Washington DC is painted with pride today! The Washington Washington Football Team have accomplished something that I thought I would never see again– The Washington Football Team into the Play Offs!
For the first time since 1999, the Washington Football Team will have a home Play Off Game & for the first time since 2007 they will be in the Play Offs! Alfred Morris set the single season record for rushing yards in a season (For Washington Football Team) with 1,613 Yards. Just an amazing season for the Washington Football Team.
I personally attribute the great season to Character, something that the Washington Football Team haven’t seen in years. We have a group of guys who believe in ‘Team’ & know that in order to succeed, they have to realize they are a piece of the puzzle as opposed to the whole puzzle. For years we have been battling with Diva Personalities, but with leaders like RGIII & Alfred Morris, the team has become the role model of humility, which I think is the biggest story here.
The good guys did not finish last yesterday evening, & the hero has never turned into the villain. Refreshing to know you don’t have to be a jerk to accomplish goals. Thank you Washington Football Team.
Twitter/Instagram: [@GiovanniZeus]
Dan Granziano of ESPN Writes:
LANDOVER, Md. — “R-G-3!” was all Washington Football Team fans needed to chant when they wanted to express their love for Robert Griffin III. For the lesser-known rookie, they opted for his whole name: “Al-fred Mor-ris!”
It’s a new generation that has Washington atop the NFC East for the first time this millennium. There’s Griffin — the vocal leader, the first-round draft pick, the Heisman Trophy winner, the team captain. And there’s Morris — the out-of-nowhere sixth-rounder from Florida Atlantic who merely ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns in the division-clincher and broke the franchise single-season rushing record.
“These,” cornerback DeAngelo Hall said, “aren’t ordinary rookies.”
The Washington Football Team claimed their first division title since 1999, beating the archrival Dallas Cowboys 28-18 Sunday night in a winner-take-all finale to end the NFL’s regular season.
“I was 9 years old in 1999,” said Griffin, sporting a black baseball cap commemorating the title. “So I stand before you at 22, and the Washington Football Team are the NFC East champions. To me, talking to Alfred after the game, it’s the first time the Washington Football Team have been champs since ’99 and we came in and we did it in one year. The sky’s the limit for this team.”
Griffin, gradually regaining his explosiveness after spraining his right knee four weeks ago, ran for 63 yards and a touchdown for the Washington Football Team (10-6), who finished with seven straight wins after their bye week. They became the first NFL team to rally from 3-6 and make the playoffs since the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1996.
With the running game working so well, Griffin didn’t have to throw much. He completed nine of 18 passes for 100 yards.
Washington will host Seattle next Sunday, the Washington Football Team’s third consecutive playoff game against the Seahawks. They lost at Seattle as a wild-card team in the 2005 and 2007 seasons.
A Change Of Seasons
Talk about a turnaround. The Washington Football Team went from worst in the NFC East last season to first in the division this year.
2011 2012 W-L 5-11 10-6 NFC East Last 1st Division W-L 2-4 5-1 — ESPN Stats & Information “I’ve been here for the 4-12, the bad times, almost being the joke of the NFL,” veteran defensive lineman Kedric Golston said. “But to do this with this group of guys — the old and the new — it’s good to be here.”
Certainly, Sunday night was mostly about the new. Morris had touchdown runs of 1, 17 and 32 yards and was so dominant that the Cowboys — missing their five best run defenders due to injuries — fell hook, line and sinker nearly every time the Washington Football Team faked the ball to him. He finished with 1,613 yards for the year, toppingClinton Portis‘ 1,516 in 2005.
“I’ll tell you what: Alfred Morris became a star tonight,” Washington Football Team tight end Chris Cooley said. “He deserved it. He’s a phenomenal football player.”
To which Morris answered: “I’m never a star. I’ll never be a star. Other people might think I’m a star, but I’m just Alfred.”
He won’t have much choice if he keeps this up. On the Washington Football Team’s go-ahead drive in the third quarter, six plays were runs by Morris and the other three involved fakes to him. The touchdown came when Griffin faked to Morris — one of several times linebacker DeMarcus Ware was totally fooled by deception in the backfield — and ran 10 yards around left end to put Washington ahead 14-7.
The Cowboys (8-8), meanwhile, will miss the playoffs for the third straight season, having stumbled in a make-or-break end-of-regular-season game for the third time in five years.
Tony Romo threw three interceptions — matching his total from the last eight games combined. A poor throw was picked by Rob Jackson when the Cowboys had a chance to drive for a winning score in the final minutes.
2013 NFL draft order
The draft order for the first 20 picks was set with the completion of Sunday’s games. Picks 21-32 depend on the results in the playoffs.
1. Chiefs 11. Chargers 2. Jaguars 12. Dolphins 3. Raiders 13. Buccaneers 4. Eagles 14. Panthers 5. Lions 15. Saints 6. Browns 16. Rams 7. Cardinals 17. Steelers 8. Bills 18. Cowboys 9. Jets 19. Giants 10. Titans 20. Bears “I feel as though I let our team down,” Romo said.
Romo completed 20 of 31 passes for 218 yards, and his career is now further tainted by post-Christmas disappointments, including Week 17 losses to the Philadelphia Eagles (44-6) in 2008 and the New York Giants (31-14) last year. He’s also 1-3 in playoff games.
“Your legacy will be written when you’re done playing the game,” Romo said. “And when it’s over with, you’ll look back. … It’s disappointing not being able to get over that hump.”
The Cowboys played catch-up after Morris’ 32-yard scamper gave the Washington Football Team a 21-10 cushion with 10:32 to play, pulling within three on a 10-yard pass to Kevin Ogletree and a 2-point conversion with 5:50 left. But Morris’ third touchdown sealed the win with 1:09 remaining.
The Cowboys also dealt with in-game injuries to receivers Miles Austin (left ankle), Dez Bryant (back) and Dwayne Harris (lower leg). Bryant, who had a torrid second half of the season despite breaking his left index finger, had four catches for 71 yards.
Washington’s slow start this season prompted coach Mike Shanahan to dismiss playoff hopes and declare the remaining seven games would determine which players would be on his team “for years to come.”
Griffin and his teammates had other plans, and the coach quickly changed his tune. Now the Washington Football Team will be playing in January.
“All odds were against us,” Morris said. “But we believed in each other.”
Game notes
Griffin set two more NFL rookie records. His 102.4 passer rating topped Ben Roethlisberger‘s 98.1 in 2004, and his 1.3 percentage of passes intercepted is better thanCharlie Batch‘s 1.98 in 1998. Griffin had already set the league mark for rushing yards by a rookie QB (815). … The Washington Football Team also set a franchise record for fewest turnovers in a season with 14, fewer even than the 1982 team that played only nine regular-season games because of a players strike.
