FRISCO, Texas – What a difference a week makes.
This is more like it. Much mo' better.
Not great by any means, yet still good enough to beat down the Washington Commanders, 37-20. And not as thorough as the score might suggest, but a win nevertheless as the Cowboys evened their two-game record at 1-1 before a very appreciative AT&T house of 93,188 by the time Sunday evening rolled around.
Now, 1-1 might not be ideal, but a win is a win, however achieved. And understand, going into the Monday night game between the Giants and Rams, there are 14 NFL teams with 1-1 records, and if the Rams should beat the Giants, then add two more 1-1 teams to that .500 list.
And about how wins are piled up, go ask the Eagles, now 2-0, having beaten the Commanders in the opener by all of two points, somewhat thanks to Washington's unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt with just 1:01 left in the game. Then on Sunday, they earned a 24-20 victory over Tennessee when coming from down 20-17 to score the winning touchdown with nine seconds remaining, thanks to converting a third-and-6 from the Titans' 22-yard line with 14 seconds remaining.
So even though the Cowboys' 17-point victory is not as convincing as might seem, they did drop the Commanders to 0-2 for several reasons, so let us count the ways.
Dak Prescott, after throwing for but 175 yards in the season-opening loss to the Giants, 28-20, was on fire. My goodness, he completed 26 of 31 passes for 279 yards, which included the four touchdowns he needed to break Tony Romo's franchise career passing touchdown record (248) by one and counting just two games into this, his 11th season. Dak has now led the offense to nine scores in its last 10 possessions, going back to the second half of last Sunday's opener (2-for-2).
CeeDee Lamb not only caught two of Dak's four touchdown passes, but also totaled eight passes for 153 yards while making the Commanders pay for mindlessly thinking they could handle him in man while doubling George Pickens. Then on top of all that, he went searching for the record-setting ball he caught for Dak's posterity's sake. Got that one, too.
Send an attaboy out to Jaishawn Barham, the rookie middle linebacker forced into a starting role to replace the injured DeMarvion Overshown and also given the responsibility of wearing the green dot to relay the defensive calls in the huddle. He finished with seven tackles, one tackle for loss and an all-important forced fumble that fellow inside linebacker Dee Winters recovered at the Washington 13-yard line with 7:08 left in the third quarter of a 20-13 game. Two plays later, Dak's fine strike to tight end Jake Ferguson brought a touchdown.
Let's not forget this, and we somehow take these feats for granted when it comes to Brandon Aubrey, since we were somewhat shocked last week when he missed what turned out to be a 48-yard after-penalty extra point. Not only did he go 3-for-3 on field goal attempts against the Commanders, but his third was way good from 60 yards – 60 now! – the seventh 60-yarder of his Pro Bowl career. And he hit this one just as easily as he was hitting repeatedly from 60 off the holding tee this past week at Ford Center in the middle of team stretch.
And finally, this defense, under the microscope following the disappointing season-opening performance and leaking badly in the first half, reminding of ghosts from recent past, came up with a most crucial half-ending goal-line stand, with a huge divine intervention assist.
Right, right?
With the Cowboys leading 17-10 and the Commanders sitting first-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 12 seconds remaining in a half for sure fixing to be tied at 17 since already at that point Washington had totaled 225 yards offense, 129 of those rushing. Meaning, the Cowboys now had given up more than 100 yards rushing in 14 of their past 19 games, so what hope was there of holding them out of the end zone by halftime.
But after having called their third timeout to set up a third-and-1 play and gaining the needed 4 yards, the Commanders felt compelled to throw the ball from the 1. Daniels' first attempted pass into the back of the end zone sailed over Terry McLaurin's head.
Second down, now eight seconds remaining, the Commanders, knowing Daniels already had rushed seven times for 69 yards, again fearing the clock expiring if they unsuccessfully ran the ball, came up throwing, once again incomplete.
Now third down, last play, just three seconds remaining. Why not, since there is just one play left, run the ball? But sure appeared as if Daniels was attempting to drop back again when guard Chris Paul stepped on Daniels' foot, sending him flailing toward the ground. That's when he tried to heave the ball into the air to no avail before then bracing his fall with his left arm, causing the elbow dislocation that ended his game before Cowboys defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard came down upon him.
"Thought, looking back on it, like, at the 1-yard line, we need touchdowns," Washington head coach Dan Quinn said, seemingly referring to eschewing a field goal attempt. "And so I don't regret the call. Obviously, any time someone's injured, you play the what-if game. I don't think this is one of those times for me. I hate that it happened. But I wasn't hesitant about going into that spot. I thought we were going to be aggressive in this game against their offense, so I don't regret that."
At that point, Daniels had accounted for not only the 69 yards rushing, most of his attempts scampering out of the pocket, but also 96 yards passing and one touchdown. But this brings up a dilemma for the Cowboys heading into the next game, facing Baltimore in Rio this coming Sunday – that means quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Somehow the Cowboys must figure out how to end this unnerving streak of quarterbacks running with the football. In the opener, Giants QB Jaxson Dart ran eight times for 59 yards before kneeling out the clock three times for minus-2 yards each. Now Daniels, running the Cowboys dizzy, rushed seven times for those 69 yards and five first downs.
Look, already Jackson has run the ball 11 times for 74 yards and one touchdown in two games, and as a team the Ravens have gained 310 yards rushing on 59 carries, with five rushing downs.
As for the Cowboys defense, now after two games, opponents have rushed 69 times for 347 yards (ranking 30th in the NFL) and averaged 5.0 yards per carry. And the other puzzling aspect to the team's defensive performance: Even with backup Marcus Mariota coming in for the injured Daniels, Dallas had no sacks in this game and just two against the Giants for a grand total of two in two games. That ranks 29th, only the Dolphins worse after two games with none, while the Giants and Rams also have no sacks going into Monday night.
Not enough pressure.
"There are certainly things to clean up," Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "We certainly did a poor job of containing Jayden, but he can do that. He does that to a lot of people. That's really where the rush yards got away. And then we got some things to improve on third down.
"I thought we really rushed the passer well. I don't know what the pressure numbers were, you guys will have to give me those (6 QB hits), but I know we didn't get any sacks. But he and Marcus were both moved off the spot quite a bit. And so I felt good about that, but there are always things to clean up. We certainly have not arrived. We've got a lot of work to do."
This defense certainly has not arrived, having given up 783 total yards in two games, ranking 29th going into the Monday night game, and 48 points, tied for 19th. But unlike last week when there sure was a lot to "clean up," at least when winning by 17, things sure don't seem as bad.
Yet there still is a proverbial "but."
"Even today, we have some communication things we need to fix, and we need to execute a little bit more, but we got the win," veteran co-captain Quinnen Williams insightfully said. "Definitely every single game, win or lose, you've got to learn from it. So I think that's the main message for this week: continue to learn, continue to grow and let's get better."
We'd all second that notion.
