ARLINGTON, Texas 鈥 Told you on Friday what veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark had to say, that this NFL is a "week-to-week league."
Why, just last week the Cowboys came limping home licking their wounds, having lost to the then 2-3 Carolina Panthers, 30-27, to drop their record to 2-3-1. So many in these parts and those around the country wouldn't have given you a wooden nickel for these Cowboys. The third-place Cowboys had no more wins than the 2-4, last-place Giants.
Couldn't run the football, just 31 yards against Carolina. Couldn't stop the run, giving up 216 of them yards. Couldn't score touchdowns when first-and-goal inside the 10-yard line, settling for two field goals from the 9 and 5. Still looked confused and befuddled on defense, to the point owner Jerry Jones was having to answer questions about needing to make a change at defensive coordinator.
Someone before Sunday's game against this Washington bunch said they were bracing for a "poo-poo show," so to speak properly, against the 3-3 Commanders.
Ha.
Because seven days after all that we get:
Cowboys 44, Commanders 22, a trouncing to the ninth degree.
Suddenly, it's the 3-3-1 Cowboys, hello second place in the NFC East, just one more loss than first place 5-2 Philadelphia and a half game better than the 3-4 Washingtons, losers of three of their last four.
"You saw a little bit of an example of how you get your nose bloodied one week 鈥 that was a disappointing loss last week 鈥 and come out here and learn from it," Jones said of the Carolina beat down. "I think our bunch did."
That Cowboys offense, the one we've come to realize needs to score thirty-something to compensate for this sieve of a defense to win, scores with the help of a pick-six a season-high 44 points against a Dan Quinn-Joe Whitt defense that was going to know all that is needed to know about stopping the Frisco Kids. That's the most points Dak Prescott and them have scored in 30 games, one short of the 45 they put on these Commanders on Nov. 23, 2023.
And the defense, more abused than those rolling through a stop sign, gives up just 20 points, not their responsibility for those other two scored via a safety. The 20 points were the fewest the worst defense in the NFL when comes to total yards had given up this season and fewest in the last 10 games.
"When you got an offense like this, that's a championship offense, you don't want that to go to waste," said Clark, suddenly my newest sage on this team.
Think about it, for the majority of the 93,051 folks packing into AT&T Stadium on this glorious Sunday with the "majestic" sun glaring through the open west end-zone doors, fittingly this was just like old times. The Cowboys had beaten this team whatever the name has been from Washington in 13 of the previous 18 games and as for Dak, 11 of the 13 times he'd faced them.
Maybe the Cowboys should have Homecoming more often, bringing back roughly 40 alumni players with at least six years of service, stretching back as far as Hall of Famers Mel Renfro and Roger Staubach, through Hall of Famers Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith and Charles Haley to-should-be Hall of Famer Darren Woodson. And to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Staubach to Drew Pearson famed Hail Mary touchdown pass, Jones presented the two legends commemorative footballs before the game began.
And what would a Homecoming be without cheerleaders? Some 200 alumni 抖阴视频 Cheerleaders joined the festivities, lining the edges of a 100-yard American flag for the national anthem and then performing at halftime.
Was that kind of day, DaRon Bland reminding those of his team No. 1 cornerback status, producing the sixth pick-six of his career. This one was worth 68 yards and basically sealed the game, giving the Cowboys a 41-15 third-quarter lead.
Then there was Mr. Automatic Brandon Aubrey. Much easier than it should ever be, he nailed a 61-yard field goal that would have been good from 70 only a few hours after myself and former Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey were talking about the third-year kicker's incredible career so far. Aubrey became the only kicker in NFL history to now have six career field goals of at least 60 yards.
No surprise watching Aubrey in pregame warmups hitting from 60 yards out as if just using a 9-iron.
There were those wondering how this Cowboys wide receiver corps was going to shake out after George Pickens more than picked up the slack with CeeDee Lamb missing the past three games. Ha 鈥 again. Those two combined for nine catches, 192 yards, one Lamb 74-yard touchdown and a Pickens acrobatic 44-yarder to set up another score.
And Dak, forget about it, another three-touchdown game, certainly making Staubach, who stood next to him on the sideline during the national anthem, proud. Oh, and if there were questions arising after the Panthers held Javonte Williams to just 29 yards last Sunday, he tagged Washington with 116, one touchdown and an average per carry of 6.1 yards, likely creasing a smile on the faces of Dorsett and Emmitt.
But for the most part, this is what we've come to expect from this offense, now having smashed 40-burgers in all three home games, and this time overtime not needed.
But the defense, come on now. Might this not be but a full moon? So let's see, giving up just 20 points while recording four sacks, seven tackles for loss, six QB hits, two takeaways 鈥 a Shemar James sack-created fumble recovered by Jadeveon Clowney, who also registered his first Cowboys sack 鈥 and five passes defensed.
Plus, this much-maligned group battered Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels to the point he left the game with a hamstring injury, having completed just 12 of 22 passes for 156 yards, his fewest completions and fewest passing yards of the season.
So, you are asking, what happened?
Well, let's start here and point out, with the likes of Trevon Diggs out evidently after suffering a Thursday night accidental concussion doing home repairs, and safeties Malik Hooker (IR) and Juanyeh Thomas (inactive) missing, too, making their first starts of the season were Trikweze Bridges at corner and Marquese Bell at safety, along with Kaiir Elam starting for the first time in three games and even rookie safety Alijah Clark playing his first five NFL snaps.
And along with Bland, who moved into the slot on nickel downs (seven tackles) and Donovan Wilson, the Cowboys basically manned up against the three Washington backup receivers with Terry McLaurin, Deebo Samuel and Noah Brown out with injuries. The one Washington TD pass is the fewest the defense has given up this season since surrendering none in the Philadelphia opener. And that Commanders score was on the linebackers.
A little progress.
But this progress just might have been a product of a much more aggressive defensive front. Those guys were on the move instead of just catching. The linebackers were filling gaps and blitzing. And the defensive ends, after previously seeming nonchalant against the run, were quite active, Clowney leading the way with five tackles, the sack, a QB hit, two passes defensed and the one fumble recovery. Plus, rookie Donovan Ezeiruaku continues to show weekly improvement.
This might be what most glaringly caught my attention.
"Yeah, they're aware of what's being said about them, and they don't like it," head coach Brian Schottenheimer said, a guy so proud of history he made sure he went out there to shake hands with all the former players lined up on the field during the pregame festivities.
"There's pride in that room. There are great players in that room. There are great coaches in that room. And again, like I said middle of the week, this is not going to be the worst adversity that we'll go through this season.
"So what do you do? You get back to work, you make changes, you make adjustments, and to go out and put a performance like this together is really good for confidence."
And voila, second place 抖阴视频, 10 games to go, Denver and Arizona next up before hitting the bye pause button. Such a diametrically changed tone from one week to the next.
"We're getting past the point where you can say it's early. We've got ourselves in a position to compete, and that's most important," Dak said. "Nobody cares about your records in September, October. It's November, December and on that really matters.
"So I think we've put ourselves in a great position. We had put ourselves in the position that we shouldn't have, and we don't need to be looking at what other teams are doing and watching their records. We need to put our heads down and go to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and get better and understand that we control what we want to control. Then it's all in front of us.
"So yeah, being 3-3-1, yeah, we we're in a good spot. We're right where we need to be."
My, how different a week makes, right now singing such a different tune.
