But first, here are five observations from Washington’s win over Dallas:

1. Momentum on their side: All along, Jay Gruden said that he and his players just needed to focus on getting better each week, and reach the point where they played their best football at the most crucial part of the season. The Redskins now exit the regular season having done just that. After a 2-4 start, Washington reached 3-4 entering the bye, returned with a loss to New England, and then won six of their last eight, five of their last six and four in a row, including the last three on the road. That translated into 9-7 – a five-game improvement over last season’s record.

Yes, the Redskins took advantage of the fact that injury, dysfunction and poor performance plagued NFC East counterparts. But they can’t help that. The Redskins could only worry about themselves. They should make no apologies about winning the division, or view it as a cheapened crown, as some critics would suggest. They took care of business. The march to the playoffs certainly wasn’t flawless. And questions remain about their ability to beat a winning team. But Redskins have positioned themselves in necessary fashion, and with a win over the Cowboys, they maintained their momentum rather than limping into the postseason with a lackluster performance and loss.

2. Cousins on fire: Speaking of momentum, there’s no hotter Redskins player than quarterback Kirk Cousins. His season served as the ideal picture of development. He displayed promise early, but still had struggles and weaknesses to improve upon. Gradually, he became more consistent while assuming a greater workload. Now, as the season ends, Cousins is playing his best football. He finishes regular season with the highest completion percentage in the league, and one of the five leading passer ratings. In the final eight games of the season, Cousins threw 19 touchdown passes and only two interceptions while leading his team to a 6-2 finish. In four of the past six games, he has led his teams to 14-0 starts. In his past nine quarters, he has thrown nine touchdown passes and no interceptions. He has thrown for multiple touchdowns in each of his past three outings.

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Cousins looks confident, aggressive and in control. No one saw this coming. If they say they did envision this level of play from Cousins this season, they can’t be taken seriously. Did he have potential? Yes. But even people in the organization thought that in his first season as starter, Cousins would grow into the game-manager role, making necessary plays as the run game paced the offense. Well, instead, it’s Cousins carrying the offense with his arm, and his mind.

3. McCoy the good soldier: It was good to see Colt McCoy come in and have a solid performance in relief of Cousins. McCoy completed 7 of 11 passes for 128 yards, a 71-yard touchdown, no interceptions, and posted a quarterback rating of 133.9. Why’s that such a big deal? Because that playing time was a reward for McCoy’s hard work and professionalism throughout this season, and he capitalized by showing he too is a good quarterback.

It’s flown under the radar – because that’s how McCoy wanted it – but this has been a tough year for the fifth-year veteran. Remember, he took the starting job from the 2014 turnover-prone Cousins and put together a solid body of work. But a neck injury forced McCoy to the sideline for the final three games of the season. However, he felt good about his play, and he re-signed here this past spring, expecting to have a chance to compete with Robert Griffin III for the starting quarterback job. McCoy actually believed that since he was the starter and had played well and only lost his job because of injury, that the argument could’ve been made that he should have reclaimed his job at the start of the offseason.

But then the Redskins announced that Griffin would start, before even seeing him in offseason practices or training camp. McCoy resisted the urge to go into Jay Gruden’s office and argue for his job. Instead, upon seeing that No. 1 job was handed to Griffin, McCoy just worked hard, hoping to win the No. 2 job. He played well in the preseason both against Cleveland and Detroit. Then out of nowhere, when Griffin gets the concussion against the Lions, Gruden – impressed with the growth he saw in Cousins and believing he had the greater potential – surprised everyone by naming No. 8 as the starter. “It’s Kirk’s team,” Gruden declared. McCoy could’ve let this sour him. Internally, he was seething. But, he promised himself that he would not cause disruption. His teammates never knew about his frustration. He served as the consummate professional, and didn’t let his disappointment turn into bitterness. And, he did his job well enough that Gruden trusted him to the point where the coach never once considered preparing Griffin to take over the No. 2 job in the event that Cousins faltered.

McCoy also remained a good friend to Cousins. After every touchdown pass, McCoy was among the first players welcoming Cousins back to the sideline. After Cousins set the franchise single-season passing record, McCoy gave him a bear hug. Then, McCoy – playing in his home state of Texas, and against the team he grew up dreaming of playing for, and against the team that he led the Redskins to victory against last season – went out and played well, keeping his team in control of the game.

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So, that’s why his performance ranked among the most encouraging showings of the day.

4. Peaking pass rush: Just as the Redskins team has rounded into form at the perfect time, so too have edge rushers Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith. Kerrigan on Sunday increased his season total to 9 1/2, the second-highest total of his career, and Smith picked up his eighth sack of the year, a total that leads all rookies. Their seasons both got off to slow starts for different reasons, but both reached breakthroughs at similar points and head into the playoffs playing their best football.

For Kerrigan, the pressure of having signed a $57 million contract extension, and having missed all of the preseason because of arthroscopic knee surgery, weighed on him. It forced him to try to do too much. He entered training camp and the regular season believing he needed to take his game to another level by learning all kinds of “sweet pass-rushing moves.” But Kerrigan wasn’t playing to his strengths. Midway through the season, with his knee healthy and strength and speed restored, he realized he needed to simplify things and just go back to rushing with power, leverage and quickness. Forget fancy, he told himself. Now he’s back to his old self.

Smith, meanwhile, had potential, but hadn’t figured out how to prepare like a professional and how to play with a relentless motor in practice or games. Veterans rode him hard all season long, and the light finally clicked on. Veterans say he has practiced like a monster. Kerrigan said they watch footage of practices and again and again, Smith jumps out at everyone. That has translated into the late-season surge of five sacks in the past three games. Now, the Redskins have their top two pass rushers playing at a high level. Trent Murphy also has played well despite switching roles with Smith, now serving as the rotational player. The pressure off the edges has helped interior defensive linemen Ricky Jean Francois, Terrance Knighton and Jason Hatcher cause greater disruption. Chris Baker has played at a high level all season long. This is the type of disruptive front seven that Joe Barry envisioned.

5. Garcon being Garcon: One more story about a strong second half of the season and a player rewarded for his consistency. Garcon’s frustration has reached a boiling point at times this season because of a lack of opportunities. He’s the same player that led the league in catches just two years ago, but his coaches haven’t used him in the same way. Whether it was a lack of imagination early in the season, or shaky confidence from Cousins, or something else, the Redskins didn’t consistently use Garcon as the go-to player he can be, which is odd because Jordan Reed missed some time, and DeSean Jackson did as well. Garcon showed he remains a capable threat when in Week 4, he and Cousins teamed up to make the plays that lifted Washington to that comeback victory over the Eagles. But opportunities like that proved hard to come by.

Garcon has gotten surly at times, but hasn’t let that turn into a problem. He has continued to work and play hard. He just wants to help his team win, and having played behind great wide receivers Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne while also learning from Peyton Manning, professionalism is important to Garcon. Now in the second half of the season, we’ve seen Garcon finally become more of a featured part of the offense. He’s used for more than just catching a wide receiver screen or five-yard comeback route. He ranks among the most targeted third-down receivers, despite the fact that Reed has played at an impressive level, and despite Jackson’s speed. Sunday we again saw Garcon make big plays – the biggest of which was the 39-yard touchdown catch. On that play, Garcon was used as a downfield threat (which is rare), and beat his man, made a great adjustment on the ball and an even more spectacular leaping catch, kept his feet and crossed the goal line for his sixth touchdown of the season. It tied career highs set in 2010 and 2011 and was his third in as many games.

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Coaches and team officials love Garcon because of his intense competitive fire and the example he sets for his younger teammates – preparing with the same consistency and sense of urgency each week. He’s the kind of guy that you’ve got to have in your locker room and on your team, they say. Now, as the team enters the playoffs, the Redskins coaches/play callers appear to have figured out more effective ways to use Garcon.

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