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LANDOVER, Md. — A rookie carried the Redskins to the NFC East title last night, and his name wasn’t Robert Griffin III.
Say hello to Alfred Morris, America.
After getting it done quietly all season in the considerable shadow of his franchise quarterback, Morris was more than ready for his primetime closeup in a 28-18 elimination-game win over the Cowboys that sent Washington streaking into the playoffs with its first division crown since 1999.
All of the pregame hype for this winner-take-all showdown had centered on Griffin and Tony Romo, but it was the Redskins’ burly sixth-round workhorse who stole the show on a frigid night at frenzied FedEx Field with 200 yards and three TDs on 33 carries.
“That game was crazy,” said Morris, who wasn’t even a first-team all-Sun Belt Conference pick at Florida Atlantic last year. “They were overaggressive, and I used it against them. They were over-pursuing, and I was able to find some cutbacks. It just worked out perfectly.”
But even that Herculean effort almost wasn’t enough. The Redskins’ first playoff trip in six seasons wasn’t secure until Rob Jackson picked off an ill-advised floater to the left flat from Romo at the Dallas 27 with three minutes left — Romo’s third interception of the game.
Amazingly, the Redskins’ wild-card home date this Sunday with the Seahawks wasn’t still wasn’t secure until stupidity finally did in the Cowboys when defensive tackle Jason Hatcher hit Griffin in the head on a third-down incompletion at the Dallas 7 with 2:39 left.
That personal foul gave the Redskins new life, leading to Morris’ final TD of the night and another year of early tee times for the underachieving Cowboys. Once-proud Dallas has now missed the playoffs three years in a row and four times in the past five seasons.
Morris had the crowd of 82,845 chanting his name as he simultaneously powered the Redskins to their seventh consecutive victory and their first playoff appearance in six seasons while topping Clinton Portis for the Redskins’ all-time single season rushing record.
Morris, an unheralded Florida Atlantic product who finished with 1,613 yards and 13 TDs for for the year, picked up the Redskins (10-6) on a night when Griffin — obviously limited by his recent knee injury — threw for just 100 yards.
“I knew for us to win, we were going to have to get the ground attack going,” Morris said. “It just turned out to be my best game so far.”
While Morris was coming up big in just his 16th NFL game, the veteran Romo came up ridiculously small yet again in a season-deciding, Week 17 situation for the second time in as many seasons.
Dallas’ mercurial quarterback had been on a hot streak the previous eight games since a four-interception debacle against the Giants in October, but Romo reverted to mistake-prone form early on and was unable to finish another furious rally that were his 2012 trademark.
While Romo might be one of the NFL’s most prolific passers, he is now an embarrassing 1-6 in the only category that truly counts — elimination games. The Giants were his Week 17 executioner last year, and Morris and the Redskins took the baton this year.
Romo’s early mistakes — he threw interceptions on the Cowboys’ first two possessions of the game — weren’t his downfall this time because Washington failed to convert either turnover into points. But the third was a killer.
“It stings,” a crestfallen Romo said afterward. “It hurts. I’m just very disappointed. I wanted that game for a lot of people. It’s very frustrating.”
There was only jubilation in the other locker room, though, as the Redskins — a seemingly hopeless 3-6 just seven weeks ago — are headed to the postseason.
“When your backs are pressed against the wall, it’ll make good things come out of you,” Griffin said. “This is a team that really believes in itself.”