The Cowboys vs. Commanders matchup Sunday gets a little weird once you look into the play of Washington against Philadelphia this past weekend.
The Commanders gave up 318 yards and 24 points and that alone isn’t weird, but Philadelphia only had 10 first downs. That’s because of the three sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, and spending a pretty good chunk of that game making the Eagles look uncomfortable.
I looked into this to see where the yards came from, and it had me look at this matchup differently.
Four Plays Did Most of the Damage
If you look at the box score only you may not know Philadelphia had four plays that accounted for 180 of the Eagles’ 318 yards.
Philadelphia had gains of 64, 43, 42, and 31 yards. Take those away and the Eagles had 138 yards on the other 49 plays, which comes out to about 2.8 yards a snap.
I don’t like the look of that so far.
Washington didn’t get carved up play after play. They were winning most of the snaps, and every once in a while the defense cracked, we will look at the reason in a minute, and Philly ripped off chunk plays.
Now let’s look at Dallas against New York.
The Cowboys didn’t have a single play for more than 17 yards. Dak Prescott averaged a little over five yards per attempt, and CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens had 44 and 28 receiving yards.
That’s not good going into this game.
Washington Wants You Playing Small Ball
The Commanders’ bread and butter was playing a bunch of zone while still bringing pressure, and that could be a nasty combination if Dallas lets Washington dictate the game.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn wants the quarterback seeing bodies around the line of scrimmage, want the ball to come out quick, and wants everything happening in front of them so the linebackers and safeties can get downhill and clean up the play.
We could watch Dallas complete six and seven-yard passes all afternoon and still end up behind the sticks. Because of one tackle for a loss, a sack, a holding call, the drive could be over.
Philadelphia and Jalen Hurts found a better way, or were just lucky. Hurts completed nine passes that were thrown at least 10 yards downfield for 176 yards and three touchdowns. He unsurprisingly threw for only 203 yards.
All the damage came once Philadelphia started making Washington defend further out.
George Pickens Needs More than Short Routes
This is the matchup that needs to be taken advantage of early and often.
Philadelphia got Mike Sainristil isolated vertically and Dontayvion Wicks hit him for 64 yards. They went at Sainristil again later and got a touchdown. Dallas has a guy who is much better than Wicks, and this guy is looking for a big game after week 1.
George Pickens is built for taking advantage of a weak link in the secondary of a defense. This doesn’t mean I want Dak Prescott chunking 50-yard prayers every possession, but if Washington wants to crowd underneath, make them pay for it.
Let Pickens get downfield to make a play and unleash Lamb beyond the sticks. Make the safeties stop cheating forward every time the ball is snapped.
Dallas has George Pickens to make ugly catches turn into big plays, and Sunday feels like one of those games where they need to use that part of his game.
Dallas Has to Make Washington Defend the Whole Field
I want everyone to know, Washington will make some big plays Sunday. They will probably blow up the run, get pressure, and Dallas will have a couple of ugly series.
That’s just NFL football.
The biggest problem I think Dallas could have is spending another football game playing offense inside a phone booth.
Philadelphia gave a blueprint on how to hurt the Commanders. They will crowd the line of scrimmage, but will give up explosive plays too.
Dallas has CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens just for these occasions. Unleash them this game and let them feast on a secondary that has no business guarding them.
I know if the Cowboys get through Sunday without making Washington pay downfield a few times, it will be another bad Sunday.
This team has the playmakers to avoid that outcome.
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