The NFL announced the 2013 schedule for the NFC East division champion Washington Redskins. The St. Louis Rams are off the schedule because, for the first time in five seasons, neither the Redskins nor the Rams ended the regular season in division fourth place. Thus, they avoid playing fourth-place opponents.

NFC East teams face teams from the AFC West and the NFC North in 2013.

Play dates, and preseason opponents, are yet to be announced. But we show the breakdown of home and away opponents in the table below. Tickets to 2013 Redskins games should be a hot commodity.

•   Gopher morphed to become The Internet.

•   Wikipedia was launched.

•   MySpace fell and Facebook rose.

•   Friends of Tanya Harding kneecapped Nancy Kerrigan.

•   The Western Calendar entered the next Millennium and the Mayan Calendar ended.  

•   After six seasons of trying, Norv Turner coached the Redskins to a division title.

•   Norv Turner is about to be fired from his third NFL head coaching job.

•   The Dallas Cowboys won three Super Bowls, but no playoff games since.

•   The Eagles appeared in a Super Bowl.

•   The Giants won two Super Bowls.

•   The cool kids in 1991 had cell phones the size of a man’s shoe. Now, the cool kids use smart phones to text.

•   Both hot news and misinformation may be found on the Twitterverse.

•   Fantasy football blew up.

•   The dot-com bubble burst.

•   Pluto was demoted to a “dwarf planet.”

•   Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee.

•   They built an Ice Palace for Super Bowl 26 (I refuse to use Roman Numerals) where the wind chill factor was 30-below. The game between the Redskins and Bills was played in the Humphey Metrodome where the indoor temperature was 72°.

•   Robert Griffin III celebrated his second birthday in February 1992. London Fletcher was a teenager in Cleveland.

•   Daniel Snyder learned the fastest path to contention is to get out of the way.

•   The Redskins beat the Cowboys 28-18 to clinch the 2012 NFC East title. 

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It's official. #Redskins are NFC East champions for the first time since 1999. Beat Cowboys, 28-18. Host Seahawks 4:30 on Sunday in 1st rd.

— Post Sports (@PostSports) December 31, 2012

I bet nobody in the NFC East looks past the Redskins anymore. Everyone outside of Washington did that last September when they projected the Eagles or Giants as division champs. Nobody thought, “Hmm, Redskins…division champs....”

I bet nobody laughs at the Redskins quarterback situation anymore. Everybody outside of Washington did that in September 2011 when Mike Shanahan blew smoke about Rex Grossman and John Beck as competitive starters. And to think they suspended Trent Williams for blowing smoke.

I bet nobody thinks of Norv Turner anymore. Turner coached the Redskins to their last NFC East title in 1999. Ironic that he is likely to lose his job in San Diego this week.

I bet Robert Griffin III will not be nominated for Rookie of Week 17. Nope, Alfred Morris (200 yards, 3 TDs) is your Rookie of the Week. Morris holds the franchise rushing record with 1,613 yards. He also had three touchdowns for the evening.

I bet nobody thought DC Jim Haslett would use DeAngelo Hall in man coverage on Dez Bryant most of the evening. The same scheme led to disaster in 2011 Cowboys Game One. Haslett must have a pair of big ones.

I bet nobody thought D.Hall would cover Bryant so well all night long. Lawd knows I didn’t. Nice job, De.

I bet nobody gives Tony Romo any love this offseason. Prepare for a lot of Tony Ohno jokes and homophobic corruptions of his name. Yesterday, I wrote that Romo is a better quarterback than most give him credit to be. Today, we find out if he is a better man. A lot of withering criticism is rolling his way, much of it from Cowboys alumni Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders on the Network. Irvin and Sanders are the best superficial thinkers on sports talk TV.

"Wow, I'd hate to be Tony Romo" - Mark Sanchez

— Evil Mike Tomlin (@EvilMikeTomlin) December 31, 2012

What do you call a year like these Redskins rookies had?A good start!

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) December 31, 2012

The rookies and new players on this team are beasts, that’s why the Redskins are Beasts of the East. Now, here comes one of the Best of the West, the Seattle Seahawks. The ‘Hawks are a better, healthier team than the Cowboys, but save that for another post. For now, it’s all about Hail to the 2012 Redskins.  

After coming so far, a Redskins loss to the Cowboys Sunday night is inconceivable

Of all the jaw-dropping things we’ve witnessed about the 2012 Washington Redskins, none is so amazing as to see the team fighting for the title Beast of the East.

Hog Heaven projected seven wins for this team, and that forecast was among the most optimistic. Simulations by Football Outsiders and The Prediction Machine had the ‘Skins with fewer than seven wins. CBS Sports' Pete Prisco predicted three wins for the team. He has admitted his error on DC sports talk radio.

Washington’s turnaround was hard to see because it’s led by a bunch of players who were not on the team last year. You know the obvious name, but tip your hat to CB Richard Crawford, the seventh-round Draft pick who is averaging 23 yards per punt return. Alfred Morris can break Clinton Portis’ franchise single season rushing record with another 104 yards. K Kai Forbath and S Jordan Pugh weren’t even on the roster for the Saints game.

LB Rob Jackson seems like a new player, though he is a Vinny Cerrato find from the 2008 Draft. His pick-six of an Andy Dalton pass was our first impression of him. Jackson has three interceptions for the season. His comfort in replacing Brian Orakpo boosted the defense.

Here’s how ESPN described the Redskins’ recent performance.

“The Redskins had a season-high five sacks in Week 16 and over the last six weeks they rank fourth in the NFC with 16.0 sacks. Over the first 10 weeks of the season, Washington’s 14 sacks were tied for last in the conference. The Redskins average a sack every 15.3 dropbacks this season when sending five or more pass-rushers, but that rate drops to one every 27.8 dropbacks when sending standard pressure. Over the past six weeks, though, the Redskins have averaged a sack every 14.1 dropbacks with added pressure and once every 18.7 dropbacks with standard pressure.”

Joe Gibbs tried to renew this team with veterans – "proven talents." So did Mike Shanahan, initially. We all knew that the ‘Skins would get better by getting younger. Did you know Washington would get this much better this fast?

Liar, liar pants on fire.

Three Stats worth watching point to a passing duel, turnovers, and a division title for Washington

QB Passer Rating Differential
Redskins 103.6, Opponents 88.9, Differential +14.7
Cowboys 93.5, Opponents 95.7, Differential -2.2

Don’t count us among Tony Romo-bashers. He is a beast who has been a cut above his Redskins’ counterpart since winning the starter position with Dallas. (This is easy to admit now that RGIII is on the Redskins’ roster.) Much like Donovan McNabb in Philadelphia, Romo is the reason the Cowboys can contest for games. He is not the player holding them back. He’s the one who props them up. Lose Romo and the Cowboys turn to Kyle Orton.

Romo and WR Dez Bryant have been hot commodities lately. Bryant has six TD catches in the last four games.

Romo’s 84.1 QBR when he last faced the Redskins is worst than his season average. Griffin’s 131.8 QBR of  that day is much higher than his season average. Griffin was fueled by emotion for his Texas homecoming. The Cowboys’ defense hadn’t faced him before. Don’t look for a Thanksgiving hangover. The disparity of that day will not hold up.

Miles Austin should play a complete game for the Cowboys. That’s offset by the uncertain health of Cowboys pass rusher DeMarcus Ware. RGIII is the hottest quarterback in the division and that’s a big edge for the Redskins.

Advantage: Washington

Third Down Conversions Allowed
Redskins 43.6%
Cowboys 39.8%

This has been a theme all season. The Redskins have a hard time making stops. Disruption is their strength. Move on to the next section.

Advantage: Cowboys

Turnover Differential
Redskins +14
Cowboys -3

Here’s more proof that a good offense is the best defense. The Redskins have run with a positive turnover differential all year. It has covered up flaws of an injury-plagued defense with a talent-short secondary. For perspective, compare the Redskins to the Chicago Bears.

Defensive Take-Aways
Bears:  23 INTs, 17 Recovered Fumbles, 40 Take-Aways,
Redskins:  18 INTs, 9 Recovered Fumbles, 27 Take-Aways

Chicago’s offense lost the ball 18 times. The tight-handed Redskins lost the ball 13 times. While Washington’s net turnovers look good standing alone, we have a way to go to match the league's best.

Save that discussion for the playoffs. The Redskins play the Cowboys, not the Bears. Tony Romo has been sharp of late, and he enjoys the return of Miles Austin. But the Cowboys’ defense has a mere seven interceptions to show for itself. Winning the turnover battle is as good as a score against Dallas.

Advantage: Washington

The 8-Ball don’t lie, but it can make an honest mistake.

Hog Heaven’s Magic 8-Ball cast doubt on a Washington win last Sunday. It was the first wrong call since we asked the question, "Will the Redskins win." The 8-Ball is 6-1 calling the correct outcome.

You will be glad to know the 8-Ball says “It is certain” that the Redskins will beat the Cowboys.

A special message to DeAngelo Hall

Man, if you get your hands on the ball with an unobstructed path to the goal line, go ahead and score this time. RGIII won’t mind. Really.

HAIL!

Image: Redskins at Cowboys via zimbio.com.

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The NFL missed the Cowboys vs. Redskins rivalry games. It's apparent by the joyous hype we see every day this week on the NFL Network and NFL.com. 

Games were played, of course. Sometimes a team, usually the Redskins, would pull off a stunning upset, but those games lacked the winner-take-all aura of a playoff fight of 'Skins vs. 'Boys of the '70s and '80s.

George Allen milked the rivalry, but the baby was born in the epic feud between team owners George Preston Marshall and Clint Murchison that was Shakespearean in scale. 

I told this story in a three-part series on my old blog, Running Redskins. It's worth a read, so let me link you there.

Part I: It didn't start with George Allen – Redskins owner Marshall did everything in his power to stifle Pete Rozelle's expansion effort in the Deep South. Marshall built an expansive radio network in the South and built his team to appeal to Old Confederate values accepted in that time.

People saw Marshall's refusal to sign black players as unique, but it was no different from Alabama's Bear Bryant or Texas' Darrel Royal, or any ACC school at the time. Murchison did not feel a need to follow that roster-building concept, even for a team based in Dallas. But he could not win the majority vote of owners while Marshall remained recalcitrant on league expansion.

Murchison hijacked the copyright to Washington's fight song, Hail To The Redskins, and extorted Marshall's vote in favor. Rubbing salt in the wound, Cowboys' GM Tex Schramm rustled three-time Redskins Pro Bowl quarterback Eddie LeBaron off the Redskins' roster in the expansion Draft after Marshall failed to add LeBaron to the protected list.

Imagine RGIII in a Cowboys uniform because of a paperwork screw-up. Yeah. It was like that.  

Read It: Redskins & Cowboys: It didn't start with Allen.   

Part II: Aces Wild – I came of age watching the 1960's Redskins. (Don't do the math.) Those teams wore true burgundy wine-colored jerseys. They were terrible. They lost. But they were the most dynamically exciting losers in the history of losers. Why? because Sonny Jurgensen and his band of Merry Receivers, Bobby Mitchell, Charley Taylor and Jerry Smith. 

Aces Wild tells the story of the epic four-game Redskins-Cowboys battle led by Jurgensen and Dandy Don Meredith, the "aces" in this tale, between 1965 and 1967. Those were compelling games, but were no death matches for playoff spots. Yet, Washington's unbroken string of consecutive sellouts was born in that period.

I suspect most Hog Heaven readers, age mid-30s and younger, are only vaguely aware of what Sonny Jurgensen meant to the Redskins. "Sonny Jurgensen" now sounds as ancient as Sammy Baugh does. That's a real shame, if true. Jurgy's abilities were stunning.

Read it: Redskins & Cowboys: Aces Wild. 

Redskins & Cowboys Part III: The Future is now – To Redskins fans younger than 40, "the rivalry" was born with the arrival of George Allen in 1971. Two things were working in Allen's favor.

Pete Rozelle had worked his magic to sign megabucks broadcast rights for NFL games. Redskins-Cowboys was already compelling drama for an electronic media that craved compelling drama. The era saw the buildup of Raiders-Chiefs and Vikings-Packers as TV-fueled rivalries. But, those teams lacked the outsized personalities of George Allen and Tom Landry.

Well, maybe Landry did not have an outsized personality like Allen, but by then Landry was a football icon. Allen continued down the path blazed by Vince Lombardi to restore the Redskins as perennial contenders. The high water mark of this period was the 1972 Conference Championship game. The Redskins brushed aside the Cowboys in route to Super Bowl 7.

We couldn't see it at the time, but the Redskins began a slow ebb after the Super Bowl. They would not win another division title until a decade later. The Over the Hill Gang got older. Allen, for some mystifying reason, never trusted Jurgensen as quarterback. The St. Louis Cardinals, got better under head coach Don Coryell and OC Joe Gibbs, the Cowboys kept improving.

The Redskins were always in the thick of the playoff race. When Allen left Washington to return to the Los Angeles Rams, disciples Jack Pardee and Richie Pettibon ran the team. 

Read it: Redskins & Cowboys Part III: The Future is Now.

Image: September 1993 GameDay Magazine cover from author's personal collection.
George Allen image found on profootballhof.com via Google here.

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Pro Bowl voters validated Vinny Cerrato's personnel prowess by naming Lorenzo Alexander to the 2013 Pro Bowl. The Gibbs-Snyder-Cerrato front office signed Alexander to the practice squad mid-season 2006. He has since proven to be the most versatile player on the roster by playing as defensive tackle, offensive guard and now outside lineman.

Alexander has been selected as a Pro Bowl special teamer, and this tack was to find a different angle to the story that everywhere else will lead with Robert Griffin III's selection to his first Pro Bowl in his rookie season.

Greg Rosenthal called Griffin's performance "frighteningly efficient." That's all too well known to Redskins fans, so Hog Heaven won't waste more of your time to describe it. Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson are also having outstanding seasons, but neither rookie was selected for the game.

The NFL selected LT Trent Williams to the Pro Bowl. Does anyone remember that Williams was suspended last season for violations of the league's drug policy? Good. Williams promised to have learned from the mistake. Everything we've seen thus far shows that he has learned.

Allow me to use Williams and Chris Samuels in the same sentence. Trent Williams will make multiple Pro Bowls just as Chris Samuels did.

Rookie RB Alfred Morris has been named a Pro Bowl alternate. Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch and Frank Gore are named Pro Bowlers. With that bunch, Hog Heaven does not quibble with Morris' selection as an alternate. We expect that Morris will make the most of his time with his exposure to stud runners.

We close with our annually vain lament that London Fletcher was not named to the Pro Bowl on the strength of his performance. 49ers Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman were the named players. We don't get to see a lot of 49ers game here on the East Coast. I get that I could be missing something about one of the NFL's top defensive unites, but the snub feels like a San Francisco tilt to me.

HOG HEAVEN CONGRATULATES ALL THE REDSKINS 2013 PRO BOWLERS. HAIL!        

Image: redskins.com from here.

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