While it’s only Week 2, Sunday’s contest between the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys is virtually a must-win for both sides. Since the 2015 season, just 14.7% of teams that started 0-2 (14 of 95) ended up making the playoffs.
After the poor display they put on the field in New York, the Cowboys have plenty to be concerned about in this matchup. With that thought in mind, here are three causes for concern in Week 2 against the Commanders.
1) Jayden Daniels’ rushing ability
The Commanders are expecting a big-time bounce-back
from 25-year-old quarterback Jayden Daniels this season. After putting together one of the best rookie years in NFL history, Daniels had an up-and-down sophomore season plagued by injuries. If Washington wants any chance at making the postseason, they need Daniels on the field and at his best.
While Washington took a loss in their Week 1 matchup against Philadelphia, Daniels looked healthy and had a productive day against one of the NFL’s elite defenses. If the 25-year-old is healthy, he’s one of the most dangerous athletes at the quarterback position in all of football. Against Philadelphia, Daniels got back to using his legs as a weapon, rushing for 31 yards on five attempts.
This week, the Cowboys will need to place plenty of emphasis on taking away Daniels’ ability to take off and run. In three career games against Dallas, Daniels has averaged a little over 42 rushing yards per game. The whole world saw Jaxson Dart burn the Cowboys on the ground multiple times last Sunday, and you can imagine Washington is going to incorporate plenty of quarterback runs into their offensive game plan this week.
2) Washington’s ability to stop the run
One positive to come out of the Commanders’ Week 1 loss was how well they kept Philadelphia’s impressive run game in check. While the Eagles did record 136 total rushing yards on the day, 64 of those yards came on two runs by Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts.
If you take away Barkley’s big run of 42 yards, Washington held the talented running back to just 41 yards on 14 carries, an average of 2.9 Y/A. On the day, the Commanders’ defense ranked 10th in the league in defensive Rush EPA(-01.67) and third in defensive Rush SR (26.3%).
To avoid letting Dallas open things up in the play-action game, Washington will likely follow their Week 1 game plan against Philly and put heavy emphasis on slowing Dallas down on the ground. The Cowboys will need to execute better in the run game than they did in Week 1, when, as a team, they averaged just 3.8 Y/A.
3) 0-2 Potential playoff implications
As we mentioned at the top, falling to 0-2 is basically the kiss of death to your playoff hopes. To make matters worse, whatever team loses this game will not just have a 0-2 record overall but in the division as well. This would make it very difficult for that team to win any potential divisional tiebreaks come season’s end. Since 2015, only one team (the 2025 Chicago Bears) has lost their first two games of the season to divisional opponents and still went on to win their division that year.
It’s safe to say there will be plenty of urgency on both sides to win this game. With Dallas’ brutal upcoming five-game stretch, it is absolutely paramount they find a way to win on Sunday and avoid digging themselves into an early-season hole too deep to climb out of.
