Cowboys blast the Commanders 38-10, win NFC East and seize the two seed
The Dallas Cowboys finished the 2023 regular season with a 38-10 victory over the Washington Commanders, and more significantly, they claimed the NFC East title and the second seed in the NFC playoff bracket. It took them a while to get going
and recover from a few major mistakes. The passing game performed admirably, the rushing game at last found its rhythm, and the defense picked up many key wins. The fact that Brandon Aubrey would have his first poor game kick of his short career was the only true drawback. Perhaps he let that go in preparation for the postseason. Stephon Gilmore also sustained a wound.
The Cowboys would have to play the game without Tyler Smith, out with his torn plantar fascia, and Zack Martin, who caught the bug that has been working its way through the Dallas roster. T.J. Bass and Brock Hoffman would have to fill in. They would wind up being more than serviceable.
With windy and cold conditions, the Cowboys elected to defer after winning the toss, and the weather had an immediate if minor impact as Nahshon Wright had to hold the ball for Aubrey to kick off. The Commanders offense got off to a good start as Curtis Samuels came around end for 15 to start the drive. On third and one three plays later, they went deep in their bag of tricks as Eric Bienemy dialed up a wildcat pass play that would have scored had the ball not been a bit underthrown. Instead, Stephon Gilmore just missed getting an interception. Washington would convert the fourth and one play, but would have to face the same down and distance at the end of the next set of downs. Damone Clark would lead the charge to get the stop and give the offense the ball at the Dallas 33.
The Cowboys’ plan was to attack early and frequently, and they more than met that goal with an eight-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a well-timed touchdown ball from Dak Prescott to Jalen Tolbert. Prescott’s flawless six-of-six start was a very positive sign. Both CeeDee Lamb and Brandin Cooks got a couple of catches, but Tony Pollard’s excellent start—two carries for ten yards and a twelve-yard reception—was the most encouraging development. With 6:26 remaining in the first quarter, Dallas led 7-0.
Then, at the Commanders’ 31, Jourdan Lewis caused and recovered a Robinson fumble, setting up a crucial early play for the defense. Sadly, a third-down pass to Cooks in the end zone would go incomplete. Prescott would locate Jake Ferguson at the 15-yard line if Mike McCarthy decided to go for it. They would stop there, creating a fourth and nine. Then, Washington’s special teams would make a key play, with Jace Whittaker returning the kick 66 yards to the Dallas 20 after Joshua Pryor came through to block it and end Aubrey’s spectacular run. By the end of the first quarter, the Cowboys would force a fourth and goal from the one.
After thinking about things, Ron Rivera, widely believed to be in his last game as head coach, elected to go for it. Sam Howell would find Robinson for the score to tie the game up with three seconds gone in the second.
The next Dallas drive would start with a couple more good Pollard runs. Then the passing game would get them into Washington territory. But Jalen Harris would bat a Prescott pass in the air and Quan Martin would grab the errant ball, returning it to the Commanders’ 45.
Washington would have to go for it on fourth down yet again to get their initial first down of the drive, but Terry McLaurin would get 19 yards on an end around to get them in scoring range. Howell would just miss on a touchdown throw as the receiver would get a foot down just out of bounds on a second and one play. Then a false start would make it third and six, the first penalty of the game. The next flag came before the clock could even start with another false start as Sam Cosmi would flinch at the sight of Micah Parsons lined up over him. It would lead to a short field goal by Joey Slye to leave the Cowboys trailing by three, 10-7.
After KaVontae Turpin returned the kickoff to the 29, yet another Commanders penalty would jump start the drive, adding 15 yards for unnecessary roughness to a Lamb eight-yard reception. Ferguson would give them another first down, then Pollard and Rico Dowdle would combine to set up first and ten on the 22. Pollard would continue to have a good start to the game, with runs of nine and twelve yards to set up first and goal from the one, and he would get the score himself to get the lead back. Pollard already had 54 yards rushing, his best half in a long time.
The next Commanders possession would see Parsons not on the field. He was dinged up a bit on the previous stand, and this was a source of concern for Dallas fans, but Dante Fowler would step up to get the first sack of Howell at the two minute warning, putting Washington in a third and twelve. But Howell would find McLaurin to convert despite Parsons being back on the field. And Gilmore would be injured on the play and later ruled out for the day.
Then DeMarcus Lawrence would hit Howell as he threw the ball, allowing Donovan Wilson to grab the errant pass and set his team up with the ball at their own 35 with 1:40 on the clock and two timeouts to work with before halftime. Dowdle would drop the first down pass, but Prescott went right back to him for the biggest Cowboys gain of the game for 32 yards. The next play would have them in the red zone. A Cooks catch would set them up with first and goal from the four. Lamb would reach the ball across the goal line to put Dallas up 21-10 at the intermission. It was also the ninth game in a row he would find paydirt.
Dallas would receive the opening kickoff of the second half, putting them in good shape to claim the NFC East and the two seed. Meanwhile, the meltdown continued for the Philadelphia Eagles, who trailed the New York Giants 24-0 at halftime, a score that probably led to a few double takes. But the Cowboys did not want to back into things, and with the Detroit Lions having won their game earlier, Dallas had to win to keep from slipping to the three seed.
They came out determined to do that, moving the ball well in the second half and quickly getting across midfield. Dowdle would continue to contribute with a 20-yard run to the five-yard line, as the running game got up to 101 yards. Two plays later, Prescott would evade and extend the play to find Lamb at the back of the end zone, and the lead swelled to 28-10.
Parsons would put an emphatic end to the ensuing Washington possession with his fourteenth sack of the season. And Peyton Hendershot would give the Cowboys’ special teams their own huge play by breaking through and blocking the punt, giving Prescott and company the ball on the nine yard line. They would quickly be backed up to the 19 on a holding call on Ferguson, the first flag on Dallas all game. He would redeem himself with a reception to the three yard line. But Hoffman would get flagged on the next play. It didn’t matter, as Prescott would find Cooks in the right corner of the end zone for the fifth Cowboys touchdown of the game and a 35-10 lead. Another interesting tidbit: Bryan Anger had not punted to this point as the offense was absolutely clicking outside of the one interception.
Then that man showed up again. The Commanders had a drive going, but on a deep shot from the Dallas 44, DaRon Bland stepped in front of the receiver and came down with his ninth interception of the season at the eight yard line.
The offense would drive all the way to the Washington 26, but would stall. Aubrey would doink one off the upright. We hope this is just an aberration that he needed to get out of his system and not the kind of meltdown we saw from Brett Maher last year. That seems highly unlikely, given the nature of Aubrey, but, well, PTSD.
The defense would force more sacks on Cooper and Howell. It was only a matter of running out the time and heading home to get ready for the playoffs, which would be held at AT&T Stadium, when Rush entered the game in relief of Prescott. We also don’t have to worry too much about Aubrey’s 50-yard field goal because Rush managed to get the team close enough for him to make it.
Oh, and it was particularly sweet because the Eagles ended up losing.
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