The Dallas Cowboys week seven performance was one that would make Dan Quinn proud… if he wasn’t on the opposing sideline as the head coach of the Washington Commanders. The Cowboys turned back the clock
in a way and won in snowballing fashion, putting up points with big plays in the passing game, capitalizing off timely and needed plays from their defense, and making the winning plays on special teams to dominate 44-22.
Dak Prescott remained undefeated in his career at home against Washington, moving the Cowboys to 2-0-1 at home this season. With an offense that continues to roll and CeeDee Lamb back in the lineup against the Commanders, first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer can begin to envision his team picking up where some of Mike McCarthy’s best teams left by off steamrolling opponents at home to keep this 2025 season on track. The Cowboys two home wins are also against division opponents, beating the Giants and Commanders. Dallas has scored at least 40 points in each home game from AT&T Stadium this year as well. They’ll have their chance to win in Washington on Christmas Day, win at the Giants in the last week of the regular season, and most importantly in this equation, still have their home game against the Eagles to look forward to in Week 12.
Those McCarthy-led teams that put up points at will were mostly complemented by aggressive Dan Quinn defenses that created splash plays with tackles for loss and takeaways. The Cowboys defense coming into this matchup was not doing any of these things under Matt Eberflus, but a completely new approach saw the Cowboys defense do their best Quinn impersonation by playing man coverage, getting after Jayden Daniels and later backup QB Marcus Mariota, and taking the ball away twice. The Cowboys also had two fourth-down stops that turned the Commanders over.
One of these takeaways went for a familiar-feeling defensive touchdown, with DaRon Bland getting a pick-six in a home game against the Commanders in the same color rush uniforms Dallas wore when Bland got a Thanksgiving interception return for a touchdown to break the single season record in 2023. This blew the game open for the Cowboys, allowing them to capitalize for the second time in four weeks on a game with at least three touchdown passes and no turnovers from Prescott.
The question from the jump of this season has been “who are the 2025 Cowboys?”, with so many new coaches and faces and the unthinkable trading away of Micah Parsons at the 11th hour. A valiant effort in a loss at the defending champions in week one, an overtime win that came down to the wire against the Giants, a tie that was one second away from being a win against Parsons’ Packers, road losses at the Panthers and Bears, and now their most well-rounded win against the Commanders to reach 3-3-1 all leaves this vital question unanswered still.
Whether or not this year’s Cowboys are just good enough with a healthy, confident Prescott to continue dominating lesser NFC East teams, or truly good enough for much more, may be known by this time next week after they play at the Denver Broncos. The Cowboys have not won at the Broncos since the 1992 team that went on to win the Super Bowl played there in early December of that season.
Before thinking about playing a mile high in altitude though, the Cowboys should be feeling a mile high about their home performance against the Commanders. Let’s get to some notes on the win.
The Cowboys were without CB Trevon Diggs in this game, but will have something to look forward to when he’s able to return from concussion thanks to Eberflus’ game plan against the Commanders. Diggs had been one of the faces of the Cowboys woes in zone coverage, showing they don’t have the personnel to use zone their base approach. This tape against Washington should be much more encouraging for a player like Diggs, who will want to prove he can match the intensity and level of play from the likes of DaRon Bland and Kaiir Elam in his absence. Dallas getting more aggressive with their corners helped all three levels of the defense against a Commanders team so limited at wide receiver without Terry McLaurin or Deebo Samuel. By accounting for these lesser receivers in one-on-one coverage instead of trying to bracket them in zones, the Cowboys freed up players like Kenneth Murray and Markquese Bell to make plays as well.
Murray’s tackle for loss on the Commanders’ opening possession led to one of the first true man-to-man reps on third down, and the Cowboys got off the field after the Commanders lined up to go on fourth down but false started. This early stop would actually prove important in the early going of this late afternoon kickoff, because the Cowboys own offense would put points on the board for the Commanders by taking a safety on the ensuing drive. The Commanders took the two points and the ball and scored their first touchdown to Zach Ertz to take their first lead, but the Cowboys offense was far from done and made this early deficit a footnote in the final score by putting up 37 more points of their own.
The Ertz touchdown was a play that should have went down as one of many examples for the Cowboys defense this season losing a player in coverage, but thanks to them mixing in more man looks in this game, the miscommunication on this red zone score looked more out of place. We may have jumped the gun saying the Cowboys had a path forward defensively after the Packers tie, but its certainly more reasonable to think so now after this win.
Rookie Shemar James started the play as a spy against Daniels, with the Cowboys rightfully worried about the dual-threat ability of Daniels given their struggles against other mobile QBs this season. James got lost between sticking with Daniels and picking up the crossing Ertz though, who wound up wide open to put Washington ahead 8-7.
The Cowboys would later go to a man look against Ertz for a fourth-down stop, with Bell picking him up in coverage and targeted on the incompletion. This play all-around was a masterful call from Eberflus to give a muddied picture to Daniels pre-snap. By being in man, Bland traveled with the receiver in motion to Ertz’ side. By ending up on the same side as both Bell and James Houston in a two point stance, the Commanders may have still thought this was a mixed man/zone look not knowing who was going to drop or rush from the left side. Bell being a hybrid player capable of coverage as well as linebacker responsibilities goes a long way here. The call ended up staying as man, with Bell and Bland both locking up their receivers.
Very reminiscent of the Jets game, the Cowboys big-play offense struck before halftime thanks to an explosive run play. This made a six-point game a two-possession lead and helped the Cowboys take full control of the game to start the second half. Tyler Booker, back in the lineup for the first time since the Bears loss, along with Tyler Smith from left guard had the key blocks on Javonte Williams’ 33-yard run, which came right after a 44-yard athletic catch from George Pickens against Marshon Lattimore. The interior of the Cowboys offensive line, still without Cooper Beebe at center, did not play a perfectly clean game in pass protection, but seeing their two starting guards and first-round picks spring a big run in a crucial spot like this for Williams is an encouraging enough sign. Runs like this have become commonplace for Williams, making it sound redundant to compliment him in his first year with the team in this way.
Throw in the way Williams is a threat on play-action throws and adept at picking up rushers, like he did on Lamb’s 74-yard deep crosser for a touchdown, and his all-around game has been the biggest breath of fresh air possible for a Cowboys backfield so void of talent just one year ago (don’t tell that to Rico Dowdle though).
Jake Ferguson capped off the drive before halftime with his first touchdown of the game, then got wide open off a play-action to Williams for his second score. The Cowboys using play-action in the red zone has led to open looks all over the place for Prescott, but Ferguson has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of these looks to already surpass his career high in touchdowns. Ferguson’s bookending touchdowns to end the first half and start the second half were sandwiched around a Shemar James forced fumble against Daniels to start the third quarter, really making this the critical sequence that allowed the Cowboys to cruise to victory.
James was at his absolute best going downhill in this game, and while the Cowboys did see positives in their pass rush from down linemen Jadeveon Clowney, Donovan Ezeiruaku, and Osa Odighizuwa inside, having James as a blitzer is valuable. James, along with Marist Liufau, can help the Cowboys pass rush in this way, something they should be looking to maximize as each week proves the offense is going to keep putting up big points. James was pressuring Mariota on a blitz which led to the errant throw Bland intercepted and returned for a touchdown, which came out of a rare perfectly-executed zone by Dallas on the backend. The Cowboys dropped to the sticks on 3rd-and-6 perfectly and passed off routes well, giving Mariota nowhere to go and creating a defensive score.
Eberflus showed more emotion on the sideline than at any previous point this season, and for good reason given the way this game may have kept the entire hopes of the season alive, and was a tangible confidence boost for a defense that executed at a high level and has their fingerprints all over this win much more than the Giants or Jets win. This led to Schottenheimer being just as fired up on the way down the tunnel after the win.
The answers the Cowboys defense found against the Commanders may not have been about just any one thing. It wasn’t just the fact they played man at times. It wasn’t just the fact they looked better in zone at times. In today’s NFL, not changing up looks for opposing quarterbacks and play-callers is a death wish, and the Cowboys flowing between man and zone well and being gap sound in their front four against the run was the overall key to slowing down the Commanders.
Washington being so depleted at wide receiver will need to remain important context for this defensive performance from Dallas, but just by not having the lapses in coverage that led to the ball flying over their heads was more than enough to let a full strength offense with Prescott, Pickens, Lamb, Ferguson, and Williams cook. The defense did so also without Juanyeh Thomas at safety, a surprising inactive along with Malik Hooker who is still injured, leading to more of UDFA Alijah Clark than expected. The “pet cat” to many fans from this year’s training camp help up well though, and finished with two tackles.
Throw in the Cowboys getting three returns of 25 yards or longer in the kick and punt game from KaVontae Turpin, also playing for the first time since the last home game versus Green Bay, and Brandon Aubrey casually-as-ever making a 61-yard field goal as part of a three for three day, and all three phases contributed to the win.
