Compared to their embarrassing loss to the New York Giants last week inthe season opener, the Dallas Cowboys look like an entirely different team in their 37-20 victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 2. With a chance they could drop 0-2 in the NFC East division if they lost, the Cowboys came out and played with purpose in front of their hometown crowd and did what they needed to do in order to secure the “W”.
Despite the much-needed victory, this was probably a closer game in the score reflects.
This hard-fought victory that had a lot of positives and negatives mixed throughout the ballgame. Fortunately, things bounced the Cowboys way this time around, resulting in their first win on the season. Below is the good, bad, and ugly from this week’s matchup.
THE GOOD – QB Dak Prescott, WR CeeDee Lamb
Shout out to Jake Ferguson for his four catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns. He definitely deserves recognition here, but it’s Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb who helped propel this team to victory.
Prescott set a franchise record with 249 TD passes, eclipsing Tony Romo’s record. He threw for four of them during the game. Lamb caught a total of eight passes for 153 receiving yards and two touchdowns Sunday afternoon against the Commanders. There’s a reason why Dallas has leaned on him so heavily in the past, and this week was proof why he’s so important despite the multitude of weapon surrounding him.
This offense runs through No. 4 and No. 88, and are at their best when they are productive.
THE BAD – Christian Parker’s defense
Compared to last week in the season opener, the Cowboys defense looked much improved in Week 2 against the Commanders. They did enough to help secure the victory and in the end that’s all that matters. However, there is still clearly a lot of work to do for Christian Parker.
Dallas’ run defense still looks suspect and the tackling throughout was pretty abysmal. In fact, Donovan Eziruaku left at least three QB sacks on the field by not finishing. Overall though this was a much better showing and one that hopefully continues to improve week to week.
THE UGLY – Injuries
On the Commanders side of things, QB Jayden Daniels suffered an ugly injury as he dislocated his elbow. He had to miss half the game, and will probably miss more times as he tries to recover. The out-of-place elbow certainly looked gruesome.
For Dallas, first it was P.J. Locke who exited the game with a foot injury, and then Cobie Durant with a hamstring injury. With Malik Hooker already out several weeks with a forearm injury, Locke’s further depletes the safety position. The same can be said at CB if Durant ends up having to miss time.
