Cowboys keep faint playoff hopes alive, beat Redskins 19-16

LANDOVER, Md. — Breaking down the Dallas Cowboys’ 19-16 win over the Washington Redskins on Monday night.

THE BIG PICTURE: This is the NFC East. With not one team above .500, all four are still somehow in the playoff hunt with four games left. With the Cowboys’ (4-8) win, they’re only a game behind the Redskins (5-7), Eagles (5-7) and Giants (5-7) but have a challenging schedule ahead that includes road trips to Green Bay and Buffalo, and home games against the Jets and Redskins. A Washington win would have solidified its spot atop the division and made it difficult for Dallas to stay alive. Now the division remains up for grabs.

WHAT WE’LL BE TALKING ABOUT: DeSean Jackson gives and he takes away. With 1:47 to play, he fielded a punt at his own 16-yard line but was tackled for a loss of 7 yards and fumbled at the Redskins 9-yard line. It was recovered by Cowboys punter Chris Jones at the 15. Two plays later, the Cowboys scored to take a 16-9 lead. Game over, right? Wrong. With 1:14 to play, the Redskins drove 43 yards in 30 seconds, which was capped when Kirk Cousins threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to none other than Jackson to tie the game 16-16 with 44 seconds left.

THE DECIDING PLAY: Once the Redskins had tied the game, Cowboys return man Lucky Whitehead made what ended up being one of the most critical plays of the game when he ran the ball to his own 44. Thanks to this field position, Dallas only needed 20 more yards to put kicker Dan Bailey in range. And with 9 seconds left, he knocked down a game-winning 54-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a much-needed 19-16 victory, their first this season without Tony Romo in the lineup.

PHOTOS: Week 13 NFL action