The Cowboys nearly squandered a 24-0 halftime lead, letting Washington fight their way back throughout the second half. But the rally fell just short and Dallas held on for a 27-20 victory, improving to 9-4 and taking a major step forward toward winning the NFC East.
Dallas’ defense was the star today with Micah Parsons and Randy Gregory taking the lead. Parsons had two sacks in the first half, one of which caused a fumble that Dorance Armstrong returned for a touchdown.
Gregory had an interception in the first half, tipping the ball to himself and securing the catch for the takeaway. Then on Washington’s final possession, Randy all but sealed the game with a sack-fumble to end the Football Team’s comeback.
DeMarcus Lawrence and Neville Gallimore, playing in his first game this year after a preseason elbow injury, also added a sack each. The Cowboys defense only allowed 14 points and 224 total yards on the day.
Unfortunately, the offense didn’t do enough to make it a one-sided affair. Dak Prescott threw two bad interceptions, one of which was taken to the house by LB Cole Holcomb to make things scary late in the game.
Execution was still an issue, leading to just one drive that ended with an offensive touchdown. And while Greg Zuerlein commendably went 4/4 on field goals, we also also saw Bryan Anger called on for six punts; just too much work from the special teams guys.
But for once, it was the Cowboys defense that made up for the offense’s struggles. With the full compliment of defensive playmakers now available and Micah Parsons furthering his case for Defensive Player of the Year, this is a different brand of one-sided football from Dallas.
In the end, it was a major victory. It creates a three-game lead over both Philadelphia and Washington with just four weeks to go.
We’ll see these two teams again when the Football Team comes to Dallas in Week 16. If the Cowboys beat the Giants next week and Washington falls to the Eagles, Dallas will already be out of their reach.
Dak needs to play better and make better decisions, the defense bailed them out.
This offense is far from right. PERIOD! Coaches and Dak can make all the excuses they want; but this “high powered” offense is not even close to contention with the top teams in the playoffs this year. Weak coaching and a quarterback that is useless without a running game.
Please. Can’t we all just say “Cowboys survive Washington’s second half rally?
They are 9-4 not 9-5..we don’t need any extra loses ..get it right Jeffrey.
Sorry Jess ..not Jeffrey
You fixed it wow impressive it says 9-4 ..good job jess
No. That is actually the antithesis of what happened on the football field today.
Mr Tuggle. Sure, you could say that. But I think a more appropriate headline came from another source. “Dallas Cowboys’ defense great enough to save team from Dak Prescott”
They should be 9-5 with that crap on offense, why the hell can we not put team’s away ?
So here some things i got out of the game
#1. D IS LEGIT, I know it’s against Washington, but i mean, they couldn’t get nothing, got one deep ball that was just good D, better catch, and the mid 3rd to late 4th quarter, our D just started going to sleep, which i don’t blame them if our offense could do anything the whole game, this would’ve been a blowout
#2. Micah Parsons should honestly be DPOY, not just DROY, he has had the biggest impact and he’s only gonna get better with time, and with Gregory, Gallimore, and Lawrence back, as we saw today, he’s a once in a lifetime type of player, he’s playing at a HOF pace at this point and time, the next great LB of the NFL
#3. Dak isn’t that QB, he isn’t the 40 mill QB, he looked more like Kirk Cousins than he did like a elite QB (and at this point, that might be an insult to Kirk as he’s played great this year) as i said before and as to why i refused to want to pay Dak, I said he wasn’t that guy, but Jerry blinked and he lost the negotiations with Dak, anyways, i guess we got ourselves another Tony Romo for who knows how long
Overall we’re still right where we’ve been over the last 10 years, really good team, with some HOF kind of talent in spots, but questionable other players and a questionable QB = no SB anytime soon
The one player that I am proud of is La’el Collins!! Remember last year at Washington when they hit our QB with a cheep shot and all of our OL stood around and like a bunch of scared little boys? Finally we had somebody on our OL that made a stand and showed them that you mess with our QB then you mess with me!!
Very fortunate to win this game. If WFT WR D Carter, who got behind AB by about three yards, doesn’t drop that perfect pass right in his hands from QB K Allen late in the game, things could have been very different.
Defense played great. MP, RG stood out. MP, a rookie, is the BEST PLAYER ON THE TEAM, NO QUESTION, and it’s not even close. Very fortunate to have him. Philly must be kicking themselves for letting us trade with them with him still on the board. Thank you, Philly, for making our defense much better with that one player.
The offense at this time still is off, and most people know the reason, aside from the excuse makers. Unless he gets his stuff together (if he can), we won’t be going long in the PS.
But a win is a win. Great!
What is the sports headline this morning for the Cowboys? How obviously bad Dak Prescott stank yesterday. How great the defense was and actually saved Dak’s rear end and the game. How atrociously bad the offense is: cannot block, can’t hold onto passes, can’t run routes, can’t onto the ball on hand-offs, cannot complete passes except to the other team, can’t hike the ball except real high almost fumbling several times, cannot read defenses, cannot make lanes to run in, can’t protect your QB, and cannot be the leader that you are overpaid to be. Mentally, Prescott is not there and that is the problem. He is off somewhere in la la land worrying about his comfortable sleeping in this bed. He is destined to melt down in the 1st playoff game as predicted by many sport casters over the many weeks thus far. A typical historical case of take the money and run scenario where you have a melt down the year of getting a big contract which has happened in every sport. The Cowboys players are no exception. Look at the high $$ contracts, then the melt down on performance.
My concern is with the play calling. With 4 + minutes remaining, the clock is now your enemy, not the opposing team. No way you should be throwing. Run the ball, use the clock. Make the other team use their timeouts. If you don’t get a first down, punt and make the other team travel the length of the field. With as good as the defense was playing, they could have closed things out without sending Cowboy nation into heart attack mode.
The buck with play calling stops with McCarthy. He’s made a number of bone head calls this season. If this continues, one is going to cost us big time. Hope it doesn’t happen in the playoffs.
It’s easy and a bit lazy to blame the playcalling on MMC or Moore as for our concern over Dak, sure they call the plays, but but they don’t throw the ball, Dak does, he’s got to play better, he’s a 40 mill a year QB which is rn i believe 2nd or the 3rd highest contract in the NFL, yet he’s worse than Kirk Cousins, or Burrow, or Herbert, or even Tannehill
Point being he’s got to start playing better or we as I predicted, won’t do anything in the playoffs, even though we got a really talented team
I said this about Dak and why he shouldn’t get a contract, if you look at him with a unbiased view, he doesn’t have a big arm, like Herbert, Allen, Rodgers, or Mahomes, he isn’t near as mobile particularly now after his Ankle from last year as Russ, Murray, or Lamar, and he’s somebody that when his RBs have more than 100 yards rushing, he’ll win lots of games, but when he doesn’t, he can’t win games,
Ppl may say that they never thought he was a Mahomes, Rodgers, or Brady, but when you’re paid like those guys or paid even more than those guys, (Rodgers and Brady playing for less money) then you are expected to play somewhat at that level, ESPECIALLY when your D is helping you out like it is now