutes to pull out a 14-13 victory in the Monday night game, Washington's first win at Texas Stadium since 1995.
"I got home and had a couple of voice mails and a couple of e-mails saying, 'Congratulations on the win,' from people who had turned the game off and gone to bed not realizing that the Commanders had come back and beat us," Cowboys quarterback Drew Bledsoe said during a conference call with reporters. "It was a disappointing game for us, certainly, but we were able to bounce back from that."
When the teams met again in December, both were fighting for the playoffs. The Commanders dominated from the opening snap in a 35-7 win, their largest margin of victory ever against the Cowboys. They swept Dallas for the first time since 1995 and made the playoffs, while the Cowboys sat home knowing a split with the Commanders would have put them in the postseason and not Washington.
"When I first came here [in 2002], we had that streak of losing to Dallas, and I was like, 'Who cares?' " Wynn said. "But sometimes it starts to work on you mentally when you lose to a team for so long and you almost feel as if -- not that we're expected to lose -- but it was just a weird feeling playing them.
"And now I feel like this is a new era and a new mentality. It wasn't a true rivalry before when one team always beat up on the other one. Now, it's a rivalry. Hopefully, we've instilled in a lot teams in the NFC East that this is just not a game you can automatically call a win on your schedule anymore. That's over. We draw the line."
It is rare for expectations to be so high for both Dallas and Washington. This is the first time since 1997, and just the third time in the 20 years, that the Cowboys and Commanders are both coming off seasons of nine wins or more. The Commanders won three titles in Coach Joe Gibbs's first stint with the team from 1981 to '92, then finished with more than eight wins only three times between 1993 to 2005. Dallas was below .500 from 1986 to '90, won the Super Bowl in 1992, 1993 and 1995, and by 1999 was in another funk.
"This is a great rivalry even when both teams are not playing great," said Troy Aikman, the Cowboys' Hall of Fame quarterback from 1989 to 2000 and now an analyst for Fox Sports. "But there's no question that it only intensifies when those games are really being played for something. I look back towards the end of my career, and the more heated rivalries we had were with San Francisco and Green Bay and some of those teams we kept meeting in the playoffs while the Commanders were struggling.
"But there's no question that with these two teams now, with how much is expected of them and for them both to be 0-1, that makes it a big game. There has to be a tremendous sense of urgency and pressure from both teams to win this game."
Both teams blew leads last week and looked disjointed.
"Dallas is in the same situation we're in," Commanders tailback Clinton Portis said. "No one wants to go into the season 0-2. We both [gave] away a game, and now our backs are against the wall."
Bledsoe joked about the doomsday mentality gripping Washington and Dallas last week -- "The sky is falling, the world is coming to an end, that whole thing" -- then turned serious and conceded the "meaningfulness" of tomorrow's game. That neither team shined in the preseason has exacerbated the angst.
"If the preseason went smoothly for both these teams, I don't think there would be as much controversy," said former Cowboys fullback Daryl Johnston, an NFL analyst who questions the Commanders for not implementing more of their new offensive game plan in the preseason. "I don't think the fans are pushing the panic button because of last week. It's really because of what has happened over the last five weeks."
The Cowboys, amid the circus that accompanies Owens, also are dealing with calls for untested backup quarterback Tony Romo to replace Bledsoe after the veteran threw three interceptions in Dallas's 24-17 loss at Jacksonville. The Commanders' offense is still trying to master associate head coach Al Saunders's challenging new playbook, while Gibbs has grumbled about the difficulties of facing a short work week for the game coming off a Monday night contest.
"You couldn't have a tougher assignment," Gibbs said, fearful his team will have as many NFC losses by tonight as it had all of last season.
Gibbs's Commanders went 0-2 in 1984, yet reached the playoffs. They rebounded from an 0-2 start to finish 10-6 in 1989, but missed the postseason. Dallas Coach Bill Parcells recalled his teams starting seasons 0-2 and 3-6 and reaching the playoffs. Another defeat by Washington or Dallas would certainly increase the public scrutiny and leave someone chasing the pack in the NFC East, but would not exact a death sentence on the 2006 season.
"I go to the racetrack once in a while, and they've never paid off at the half-mile pole or at the five-eighth-pole," Parcells said during a conference call with reporters. "So it's a little early to be discussing what's going to be going on in Week 16 right now."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600410_2.html
