Griffin outguns Cowboys in shootout

ARLINGTON, Texas — Welcome back to Texas, Robert Griffin III.

Griffin threw for 311 yards and four touchdowns, helping the Washington Redskins beat the Dallas Cowboys 38-31 on Thursday.

“He’s kind of like Cool Hand Luke,” Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said. “He doesn’t get too upset about anything.”

The Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor made the Cowboys look overmatched during the decisive second quarter in Griffin’s first pro game in his home state. He got some help from his receivers, including a leaping grab and long run from Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss tapping both feet down in the end zone for another touchdown.

Tony Romo lost for the first time in six starts on Thanksgiving, despite a career-high 441 yards and three second-half touchdown passes, including the longest of his career - an 85-yarder to Dez Bryant. Romo ran in for a two-point conversion after a touchdown throw to former Arkansas Razorback Felix Jones and threw anotherscoring pass to Bryant to help Dallas close within 35-28 with 8:24 remaining after the Cowboys trailed 28-3 at halftime.

“I thought we had a good chance,” Romo said.

But Griffin answered - twice, actually. After Romo’s long touchdown pass to Bryant, Griffin threw his fourth scoring pass, a 29-yarder to Niles Paul. The rookie became the first Redskins quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in consecutive games.

After the Cowboys pulled within a touchdown, Griffin drove them into scoring position again, completing three passes for first downs and running over five minutes off the clock before Kai Forbath made it 38-28 on a 48-yard field goal.

“Anytime you have a guy like him, you never worry about him,” said Washington cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who set up a first-half score with an interception. “You worry about the guys around him being able to keep up with the pace.”

Dallas drove for a field goal, but Hall easily picked up the onside kick and ran untouched before sliding down short of the goal line, clinching Romo’s third loss in three career 400-yard games. It also was the Cowboys’ first loss to the Redskins in seven games on Thanksgiving.

“That quarterback is obviously a very good player, and they use him well,” Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said. “It was challenging for us to slow those guys down. We didn’t do enough offensively to keep up with them in the first half.”

The Cowboys (5-6) actually contained Griffin in the first quarter, getting a sack and forcing an intentional grounding penalty that gave them good enough field position for an easy drive to a 3-0 lead.

Everything changed on Griffin’s first big NFL play in Texas. He hit Aldrick Robinson in stride for a 68-yard touchdown pass and a 7-3 lead to spark the first 28-point quarter in 13 years for the Redskins (5-6).

Griffin’s next big throw wasn’t nearly as accurate, but Garcon came down with it and outran the Dallas defense the final 45 yards on a 59-yard scoring play for a 21-3 lead.

“As Pierre is running on hislong touchdown, and I was like, ‘Man, that was a great catch,’ ” Griffin said. “I had to throw it to only that spot, and you don’t see many guys make catches like that.”