Cowboys Control Commanders in Convincing 44-22 Win

Cover photo: Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver George Pickens celebrates after making a play against the Washington Commanders’ Marshon Lattimore on Sunday, Oct. 19 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Pickens had five catches for 82 yards in the Cowboys’ 44-22 win. Photo credit: Kevin Jairaj, Imagn Images

The Dallas Cowboys came into Sunday afternoon's matchup against the division rival Washington Commanders coming off of a 30-27 defeat at the hands of the Carolina Panthers, a loss in which they surrendered 239 total yards to former Cowboy running back Rico Dowdle. Sunday afternoon against a banged up Commander offense, something had to give. 

Does defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus make the necessary adjustments that head coach Brian Schottenheimer had been harping on? Does this defense rebound against a Commander offense that is without its two weapons, Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel? Or does it continue to show its deficiencies in allowing Jayden Daniels and rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt to do their best Bryce Young and Dowdle impressions from a week ago? 

The Cowboys on Sunday afternoon chose the former option, putting together their most dominant performance of the season on both sides in a 44-22 win to push their record to 3-3-1 and second place in the NFC East. With the loss, the Commanders dropped to 3-4.

Dak Prescott was nearly perfect, completing 21-of-30 for 264 yards and three touchdowns, including a 74-yard touchdown to CeeDee Lamb that gave the Cowboys a 17-8 advantage with 4:27 remaining in the opening quarter. Lamb finished the game with five catches for 110 yards and the touchdown. George Pickens’ highlights were two sideline catches, one down the sideline and one over the shoulder toward the sideline falling out of bounds. Lamb and Pickens are a dominant duo. Tight end Jake Ferguson caught seven passes for 29 yards and two touchdowns, making it his fourth consecutive game with a receiving touchdown. Ferguson is also the first tight end in NFL history with at least 50 catches and six touchdowns in the first seven games of a season. 

For Prescott, Sunday’s output was his fourth consecutive game with at least three touchdowns. In his last four games, Prescott has thrown 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions. As of Sunday night, he is second in the NFL in passing yards (1,617) and his 13 touchdown passes are second to Aaron Rodgers and Jared Goff, who both as of Sunday night have 14 (the Detroit Lions host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football). 

Prescott is the only quarterback since 1933 to throw for 20 passing touchdowns and no interceptions at home against a single opponent. In his last four games, Prescott has thrown 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions. He is also just the sixth quarterback in NFL history with forty games of 3+ touchdown passes in the first 10 seasons of his career. The others are Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson. 

Running back Javonte Williams ran 19 times for 116 yards and a touchdown behind an offensive line that welcomed back rookie Tyler Booker. The group played well, allowing one sack total in the game - a half sack to Von Miller and a half sack to Jacob Martin. Martin had three quarterback hits in the game, and Daron Payne played well inside. Williams’ 476 rushing yards are fourth, behind Jonathan Taylor, James Cook, and Bijan Robinson. 

The Cowboys’ maligned defense was the story on the day, putting forth unquestionably their best effort of the season. Rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku, Jadeveon Clowney, and linebackers Shemar James and Kenneth Murray Jr. registered sacks. The linebackers still have to make better reads both in run defense and pass defense, but the group performed well on Sunday. The defense overall limited Daniels to 156 yards (12-of-22) and one touchdown, while it held down Croskey-Merritt (13 carries, 33 yards). Marcus Mariota took over in the third quarter for an injured Daniels, who landed awkwardly on his leg. With under six minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Mariota was scrambling on a pass play and looked left and threw. Cornerback DaRon Bland jumped the pass and returned the ball 68 yards for a touchdown. It was the first pick-6 for Bland since 2023, a season in which he made five such plays. The Cowboy defense on Sunday allowed a 45.7 passing rating between Daniels and Mariota, with Eberflus using man coverage 47.5% of the time, a big shift from the zone-heavy looks that the defense had run in previous weeks. 

Sunday’s result marks the first time for the Cowboys since 1973 that they have three 40-point games through the first seven games. The team has also scored at least 40 points in all three of their home games. 

The 3-3-1 Cowboys head to Denver on Oct. 26 (4:25 p.m. eastern) to take on the 5-2 Broncos. Down 19-0 going into the fourth quarter on Sunday against the New York Giants, the Broncos scored 33 fourth quarter points for the 33-32 victory. 

Quarterback Bo Nix completed 27-of-50 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown in the game, while running back J.K. Dobbins ran 14 times for 81 yards. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton caught six passes for 87 yards, while Marvin Mims Jr. caught six for 85 yards. 

The Cowboy defense played better against the Commanders, but the offense was banged up

missing McLaurin, Samuel, and Noah Brown. The unit will need to up that level of play heading west against the Broncos, because although Sunday afternoon was a better performance, there were still Commander receivers running unattended at times. It will be imperative that the defense continues to work on things during the week, especially because the Broncos as of Sunday evening possess the fourth-best defense yardage wise in the NFL (273.1) and are sixth-best against the pass (179.9). The Broncos also have the fifth-best rushing attack at 131.9 yards per game. 

Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium was a good change of pace game, but this team cannot get complacent, especially defensively.