QB GRIFFIN IS CLOSE TO RETURN

WASHINGTON—The magnitude of Jay Gruden’s first big win as the Washington Redskins coach is nearly impossible to gauge.

His team was down to its third quarterback and was being mocked nationwide. A prime-time visit to its firstplace division rival would only validate all the struggles from the first seven weeks and make everyone even more ansty to see Robert Griffin III return.

It’s always somethin’ to beat the Dallas Cowboys, but this was somethin’ else.

The Redskins’ 20-17 overtime victory gave them their first NFC East win since beating Dallas in last week of the 2012 regular season. They now have back-to-back wins for the first time since then. They also played with a passion not seen since—you guessed it—the last week of the 2012 regular season.

As outlandish as it seemed 48 hours ago, a .500 mark could be on the horizon for Washington (3-5). Its next two games are against the Minnesota Vikings (3-5) and, after a bye, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-6).

Gruden’s big dilemma continues to be his quarterbacks. Griffin is eager to return from the dislocated left ankle suffered in Week 2—he said Monday he’d been targeting the Cowboys game—but Colt McCoy is completing 86 percent (36 for 42) of his passes and recovered from Monday’s shaky start with a strong second half and overtime.

Gruden reiterated Tuesday that Griffin will be the starter when at “100 percent,” but that it’s very much a judgment call among the doctors and coaches as to when the third-year QB reaches that benchmark.

“I think Robert is very, very, very close,” Gruden said. “We just have to decide if he’s ready. Physically I think he’ll be ready to go. The doctors are feeling pretty good about it. They still want to see him run around this week until they make a final determination as far as clearing him, but I just want to make sure he feels good in the pocking moving forward with everything.”