ARLINGTON, Texas – Well, at least Washington had some nice, fancy benches.
The move was childish, unnecessary and absolutely irrelevant considering the game was played indoors. But when it came to the bench department, give the nod to Washington.
Everything else, the Cowboys completely dominated.
Now that was an absolute ass-kicking in every possible way.
You score 21 points in the first quarter. Then 21 in the second quarter. Then two more touchdowns in the second half with most of the starters sitting out like it's a preseason game.
Last week, I wrote an entire column after the game discussing things that I've never seen before.
And here they go and rip off 56 points, the most scored by a Cowboys team since 1980. There were tons of things in this game that none of us have ever seen, like an offensive lineman catching a TD or two linemen scoring in the game.
Just you name it, there were records falling left and right.
But more important than all of that – was the message.
The Cowboys, winners of the NFC East with two games to play, sent a rather strong statement to the rest of the NFL. And since it was the game was played at the end of the night on Sunday Night Football, it's possible plenty of the league got the message.
But let's just call it what it is – if the Cowboys play like THAT, there's probably not any team that will beat them.
Yeah, I have no problem writing that. And yes, that means Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field, or even the Chiefs in a Super Bowl or whatever.
And I think if you really sit and analyze the statement, no one should have a problem with it either.
If the Cowboys play like THAT – like a beating down a desperate division rival by 42 points in a game that wasn't even that close – yeah, there's not a lot of teams than can match that.
After the game, I asked that same question to Jayron Kearse, something like "if you play like that, you can play with anyone."
And he pretty much dismissed that.
"We play like that ... it's not even about playing with anyone. Nobody can compete with us, if we go out there and play that brand of football week in and week out. We have the talent on both sides of the ball. We just have to show up every week and have the same mentality."
And yet, that's the problem. That's the tricky part to all of this.
Doing THAT week in and week out is pretty much impossible. If the Cowboys do that every week, they would.
There's a reason they haven't hit 50 points in a game in over 40 years. There's a reason the offense, defense and special teams haven't scored in the game
I'm sure the Bengals are saying the same thing today after they smashed the Ravens. I'm sure the Chiefs have said that after they demolished the Raiders a couple of weeks ago.
Green Bay has probably had a few games like that during this big winning streak that suggests to everyone – if we go out and play like this, nobody can beat us.
I would imagine, every team that makes the playoff will have a game or two like that this year. One in which they've just "clicked" on all cylinders and beat a team in every way possible.
And make no mistake this was one of those games.
And the best part, we basically got to see everything we've been asking for here lately.
An interception by Diggs – right off the bat – and I think that play really set the tone for the rest of the game. Washington tried to make a statement by picking on the NFL's interception leader with a deep ball. Nice try, thanks for helping him tie a 40-year-old record on the first play of the game.
Ok, what else did we want to see?
A sack from Parsons – boom, his 13th of the season.
Another defensive touchdown – one of the best plays you'll see in the pick and return from Tank.
How about a special teams touchdown? Yep, third blocked punt of the season, tying another Cowboys record.
We saw Terence Steele catch a touchdown. We saw Amari Cooper get back on track and Dalton Schultz was a difference-maker.
We saw La'el Collins looking like himself with a block in the open field. We saw Zeke running and finishing plays like we haven't seen in over a month.
And more importantly, we saw Dak Prescott play like the NFL MVP candidate he was about two months ago.
When all of that happens in the same game, you're going to get a 56-14 beatdown. You're also going to silence your harshest critics that have been doubting just how good this team really is.
Well, we saw it Sunday night. This team showed us all they can be better than great.
Now, can they do it again and again and when it really counts the most.
But we know it's there because the Cowboys absolutely dominated Washington in every single way you can imagine.
Other than having the best benches, of course. Can't have it all, I guess.
