Alfred Morris spent the first four years of his career with the Redskins, but they didn’t show much interest in holding onto him as a free agent.
That decision came back to hurt them on Sunday. Morris scored from four yards out late in the fourth quarter and the Cowboys held off the Redskins for a 27-23 win that moves their record to 1-1 on the young season.
Morris’ score came at the end of an 11-play, 80-yard drive that started after safety Barry Church intercepted Kirk Cousins in the end zone. Cousins had fired incomplete on the previous two plays, continuing a second-half trend of wasted chances to create separation from the Cowboys.
The Redskins got prime field position after an unsuccessful Dallas onside kick and an Ezekiel Elliott fumble before moving into the red zone on a 57-yard catch by rookie Josh Doctson, but got just six points out of those three drives. Cousins finished the day 28-of-45 for 364 yards, but those missed chances (and a better throw to Doctson probably would have meant a touchdown) will loom larger than any rosy numbers.
Dak Prescott was 22-of-30 for 292 yards and had a six-yard touchdown run in a solid second outing at the helm of the Cowboys offense. He had a better connection with Dez Bryant than he enjoyed in the opener with seven hookups for 102 yards. Many came when Bryant was covered by players other than Josh Norman, although the Redskins did move Norman around the field at points to contend with the Cowboys star.
One of those times saw Norman commit a costly illegal hands to the face penalty that gave the Cowboys a first down on the way to Morris’ touchdown that sent them to a second-straight home defeat to open the season.