The only way next week's Monday Night Football broadcast could be more annoying to Dallas Cowboys fans is if it was actually a meaningful game.
DeSean Jackson told reporters at Redskins camp Monday that he'll be available for the team's second preseason game against Cleveland. The Pro Bowl wideout sat out of Washington's preseason debut against New England with a twisted ankle. After a few limited days, he returned to practice full-time this week.
This news comes a day after the team welcomed Pierre Garcon back to practice from a hamstring strain. Garcon, who put together the team's best-ever receiving season last year, also missed the first game.
So, I'm now going to outline this. The Redskins, arguably the Cowboys' biggest rival, will have DeSean Jackson, arguably Cowboys' fans least-favorite player, back in the lineup alongside Garcon for their second game.
Oh, yeah – he'll also be playing against the Cleveland Browns, who are expected to start Johnny Manziel on Monday night. You know, the same Johnny Manziel the Cowboys famously considered in the draft this past May before ultimately selecting Zack Martin.
If you haven't turned on a television in the past month, the Manziel coverage in Cleveland is every bit as overblown as people thought it would be – which leads to some interesting 'What If' questions about the Cowboys drafting [embedded_ad]
him.
With all of this in place, I just wish the game was a bit more meaningful and the starters would actually last for longer than a quarter or two. The thought of Cowboys fans cheering for Manziel to lead a game-winning drive against the Redskins is just too surreal.
As it stands, it'll be interesting to get a look at Pierre Garcon and Jackson together on the Washington offense with Robert Griffin III. Griffin threw a measly four passes, two of them complete, in the win against New England last week. Those completions went to Logan Paulsen and Roy Helu.
At the very least we should see a handful of possessions from the Washington starters – and we can't forget Manziel. It should be a good opportunity to get into midseason form for hating one's rivals.
