RGIII carves up Cowboys in his return to Texas

ARLINGTON, Texas - Robert Griffin III raised his fists, took a knee for a quick prayer, jumped up, and pointed to the sky.

That's the routine on touchdown passes for the Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor, and he got to do it four times in his impressive return to Texas.

Griffin threw for 311 yards, and Washington built a huge halftime lead against Dallas before holding on for a 38-31 victory that conjured memories for some of a rally that helped make Cowboys vs. Redskins on Thanksgiving famous.

"He's kind of like Cool Hand Luke," Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. "He doesn't get too upset about anything."

Griffin made the Cowboys look like an overmatched college team in the second quarter, throwing for three scores in Washington's first 28-point quarter in 13 years as the Redskins (5-6) built a 28-3 halftime lead.

After Tony Romo threw the longest touchdown of his career - an 85-yarder to Dez Bryant late in the third quarter - Griffin answered by becoming the first Redskins quarterback with four touchdown passes in consecutive games.

And finally, when the Cowboys got within a touchdown and really had people thinking back to Clint Longley's miracle TD to Drew Pearson in the final seconds of a one-point Dallas victory over Washington on Thanksgiving in 1974, Griffin calmly led the Redskins on a clock-killing drive to a field goal and a 38-28 lead in his first pro game in Texas since his sparkling run at Baylor.

"Anytime you have a guy like him, you never worry about him," said Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who set up a first-half score with an interception. "You worry about the guys around him being able to keep up with the pace."

Romo lost for the first time in six starts on Thanksgiving, despite a career-high 441 yards and three second-half touchdowns. After the long TD to Bryant, who matched his career high from last week with 145 yards receiving, Romo ran in a two-point conversion after a TD throw to Felix Jones and threw another scoring pass to Bryant to help Dallas close to 35-28 with 8 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.

Griffin responded by completing three passes for first downs, including one on third and 1 near midfield - and the Redskins ran nearly 51/2 minutes off the clock before Kai Forbath's 48-yard field goal with 3:03 remaining.

"I told the guys that that was probably the drive that saved our season," Griffin said. "You have a huge lead, the other team's roaring back, they have all the momentum, and then you go out there and you convert third down after third down after third down and get in field goal range."

Redskins 38, Cowboys 31

Washington 0 28 0 10 – 38

Dallas 3 0 10 18 – 31

First quarter Dal–FG Bailey 30, 9:17.

Second quarter Was–A.Robinson 68 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), 13:47.

Was–Morris 1 run (Forbath kick), 7:00.

Was–Garcon 59 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), 2:14.

Was–Moss 6 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), :05.

Third quarter Dal–FG Bailey 33, 11:48.

Dal–Bryant 85 pass from Romo (Bailey kick), 1:24.

Fourth quarter Was–Paul 29 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), 12:48.

Dal–F.Jones 10 pass from Romo (Romo run), 9:54.

Dal–Bryant 11 pass from Romo (Bailey kick), 8:18.

Was–FG Forbath 48, 2:58.

Dal–FG Bailey 51, :18.

A: 90,166.

Was   Dal

First downs 22   22

Total Net Yards 437   458

Rushes-yards 30-142   11-35

Passing 295   423

Punt Returns 2-13   3-17

Kickoff Returns 3-83   4-76

Interceptions Ret. 2-37   1-27

Comp-Att-Int 20-28-1   37-62-2

Sacked-Yards Lost 4-16   2-18

Punts 5-45.2   3-56.7

Fumbles-Lost 0-0   1-1

Penalties-Yards 5-41   7-45

Time of Possession 31:42   28:18

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Washington, Morris 24-113, Griffin III 6-29. Dallas, F.Jones 6-14, Dunbar 1-8, Romo 3-7, Bryant 1-6.

Passing: Washington, Griffin III 20-28-1-311. Dallas, Romo 37-62-2-441.

Receiving: Washington, Garcon 5-93, Morgan 5-48, Moss 4-42, Paulsen 2-11, A.Robinson 1-68, Paul 1-29, Hankerson 1-12, Banks 1-8. Dallas, Witten 9-74, Bryant 8-145, Beasley 7-68, Harris 4-71, F.Jones 3-47, Dunbar 3-21, Vickers 2-11, Holmes 1-4.

Missed Field Goals: None.