Pic 6: Cowboys perfect on 4th down, set season-high in rushing yards, more

Perfect on Fourth Down

One thing that Brian Schottenheimer won't be happy about coming out of Washington is how his team fared on third down, converting just eight of their 20 attempts.

Fourth down however was a different story. The Cowboys were a perfect six for six, finding ways to keep drives alive especially early in the game to allow points to get on the board in the first half. On Dallas' second drive of the game, they converted on three fourth down and short attempts with a 19 yard catch and from George Pickens, a four-yard reception from Jalen Tolbert and a one-yard run from Javonte Williams. It ultimately resulted in a four-yard touchdown for Williams, his 11th rushing touchdown of the season.

What Schottenheimer was equally proud of post-game? Dallas' defense holding Washington to just one third down conversion on six attempts.

Controlling the Clock

Following the Cowboys' 34-17 loss last week against the Chargers, Brian Schottenheimer was not happy about the fact that Dallas lost the time of possession battle. Los Angeles had the ball for 34:27 to Dallas' 25:33.

Against the Commanders, Dallas' flipped the clock in their favor, controlling the ball for 38:44 compared to Washington's 21:16. How were they able to do it? A season-best 211 yards rushing as a team played a big role.

"What I noticed was the movement we were getting. We were getting g a lot of movement up front…" Schottenheimer said. "It makes it easier call runs when you're seeing that, and quite honestly you don't always see that, but I've always known we're a physical football team."

The Cowboys had five drives with 10 or more plays, and their first two drives alone combined for 30 plays and took 12:56 of the clock, as Dallas went on to score touchdowns on both of those drives to jump out to a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. Their second to last drive of the game 14 play, 52-yard drive that look 7:33 off the clock and resulted in a Brandon Aubrey field goal to make it a three-possession game.

Career Day for Malik Davis

In the first half, the Cowboys offense hammered the ground game early and often with both Javonte Williams and Malik Davis. After picking up 54 yards and his 11th touchdown of the year on 13 carries, Williams had a shoulder stinger rise up again, leaving Malik Davis to lead the way.

And lead the way he did. Davis more than doubled his previous career high and rushing yards and recorded his first ever 100-yard rushing game with 103 yards on 20 carries, averaging 5.2 per touch.

What could be more impressive is that at the end of the game, Davis was poked in the eye and was dealing with it swelling.

"Literally, I looked over and his eye's all swollen. It looked like he took a right hand from Tyson," Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "I'm so proud of him, man. He ran hard."

Very Different Halves

On both sides of the ball, the Cowboys fared very different in the first and second halves against the Commanders.

In the first half, Dallas' offense was moving down the field with ease. They scored touchdowns on all three of their first drives, and finished off the first half with a field goal as well. Dallas' defense gave up some big plays, but ultimately hunkered down in the red zone and held the Commanders to 10 points.

The second half however saw miscues form the offense, which has been a recent trend in the last few weeks. A punt and a missed field goal certainly weren't how Dallas wanted to end drives, as the Commanders got themselves back to within a possession twice down the stretch. Ultimately, the Cowboys did enough to hang on.

"We hurt ourselves on third down a little bit," Head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. "Had a couple false starts and things like that… At the end of the day, it just came down to we executed really well in the first half and it was more up and down in the second half."

Under Pressure

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott said he'd be waking up sore following the win over the Commanders, as he was sacked six times, hit 11 times and pressured 13 times.

Despite being hit plenty and missing on a few throws, Prescott finished with 307 yards and two touchdowns, but knows that his performance could have been much better.

"Definitely wasn't my sharpest…" Prescott said. "A couple of them, they did a good job of putting the top on it. I wanted to be greedy early and I honestly had some of my shots, [and] missed them."

Coming Up Clutch

With Ryan Flournoy sidelined with a knee injury, Jalen Tolbert was active for the Cowboys for the first time since Dallas played Kansas City on Thanksgiving.

Four catches for 31 yards doesn't pop too much off of the paper, but Tolbert came down with some crucial fourth down catches, including one on Dallas' second drive of the game that would ultimately lead to Dallas scoring their second touchdown of the afternoon.

Earlier in the week, head coach Brian Schottenheimer said he spoke with Tolbert, and that being inactive recently has been hard on the fourth-year wide receiver who had seven touchdowns a year ago.

Schottenheimer added, "he certainly can play in this league," and Tolbert came to play on Christmas for Dallas.