ton Redskins have been the very definition of mediocre as the NFC East teams resume their rivalry.The Cowboys are 3-3 Youth Taco Charlton Jersey , while the Redskins head into Sunday's home game leading the so-so NFC East at 3-2 and with an 18-18-1 mark since the start of the 2016 season.Neither club has managed to win two games in a row in 2018. Neither has dropped two in a row, either. They just keep alternating W's and L's.Something has to give, because both are coming off victories."It's been a minute since I've had back-to-back wins," Redskins left tackle Trent Williams said. "It's very important for this team, for the confidence of this team."The Cowboys look at it the same way, and they are well aware of the disparity between how they perform when at home (3-0) and away (0-3).Garrett and Gruden have been criticized for various flaws, but both might have earned some breathing room with what happened in Week 6 against opponents who entered with winning records and strengths that would seem to be trouble for the weaknesses exhibited by Dallas and Washington.Having been embarrassed by Drew Brees just six days earlier, then forced to deal with Cam Newton and a Carolina offense coming off a pair of 30-point outings, the Redskins relied on their defense to beat the Panthers 23-17. Up against a talented Jacksonville Jaguars defense, and coming off a 16-point effort, Dak Prescott led the offensively challenged Cowboys to a surprising 40-7 triumph."I've said it before," said running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is second in the NFL in rushing with 586 yards. "If we don't build on it, everything we did last week really means nothing."Here are some things to know about the Cowboys and Redskins:SCHEDULING BREAKSThe Redskins do not play a team the rest of the way that currently has a record above .500. Their opponents' combined mark, including Dallas, is 27-38, a .415 winning percentage. Dallas' slate is not much tougher, although it does have to play New Orleans, which is 4-1. Still, the foes lined up on the Cowboys' remaining schedule began this week at 25-31, a .446 winning percentage.WHAT'S THE POINT?The Redskins and Cowboys are having trouble putting up points. They both rank among the 10 lowest-scoring teams, with Washington at 21.2 per game, and Dallas 20.5. The Cowboys' number plummets to 12.3 on the road.MR. SMITH IN WASHINGTONAlex Smith hardly has been a solution at QB for the Redskins, and Gruden was rather pointed in discussing his new guy's play. Smith's passer rating of 91.9 is barely ahead of the much-maligned Eli Manning's 90.9. "There are some things we've got to clean up. Get his eyes in certain progressions a little bit quicker and maybe get off some a little bit quicker," Gruden said about Smith. "Sometimes he hangs on too long, giving guys too much of a chance http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-leighton-vander-esch-jersey , where he needs get off of them, get to the next guy."RUNNING DAKRunning isn't anything new for Dallas QB Dak Prescott; it just seems more important with the Cowboys learning to live without Jason Witten and Dez Bryant in the passing game.The 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year ran for a career-best 82 yards last week; Roger Staubach, with 90 in 1971, is the only Cowboys quarterback who gained more on the ground in a game. The Cowboys are using more zone read, playing off the strengths of Elliott."Some teams are going to make him hand the ball off; some teams are going to make him keep it," Elliott said about Prescott. "It just depends on what the defense shows you."Sunday's outcome could hinge on Dallas' run game — averaging 147.5 yards per game, No. 2 in the league — vs. Washington's run defense, which allows 90.2 per game.YOUNG 'BACKERSTwo-time Pro Bowl linebacker Sean Lee could miss a fourth consecutive game with a hamstring injury, but for the first time in several years, the Cowboys feel as if they have adequate replacements. Leighton Vander Esch leads the team with 60 tackles, and middle linebacker Jaylon Smith has 57.Nobody else has more than 35. Vander Esch is a rookie first-round draft pick from Boise State, where he was a walk-on. Smith was a second-rounder in 2016 after a devastating knee injury in his final game at Notre Dame."Each of those guys, they are playing more snaps," Garrett said. "They are seeing these different situations. They are becoming more confident football players."AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon in Frisco, Texas, and AP Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in Ashburn, Va., contributed to this report. Rules changes and national anthem demonstrations seem to have folks inside and outside the NFL obsessed as the opening kickoff of the season approaches.Yes, the Super Bowl champion Eagles and Atlanta Falcons will open things on Thursday night in Philadelphia. What many folks wonder: Will there be any social injustice protests during "The Star-Spangled Banner?" And if players, coaches and officials will have a handle on the adjustment to use of the helmet in making a hit.Not to mention the new kickoff rules and, at last, a catch rule that seems to make sense.Those are enough issues to grab attention away from Philly's quarterback situation, as well as the progress of the five first-round QB draft choices expected to make their debuts sooner or later.Or from the return from injuries of Aaron Rodgers, J.J. Watt, Richard Sherman, Deshaun Watson Connor Williams Jersey , David Johnson and Odell Beckham Jr., to name a few.Or Jon Gruden's return to an NFL sideline in Oakland.Plus, Adam Vinatieri's pursuit of the career points and field goals marks.What's ahead through the penultimate day of the 2018 calendar?RULE CHANGESThe preseason has been dominated, even overridden, by discussion of and doubts about the "helmet rule." Basically, any player on offense or defense lowering his head and making contact with any part of the helmet is subject to a 15-yard penalty, a fine, and even an ejection. It's a player safety adjustment for which "the goal long term is to make the game safer and take out some of these hits that should not be part of the game," says Giants owner John Mara, a member of the competition committee that recommends rules changes to the owners.The concerns on many levels focus on players adjusting to the tackling requirements and officials mastering such calls at full speed.Gene Steratore, who recently retired as an NFL (and college basketball) referee, expects the critical tempest to die down quickly."Players will adjust because they are that good," says Steratore, now an analyst for CBS after 15 seasons in the league. "Officials will, too, because they are that good. There will be a learning curve for all of them, but I think in a fast period of time, a trigger moment will come that will show right before that contact if it is worthy of a flag."The fix to the phrasing of the catch rule should eliminate the kind of calls — on Jesse James, Dez Bryant et al — many found bogus."Control. If it looks like a catch and smells like a catch, it's a catch," says Troy Vincent, the NFL's chief of football operations. "(The rule) had become convoluted: what you should do, what you shouldn't do. It should be clear as day. So our job was to simplify and we put it in practical terms."The other major rule alteration is on kickoffs, where coverage team players no longer can take a running start, and there are regulations on where kick team players can be overall and how they can block."This is certainly a way of trying to keep the kickoff in the game and attempting to cut down on high-speed collisions," Mara says. "There are a lot of us who don't want to take the kickoff out unless we can't find ways to make it safer. It is our most dangerous play."NATIONAL ANTHEMAnticipation of whether players will demonstrate during the national anthem again this year is high Authentic Joe Looney Jersey , fueled in part by reactions from President Trump. Players argue that their message about the need for change in communities nationwide has been misconstrued by the president and his followers, including many team owners.With the unilateral policy banning players from any on-field protests during the anthem on hold as owners and players discuss the issue, no one can be sure what's ahead.Everyone can be sure the topic won't disappear."I think part of the problem is that when you continue the rhetoric that this is controversial or this is somehow a negative thing, people treat it as such," Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins says. "But we've seen in other leagues when they've decided to amplify the voices of their players to also emphasize the importance of the issues that we're raising, and change the narrative away from the anthem, that not only is it more acceptable, the fan base gets educated on what we're talking about, and we can actually make some movement."ROOKIE QBSBefore we reach 2019, it's a near-certainty that Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson will get onto the field. Some likely will be starters, maybe even stamp themselves as stars.Only in Baltimore, where Joe Flacco is the incumbent, is the rookie (Jackson) a long shot to become the No. 1 quarterback this season. The others — Cleveland's Mayfield, Buffalo's Allen, the Jets' Darnold and Arizona's Rosen — are with teams considered outsiders in the playoff chase and it makes sense as early as prudent to see if they are the franchise QBs they were drafted to be.COACHESNew coaches in charge of the Cardinals, Titans, Lions, Giants, Bears and Raiders include four newbies to being in charge: Detroit's Matt Patricia, Chicago's Matt Nagy, Tennessee's Mike Vrabel and Arizona's Steve Wilks. All of them made their marks as proficient coordinators and bring freshness and toughness to their franchises.Vrabel, of course, has three Super Bowl rings as a player with New England Youth Kavon Frazier Jersey , which surely earns him some respect in the locker room. If he's considered a product of the Belichick coaching tree, though, Vrabel could struggle; few of the Patriots coach's protgs have had much success as a head man in the NFL.So the same goes for Patricia, although he has far more experience in coaching.New York's Pat Shurmur had a short stint in charge in Cleveland and probably didn't get a fair shake. The Giants desperately needed a culture change after the 2017 debacle."I have seen just about all I could see from the top of the mountain to having the second pick in the draft," Mara says. "Last year still is somewhat of a shock to me, going from a preseason Super Bowl contender to being the second-worst team in the league. It was a perfect storm, just an avalanche of injuries, locker room issues, a relatively inexperienced head coach (Ben McAdoo) who hadn't had to deal with any of that in the past, and some draft classes not all that productive. And it adds up to a bad season."Oakland also comes off a bad season following a playoff appearance, and the Raiders made the biggest splash by bringing back (and out of the broadcast booth) Jon Gruden. There's lots of excitement in the Black Hole and throughout the Bay Area about Gruden, who clearly has stamped his personality on the roster by trading his best player, holdout pass rusher Khalil Mack."I love the Raider fans, I love Oakland, and that's the primary reason why I'm standing here," he says.PURSUING HISTORYVinatieri is a marvel. The NFL's oldest player at 45, he begins his 23rd pro season in range to pass Hall of Famer Morten Andersen as the leading scorer. He was dependable for a decade in New England and then a dozen years in Indianapolis.He needs seven field goals to pass Andersen (565) for the most field goals. Andersen scored 2,544 points in a league-record 382 games and Vinatieri needs 58 points to break the record."It's one of those things that I haven't really though too much about it," he says. "I'm still just trying to help my team win games and keep on putting chapters in this book, and if that happens, fantastic."