For Redskins, a kick in the gut

ARLINGTON, Texas | When he saw another running back and right guard go down to injury, Jim Zorn felt it. When normally reliable kicker Shaun Suisham missed two field goals, the pain was retriggered inside Zorn’s gut. And the emotions certainly swirled when the Dallas Cowboys’ offense awoke from their game-long slumber to drive down the field in the final six minutes.

“You’re getting stabbed every time something happened,” Zorn said.

The final wound came with 2:41 remaining Sunday at Cowboys Stadium, when Tony Romo threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton, propelling Dallas to a 7-6 victory. Crayton’s touchdown, his only reception of the game, capped the longtime rivals’ lowest-scoring game in eight years.

So good on defense for three-plus quarters despite playing without Albert Haynesworth clogging the middle, the Redskins were unable to stop Dallas’ receivers early in the drive and unable to corral Romo on the winning play.

Rookie Brian Orakpo got the advantage on left tackle Flozell Adams and nearly sacked Romo. But the elusive quarterback escaped and rolled left before throwing across his body to Crayton, who found an open pocket in the end zone between DeAngelo Hall and London Fletcher.

“Romo went outside of [Adams],” Orakpo said, “and that was all she wrote.”

For the game — and perhaps for the season, for Zorn’s tenure and for who knows how many players.

The Redskins (3-7) trail Dallas by four games in the NFC East with seven to play. The realization that they’re playing out the string is starting to sink in.

“I really believe this is a special team of players that will not chuck things in at 3-7,” Zorn said. “Being 3-7 is bleak. We’ll look at our roster and patch it up and go again.”

That roster, already held together by equal parts rubber cement and baling wire, suffered more losses when running back Ladell Betts (left MCL) and right guard Chad Rinehart (broken right fibula) went down. And the defense already took the field without Haynesworth, whose ankle injury shelved him 90 minutes before kickoff.

Still, the Redskins showed courage in the face of adversity, holding Dallas scoreless for more than 57 minutes and taking control at certain junctures by going 7-for-15 on third down.

“It was just a hard game for our players because we felt like, ‘Here we go, we’re climbing ourselves out of it,’ ” Zorn said. “To lose it that way at the end in a hostile situation is so hard.”

The Redskins’ hopes ended when Jason Campbell’s pass from the Washington 33 was deflected by Stephen Bowen and intercepted by Anthony Spencer with 1:46 remaining.

It was the Redskins’ second blown fourth-quarter lead of the season. In Week 5, they led at Carolina 17-9 but lost 20-17.

“Definitely disappointed; we should have won,” offensive coordinator Sherman Smith said. “We had some field goal opportunities and made only half of them.”

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