Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys Give Washington Redskins Huge Boost With Win

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:48 p.m. ET

Fansided, Jacob Camenker/FanSided via Riggo's Rag

The Washington Redskins were unconventionally rooting for a Dallas Cowboys victory on Sunday night. The Cowboys delivered a victory, and the Redskins will now have a chance to move into the six seed on Monday night.

Just a week after greatly letting the Washington Redskins down, the Dallas Cowboys did them a massive favor. The Redskins, who are sitting in seventh place in the NFC, needed to gain a half a game on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15 in order to have control of their own destiny. The only way for them to overtake the Buccaneers would involve the Bucs losing to the Cowboys on Sunday night football.

That ended up happening. The Cowboys came ready to play after an unconvincing win over the Minnesota Vikings and a second loss to the New York Giants. Media outlets had been generating stories about a quarterback controversy that were quickly put to bed. Dak Prescott put together a terrific performance, going 32of-36 for 280 yards and a rushing touchdown. There was never any chance that the Cowboys were going to sit him, especially not after he led the team to 11 straight wins.

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For the Buccaneers, this was definitely a crippling loss. Their defense had been a strength for them over the course of the five game win streak they were on, but nothing was working for them. They could not slow the passing game which opened up some lanes for Ezekiel Elliott. They ended up surrendering 26 points, but it could have been more. The Cowboys missed some opportunities, and Dan Bailey uncharacteristically missed two field goals.

The result of this game is obviously good news for the Redskins. If they can win on Monday Night Football against the Carolina Panthers, they will have a chance to get themselves back into the playoff picture. From there, they would be able to control their own destiny and set themselves up to be the sixth seed. That would be huge for the Redskins, considering how tough their division has been this season.

At the end of the day, the Redskins just needed an extra glimmer of hope coming into the Monday night game. They now have a great deal of hope, as the team could end up back in the thick of things. This was definitely a pick me up for the Redskins, and Jay Gruden will have some extra motivation to get his squad to play well in the critical prime-time battle.