The Washington Commanders won a game they had no business winning. For the second time this season, they were outplayed by their oldest rival.
The Dallas Cowboys held the ball for 14 minutes more than Washington. They outgained the Commanders by more than 100 yards on the field, won the turnover battle, and had three times as many sacks. It is hard to imagine a team with this statistical disadvantage coming out on top.
And still, in a scenario that has become increasingly common under Dan Quinn, that’s just what the Commanders did.
What makes Sunday’s win so remarkable is that the Commanders were not bailed out by Jayden Daniels. The rookie quarterback had one of his worst games throwing the ball and was pulled as a precaution at halftime.
Quinn’s squad won in part because its defense came up big when it had to. This is a huge departure from recent seasons. It is now clear to everyone that across the board — from greybeards like Bobby Wagner, young veterans like Frankie Luvu, and rookies like Mike Sainristil — this team has added a massive amount of talent in one year.
They won in part because Terry McLaurin is a stone-cold stud. Contested catch stalwarts are usually taller receivers. He is the best six-foot-or-under contested-catch receiver since the days of Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Steve Smith Sr.
They won primarily because Kliff Kingsbury’s offense converted all three of its red-zone trips into touchdowns, while Dallas scored seven only once despite being close six times. That happened in large part because the version of the Cowboys is not very good.
Dallas played hard and featured a few dominant performances. But quarterback Trey Lance still has woefully inconsistent accuracy and teammates like Jay Ferguson made far too many negative plays — mostly penalties — to turn their statistical dominance into control of the scoreboard.
And they won because a different quarterback took control of the game with both his arm and his legs in the second half. Marcus Mariota proved that he is worthy of another opportunity to win the starting job somewhere else in 2025. As Daniels has been throughout the season, he was magnificent.
So is the main takeaway the fact Washington is not playing very well as they head into the playoffs? Or is it that despite this, they are still finding ways to win football games?
I’m going to hold the latter in reserve and focus briefly on the former.
Commanders offensive line needs to execute their assignments more efficiently
Washington’s offensive line has steadily regressed throughout the second half of the season. Against playoff-caliber opponents, that must change or this magical season will come to an abrupt and ugly end at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend.
Let’s examine one play, dig into why it failed, and what has to change.
The play was fairly nondescript. It was early in the second quarter. Washington’s defense had just come up big and held the Cowboys to a field goal after a muffed punt. The score stood at 6-0.
Daniels completed a little swing pass to Dyami Brown. The receiver made a nice run to advance the ball to the 36-yard line and get a first down. Kliff Kingsbury called a sweep. Brian Robinson Jr. ran left behind two tight ends and a pulling center.
It’s the kind of play that the running back, despite his lack of elite speed, has run well. If the blockers can give him a small seam, Robinson usually breaks the first hit and finds a hole for a decent gain. That is not what happened.
Robinson was stuffed for no gain. Two Cowboys combined on the tackle while at least four others were in a position to clean up if he somehow escaped. Dallas had the entire side of the field blanketed.
The Commanders had seven blockers in front of Robinson. The three other players — Mariota, McLaurin, and Brown — were on the right side of the field, uninvolved. Washington has its offensive line and two tight ends either out in front or sealing off backside pursuit.
Of those seven blockers, none of them was particularly effective. Three of them outright failed in their assignments while the other four performed marginally well.
Left tackle Brandon Coleman did the best. He was out in front and did get some movement on the edge. But the Cowboys had too many players on this side and the rookie was unable to collapse the outside. Next to him, left guard Nick Allegretti fared about the same. He also got some movement but winded up blocking his assignment into the hole, albeit a few yards downfield.
Right tackle Andrew Wylie was farthest away from the play. He didn’t do much but was at least in a position to seal the backside if Robinson had been provided with a cutback lane. Tight end Zach Ertz, lined up on the far left side, did a nice job of chipping on a linebacker before moving downfield.
Like the others, he got some movement but was not able to create any kind of a hole. Those were the good blocks on the play.
Sam Cosmi had a very difficult assignment. He was tasked with getting to the second level and sealing linebacker Eric Kendricks. The right guard couldn’t reach him. It didn’t end up mattering because other players made the tackle, but the veteran was in a position to clean up if Robinson somehow escaped the line of scrimmage.
He didn’t because the other two blockers — tight end John Bates and center Michael Deiter — failed in their assignments.
Despite getting the chip from Ertz, Bates simply could not handle defensive end Carl Lawson. And Deiter, in for starting center Tylor Biadasz, pulled on the play and did not make a block. He should have found cornerback Jourdan Lewis, who the lineman outweighs by more than 100 pounds. But he either did not identify him or was simply unable to get a body on the corner.
Lawson and Lewis combined to hit Robinson on the line. The lack of success on the first down led to a punt a couple of plays later.
Lawson and Lewis are good players, but they are not world-beaters. This is not a case of Micah Parsons simply being too good for an opponent to block. Bates has been a better blocker in the past, but he is not playing up to that standard right now. Deiter is a backup. The Commanders need a healthy and effective Biadasz at playoff time.
Commanders must establish their rushing attack at the Buccaneers
What is most distressing is that it now appears Kingsbury isn’t even trying to run the ball with his backs anymore. The Commanders ran the ball just 18 times against Dallas — their lowest total of the season. Half of those runs were by quarterbacks. Another was by a receiver.
Running backs got the ball on eight plays and gained just 22 rushing yards. There has only been one game in 2024 in which a single Commanders' back did not carry the ball at least eight times. That was against the Cleveland Browns, a game Washington dominated. Three different backs combined for 20 carries and over 130 yards.
The Buccaneers boast a strong run defense. They had trouble in Week 1 against Daniels but stopped Robinson and Austin Ekeler. It is a safe bet that Todd Bowles' primary focus will be shutting down the signal-caller's ability to gain yards on the ground.
That makes it paramount for Washington’s line to play a strong game and opens holes for the running backs to take the pressure off the quarterback. They were not up to the task against Dallas but were bailed out by the defense, the backup quarterback, and the opponent. That is not likely to happen in the playoffs.
It is time for the offensive line to catch up to the rest of the team.
