No strangers to playing on the holidays, the Cowboys will now take the show on the road to Washington D.C. this week for a Christmas Day battle with the Commanders.
Both teams have been eliminated from playoff contention and both dealing with several injuries at key positions. For the Cowboys, it's not a question if the starters such as Dak Prescott will play, but for how long.
Let's see how the DallasCowboys.com staff writers believe Thursday's game will play out.
Patrik: Who the hell knows what to expect, at this point. All I know is the Cowboys need to uphold their message to themselves and play for both pride and culture, because things have looked anything but prideful the last few weeks. The three-game slide began in a must-win game and continued after playoff elimination, but Dak Prescott and the starters are playing, so there's hope for a unit that is as familiar with Dan Quinn as he is with them, and the Commanders shut down Jayden Daniels and ... actually, nevermind ... because the defense has made nearly every quarterback look great. Again, no clue how this goes, other than to say I have a slight belief the Cowboys stop the slide. Score? Eh. 7-6, Cowboys
Tommy: It's always harder to beat a team the second time around, especially given how convincingly the Cowboys were able to beat the Commanders in their earlier meeting at AT&T Stadium. A lot has changed since then for Washington: They don't have Jayden Daniels (although he did leave with an injury in their first meeting as well), Dan Quinn is now calling the defense, and a large part of their defense in Dorance Armstrong is out for the season. On the other hand, the Cowboys haven't really changed too much. Their offense can still score at a high clip, but their defense has struggled and allowed inferior offenses to move the ball on them. Will that be the case against this version of the Commanders? I don't think to the degree that it has been in the past, and I think Dallas heads home on Christmas feeling a little jollier. Cowboys 24, Commanders 13
Nick: If this was any other place than Washington in December, then I wouldn't really have my doubts about the Cowboys going up there and taking care of business. I do trust what Dak has said all week and I think he said it best when he said he plans on giving it 100 percent on Christmas Day. If he's going to be away from his family, he better be out there playing. I respect that and not only hope the coaches feel the same way, but his teammates, too. We've seen the guys talk a certain game before, and then go up to places such as Washington and just play flat as a drive through Kansas. Let's see what actually happens. But my gut tells me the Cowboys are the better team, the healthier team and certainly will have the better quarterback. With that, I'll take Dallas in a 28-18 win.
Mickey: Well finally, after five consecutive games against 2024 playoff teams, all but Minnesota at this time coming in this year with winning records. So now on Christmas Day, the Cowboys play a team of their own ilk, one with a losing record, just like the Cowboys, the Commanders just 4-11, having lost nine of their last 10 games, only beating the Giants during those 10 games. So, looking for the Cowboys to break that three-game losing streak and come away with a victory to pull within one more win of finishing with a .500 record to avoid the first back-to-back losing seasons since 2000-02. Especially since the Commanders because of injury will be forced to go into this game with third-string quarterback Josh Johnson and just signed Jeff Drikill as the game-day backup off the Arizona practice squad. The Cowboys are just better, now must play better to win 30-20.
