And Aitman lost one for the endzone, and Harper almost makes another fabulous catch, but not quite.
And Harper's limping. Harper looked like he twisted a leg when he came down.
Harper is in pain, and he's going to head to the sideline. He had seven inches that time on the 5'8 Mayhew.
And we touched on the fact that at Tennessee he was an NCAA high jump champion over 7'2.
Did that in high school as a matter of fact. That time he just mistimed it a little bit.
A little bit of pressure in one of the rare times put on Aitman by Tim Johnson.
Harper out, Martin in, Emmett Smith a little bounce shot.
And then Stokes buries him at the 15 with 8.45 to go in the half, and Dallas on top 9 to nothing.
Change of direction has always been Emmett Smith's strong point.
And right there what really helped the Redskins more than anything else was that it looked like he stepped on his own feet.
That little stutter really cost Emmett Smith and allowed the Redskins and Fred Stokes to get in on the play.
Another critical third down though here for Washington.
Harper comes back in. He's set to the top of the screen, third and nine at the 15.
Aitman under some pressure this time. Steps up throw too hard off the hand of Kelvin Martin at the goal line.
And so the Redskins able to stop him. Charles Mann putting the pressure on that time.
And Lynn Elliott and the field goal unit come in now for what will be about a 33 yard attempt.
Again a little pressure on Aitman coming from Charles Mann who has been held in check tonight.
Not much as he was by Eric Williams last November when Williams started for the first time out there and held Mann without a sack.
This time enough pressure on Aitman that he missed through the ball.
But Mann really did his job. Aitman was allowed to step up. There was nobody in the middle.
32 yard attempt for the rookie out of Texas Tech. Lynn Elliott furlong holds and Elliott kicks the upright.
So the Redskins hold and get a big break and they are very lucky. The score is only nine to nothing.
It could be 24 to nothing right now.
Lynn Elliott had a great preseason. Won the job and he misses from in close.
The ball does not hook in. Guesses the upright. Big break for Washington.
Probably have to do something with it.
Going deep and he hits Art Monk and Monk makes the 800 second kick of his illustrious career.
And it's good for a 27 yard gain. He is bounced out of bounds by James Washington.
Well sooner or later number 81 is going to get a football.
And that time good pass protection for Mark Rippon.
Joe Jacoby doing a good job on Charles Haley. Standing him up. Keeping him right on the line of scrimmage.
Here's the big man. 18 more catchers now and Monk will be the all time leader in receptions.
He'll surpass Steve Largent.
And as you saw he just became the fifth player in league history to go over 11,000 yards.
First down to 48. The fake to Irvin.
The roll by Rippon. That's by time. Rippon going deep but too deep.
The coverage was there. Terry Orr. You'll rarely see Orr going that deep.
The H-back. Ray Horton back there covering.
And you just saw why. You will rarely see Terry Orr going deep.
He gets himself tied up in the secondary with Larry Brown.
And Rippon in effect just threw it away.
Redskins that first drive resulting in a safety off the block punt.
And then four plays in the punt and then five plays in the punt.
And now this.
Second down and 10 and a fumble at the 47 yard line. Dallas has it.
The fumble was between the center quarterback exchange.
A veteran center in Jeff Bostick.
A veteran quarterback in Mark Rippon.
Who's only been in camp for a week.
There's Bostick who's been there forever. Let's see if we can see it.
Actually Rippon was leaving before the count.
You could see the ball came up and was in Rippon's hands.
But Rippon was on his way out and didn't control it.
That's a great recovery by Kenneth Gantt. The safety first down Dallas at the skins 46.
Emmett Smith.
Gain of 10 to the 36 yard line.
Emmett Smith in this game tonight is reminding me of Barry Sanders.
And so much that every time he touches the football your heart just accelerates.
Is this going to end up being a highlight film type run?
I mean every time he's taking it doesn't Frank it's looking like that.
He looks a lot like Barry Sanders low to the ground.
They're going to take a look see if it's the first down.
But what has happened tonight is there have been so many Redskins that have taken a shot at him and have missed him.
They're hesitating and that makes him even that much more effective.
You saw that graphic earlier. He became the first guy since Kelly Leroy Kelly in the mid 60s to score against the skins in fourth grade game.
And now he's just joined Otto Brickham.
Five straight games in which he has scored a touchdown 78 yards already.
He's almost on a 200 yard pace at the moment.
Here he is again on first down getting next to nothing.
Stokes is there to trip up along with Andre Collins and we have six forty to go.
A jam packed Texas stadium where the Cowboys have been dominant and lead nine to nothing.
I was talking with Richie Pettibone before the game and there's been a lot of talk here in Dallas.
This is the year they take the next step.
That means the NFC championship and they're talking Super Bowl.
And Richie Pettibone said, you know, they sound like they're us.
We're the Super Bowl champions.
They're the ones who are trying to get there.
But they came out and they so far have really made their word stand up.
They're talking big. They're playing big.
Well, Martin Mayhew has been having an extraordinary preseason.
Two interception return for touchdowns against the Raiders.
And now this one, a much needed spark for the Redskins.
And I don't know how he kept the ball off the field.
The attempt was to Alvin Harper.
The question won't be a question because they have given it to him, but it came close to a trap.
Will they get the hand better?
It matters not because they allow the interception after the 42 yard line.
The attempt to Harper who was shaken up on the play.
It looked like a trap from that angle, did it not?
At the 42 yard line, Ernest Feiner picks up the first down.
But of course, this year upon no further review.
Well, the other thing that would have been looked at there was whether or not he was down by contact.
Was Mayhew touched by Harper when he was on the ground in possession of the ball?
Let's look and see.
Oh, but what a great play.
Yes, very good.
The other side of that is he should not have been given the yardage that he got up and gained after the INT.
You hit it down.
He's been playing great football.
He gets most of the attention because Darryl Greene on the other side usually send their best receivers against Mayhew.
5'15 remaining in the hand from the 46 yard line.
Here is Ernest Feiner, cuts it back, Brown can't make the tackle, sloppy tackling.
And Gann finally runs him out of bounds at the 30 yard line.
Redskins now on a roll and just when they need it to.
They've been pushed all around here in the first half.
They can put seven on the board.
They will be in good shape.
Again, Feiner, he's missed everything with the Redskins.
Nothing doing inside where he was supposed to take it, breaks it to the outside.
Good all around football player, a couple of back to back thousand yard seasons.
Good receiver.
Clark and Munch stack to the right side and ripping.
There's a wide open clock and a touchdown.
And so Mayhew's interception completely turning it around.
And the Skins now down by three and going on two with the extra play.
Cowboys just dropped back into a zone and Clark came down, moved to the inside,
saw the zone, broke it to the flag and ripping with all the time in the world delivered.
And the instant replay, opponents and proponents will have lots to talk about tomorrow.
Look at Clark, 84, a little dip to the inside.
And James Washington, 37, fought it all as Clark turned it to the flag and ripping was there.
Triplome alert for the point after.
Gary Clark.
On the receiving end of a ripping aerial with 448 to go in the half, a two point down the sleeve now.
Nothing quite like it, architecturally speaking.
The hole in the roof in Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas, just outside Dallas.
Lowmiller kicks off.
I'll say, I'm going to put it out the hole.
Well, without replay this year, and we're not going to belabor it because you're going to hear it a thousand times this year,
but when something like the Mayhew interception happens, you have to take a look at it
because it's something that clearly gets overturned at least in terms of down by contact.
Well, watch the football. First of all, Mayhew does not have the ball.
There it is on the ground. That is an incomplete pass by Troy Aikman.
So it's the double whammy.
Not only should Washington have not have had possession, they also should not have had the resulting yardage.
So if you're keeping score, I think we saw conclusive evidence that it would not have been an interception.
And it had been an interception. He also would have been down by contact.
A fortuitous break. A double bubble, but at least we didn't stop and look at it for five minutes.
Here's Aikman. Back to throw.
Stepping up now.
And stepping up.
For a 19-yard gain up to the 39-yard line.
Very important now for Dallas to come back. They came into this game, they were fired up, the adrenaline was flowing.
They were really stoked when they came out onto the field led by this man.
And now they're kind of back to normal, if you will, and it's important now that they step up.
428 to go in the first half.
Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, the man who bought the team in 1989, the man in the middle.
Was that Hank Williams Jr.'s cowboy hat walking around in there? It looked like it.
And a whistle before the inception of the play.
Yes it is. Are you ready for some football?
And there's the man under it.
There's the excitement.
Offense, number 79 prior to the snap.
Five-yard penalty, still first down.
Enjoying a cold glass of ice water.
A little refreshment here on a very warm night with tea.
Eric Williams is the guy who jumped.
We mentioned Eric's name before, but not the same Eric Williams.
The Redskins, of course, with a defensive tackle.
Eric Williams, he's the guy who's hurt.
And also Bobby Wilson was shaken up before, so he's out.
And Jason Buck, a much-traveled defensive lineman, number 99, is in there.
Aikman throws, and that's dropped by Johnson, who gets wrapped up immediately by Gouvea.
It'll be second down and 15.
I think that Johnson thought that ball was coming. It was sort of a who-me.
That looked more like calf roping at a rodeo.
Gouvea throwing Johnson all the way around.
There's Jim Hanifin, the great offensive line coach of the Redskins.
Congratulating his guys, I'm sure, on some good pass protection, but at the same time,
explaining the facts of life to these guys, that they have been less than dominant.
Second and 15 at the 34-yard line.
A little swing out to Emmett Smith, and he's tackled at the 34-yard line,
and Darrell Green stayed right with him to ensure no game, third and long up coming.
Dallas apparently losing a bit of their momentum.
They went back to a very high-percentage play with the second and long yardage, second and 14.
They flip it out on the flat to Emmett Smith, hoping he can break a couple tackles,
get good yardage, and Washington defends it very well.
Third down, 14.
So let's do the face-mask of one Charles Mann as Smith comes out.
Cowboys, of course, if you follow them closely, they don't use the shotgun.
It's happened at all since 89.
Aikman winds up on the center.
Johnson saves into block.
Coleman's embracing through, but he gets it off to Kelvin Martin,
and Martin seeks the first down, but he's short up at the 44-yard line.
A.J. Johnson with the tackle, about four yards shy.
Oh, and there's the athleticism of quarterback Troy Aikman
under great pressure from Monty Coleman.
We already talked to you, told you about how fast he is,
one of the great pass defensive linemen in the league, linebackers in the league,
and he puts the pressure on Aikman, and Aikman with the flick of the wrist
was able to complete the pass. Here comes Coleman.
Well, the Redskins, Frank, have been getting good pressure outside from the end,
but they haven't been getting much up the middle,
and that time Richie Pettibone was forced to come with the blitz.