FRISCO, Texas -- Despite starting the game with three straight touchdown drives, the Cowboys did not play their cleanest game on Christmas in a 30-23 win over the Commanders.
Still, Dallas did more than enough to get the job done and sits at 7-8-1 heading into their final game of the season against the Giants.
Let's take a look at what stood out on film from last Thursday in this week's Tape Talk:
One example of Cowboys' success on 4th down
On third down, the Cowboys were 8 for 20, good for a 40% conversion rate. Not bad, but not great either. What was great was they were six for six on fourth down, the first team since 1991 to have a 100% conversion rate on fourth down with six or more attempts.
Of course, every fourth down conversion is different, as the Cowboys ran/sneaked on some conversions or went to the quick passing game on others, but the fourth-and-one that turned into a big play on Dallas' second drive of the game was what stood out the most, especially because it was the first of three fourth down conversions on the drive that ultimately resulted in a touchdown.
George Pickens is the one who gets the 19-yard reception here, but Jalen Tolbert's role helped him turn this into an explosive play. After crossing each other right after the snap, Tolbert breaks into the middle of the field and then turns and stops, looking for the ball and freezing the defender that's right on top of him. At the same time, Pickens ran his route a few yards deeper and then crossed into the middle of the field, and with Tolbert's defender glued to him and Pickens' defender playing catch up, there was nobody over the middle and Dak Prescott puts the ball right in Pickens' chest for a first down.
Defense needs to limit explosive plays
There have been many different areas of the game that the Cowboys' defense has struggled in this season, but giving up explosive plays has been a major problem all season. They've allowed 152 explosive plays in 2025, the fourth-most in the NFL, and good for a 15.6% explosive play rate, which is tied for second in the league.
Against the Commanders on Christmas, they gave up nine, including this play on second and long in the second quarter. The Cowboys go heavy in the box with eight defenders, and it's because they're sending Marist Liufau on a blitz and playing man across the board everywhere else.
With Kenneth Murray responsible for the running back, he comes up to prepare to guard him coming out of the flat, but the back picks up Liufau in pass protection. That leaves the middle of the field wide open, and as Deebo Samuel takes his route over the middle, both Trevon Diggs and Donovan Wilson were deeper on the field, likely looking to keep Samuel in front of them and bend, but not break. Where things went wrong was when the ball got to Samuel's hands, as Donovan Wilson came up and seemingly miscalculated where Samuel would be, ending up behind him as the catch was made, and with Diggs behind him as well Samuel had plenty of room to turn the corner and make a big play.
Why KaVontae Turpin's 86-yard touchdown worked a week later
Say it all together now, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" That could have been going through Brian Schottenheimer's mind when he called the play that resulted in an 86-yard touchdown to KaVonate Turpin, the longest play of the season for the Cowboys' offense.
If it looked familiar, that's because it was. Dallas ran almost the exact same concept against similar coverage the week before against the Chargers. In both instances, the defense was in Cover 2, or "tricky two" as Schottenheimer referred to it after the game on Thursday. The week before, All-Pro safety Derwin James was the high safety on this play, and as Turpin went vertical, James stayed over the top and took away the deep ball.
This time, however, Commanders S Quan Martin stays put in his spot as the high safety, and only begins to turn and run when Turpin is level with him at the 30. Turpin was already at full speed, and Martin was only then starting to move, which is never a good spot to be in for a defender, much less against a speedster like Turpin. Since Martin didn't play the deep shot, there was nobody in front of Turpin by the time he caught the ball and he's home free. Mike Sainristil made a good effort to try and get to the ball in time, but Dak Prescott placed it perfectly for Turpin to catch in stride.
