Dallas Cowboys Report Card: Passing Grades as 'Texas Coast Offense' Cooks Washington Commanders
The Dallas Cowboys continued their march upward in the NFL standings after another soul-destroying win, this time by a 45-10 score against the Washington Commanders at home on Thanksgiving.
The win wasn't as clear-cut as the final tally makes it seem as until the fourth quarter, it was a two-score game. But Dallas piled on 25 unanswered points to run away with yet another blowout win.
Prior to the game, we listed five keys to win for the Cowboys if they were to avoid a shock loss. So, what are our post-game grades? Hint: it makes for good reading.
1. Light up Washington's secondary: BIG PASS Dak Prescott (22 of 32, 331 yards, four TDs) and the offense torched the Commanders' secondary. While no one individual pass-catcher stood out, it was a steady feast for Prescott, who had splash-play completions of 18, 35, 31, 31, 24, 25, and 27 on the day as the explosiveness was there for the entire nation to see.
At halftime, the Dallas offense was averaging 10.5 yards per play as it was like a hot knife through butter. In total, coach Mike McCarthy's unit had 431 yards of total offense as they did as they pleased.
Dak didn't just light up the Commanders' secondary; he incinerated them and in doing so, his MVP candidacy took another step forward. His TD:INT ratio in the last six games is a dazzling 18:2. And even when we count the awful trio of picks in the loss at the Niners? For the year, Dak's at 23:6.
So it's not just a good "streak.'' It's a good season.
2. Defensive line needs to feast: PASS It wasn't the "smell blood in the water"-type performance from coordinator Dan Quinn's unit ... or maybe we're asking to much as they managed to grab four sacks and kept Washington to 0 of 3 on fourth down.
Howell was pressured often as, despite his decent passing numbers, it was anything but easy for the young quarterback.
Also, shoutout to DaRon Bland as he broke the NFL record for pick-6s in a season as he got in on the act late on. The defense wasn't its suffocating best, but did enough - lots of enough - when it needed to.
Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle opened the scoring against the Commanders.
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
3. Protect Dak Prescott: BIG PASS Prescott was able to carve up Washington's defense because he had an eternity to throw the football.
After sacking the Giants' Tommy DeVito nine times last week, the Commanders didn't get to Dak once.
It now marks back-to-back games where the Cowboys offensive line hasn't given up a sack.
The "best five" now seems to be in rhythm and rolling. ... including Tyler Smith, who on the CBS broadcast was being touted by Tony Romo as a future Hall of Famer.
4. Ride that turnover wave: PASS It wasn't a big turnover game, as Bland's pick-6 was the only one from Howell, but we will mention the fourth-down stops.
They could sort of count as a turnover, and the Cowboys' defense stopped the Commanders all three times they went for it on fourth down.
It doesn't count as a turnover on the stat sheet, but it sure felt like it.
5. Clamp "Scary" Terry McLaurin: PASS The Cowboys' defense held McLaurin to just two grabs for 20 yards in the first half, and it wasn't until the game was out of reach (at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter) that McLaurin caught his third pass.
McLaurin would finish with four catches for 50 yards, but Curtis Samuel (nine for 100 yards) picked up the slack.
Dallas needed to make someone else other than McLaurin beat them, and while Samuel got a bit free, it didn't matter as the Cowboys vaulted to 8-3 ... bringing home a good report card to Super Bowl-craving "Dad'' Jerry Jones.
