IRVING, Texas – Jason Hatcher was a member of the Dallas Cowboys for eight seasons. He thought he knew all about the rivalry with the Washington Redskins.

Hatcher is seven games into his time with the Redskins after signing with Washington as a free agent, and he is seeing the rivalry from the other side for the first time.

“I’ll tell you what; they hate Dallas more than Dallas hate us over here,” Hatcher said on a conference call Thursday leading into the "Monday Night Football" contest at AT&T Stadium. “They really hate Dallas.”

How does he notice the difference?

Just the fans, man,” said Hatcher, who had 11 sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl last season.

“Everywhere you go, grocery store or whatever, these guys, they’re hard-nosed fans. They know their players. It’s all you hear wherever you go, man. Facebook, Twitter, whatever you’re on, they hate Dallas. They got signs up everywhere down here. It’ll be great for the fans to experience a great Monday night game with a big rivalry. It’s great for the fans.”

This will be the 16th meeting between the teams on "Monday Night Football." The Cowboys lead 8-7.

“It was a great rivalry long before I was around here – great history between these two franchises,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “The biggest thing for us is to focus on us and get ready to play our best football.”