Commanders physicality likened to 'heavyweight title fight'

LANDOVER, Md. – There are those who would say the Washington Commanders play a kid’s game, but if you’ve ever been in a postgame locker room, then you know, the NFL is no place for children.

Make no mistake about it, when the Commanders take the field, they’re playing a man’s game, and the punishment they take for doing so is much more than what you’ll see anywhere else.

Even when teams win, as the Dallas Cowboys did on Christmas Day over Washington, the immediate reward is pain and suffering. Those are the spoils, as it were.

Dec 25, 2025; Landover, Maryland, USA; Washington Commanders cornerback Noah Igbinoghene (6) tackles Dallas Cowboys running back Malik Davis (43) in the first quarter at Northwest Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-Imagn Images | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

Cowboys battered despite the win

"When you guys go in there, you'll see a few of the guys look like they were just in a heavyweight title fight,” Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer told reporters following his team's victory. “[Dallas Cowboys RB] Malik Davis' arm’s all beat up and bloody, his eye is swollen."

"We were running out of bodies there at the end on offense. 80-something plays, 38 minutes time of possession. But again, at the end of the day, this was a physical, physical game, and I'm just really proud of these guys."

Football is physical just by nature. Adding into it the NFC East Division rivalry, and one that predates the division entirely and is known as one of the greatest in all of sports, and it gets even more so.

"You can see how physical the games are just by watching today's game,” Schottenheimer added.

Dallas 'running out of bodies'

Davis finished the game with 20 carries and just over 100 yards and was a key part of the reason the Commanders’ defense just couldn’t get off the field, resulting in Dallas having more than double the offensive snaps than their offense.

"I was trying to, in the four-minute, trying to get him the ball and literally, I looked over and he was like this, his eye is all swollen. He looked like he took a right hand from [Mike] Tyson,” Schottenheimer said. "But I asked him when I saw him, he was like 'I think I got hit in the eye,' I was like 'Yeah, you definitely did. Go to the sideline'. He'll be okay thankfully, but his eye was ugly."

Fight vs. Execution

"That's just been who we are as a group all year... it's a group that's going to play for four or five quarters no matter what it takes," receiver Terry McLaurin, who definitely didn’t give Davis his swollen eye, but knows how physical his team wants to be, said after the game. "We know we're going to fight, but just fighting isn't enough. We got to be able to execute at a higher level."

Washington coach Dan Quinn echoed the sentiment in his own postgame comments, saying, "Love our fight, but the execution, you know, just isn't to the standard that needs to be to win the games."

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