DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East in style with a 56-14 dismantling of the Washington Football Team on national television. Ok, maybe the division was already won a few hours before kickoff on a strength of opponent technicality, but the Cowboys wanted to let everyone know that securing the NFC East was never going to be a problem.
In dominating the Football Team, the Cowboys played the kind of game that fans and pundits have been waiting to watch ever since the team won six straight games. Mike McCarthy’s team has been winning – three in a row coming into Sunday’s contest, in fact – but their level of play hadn’t been satisfying to everyone’s eye.
The beatdown of Washington should leave none wanting. The Cowboys thrashed their rivals in every phase of the game, scoring a touchdown in all three areas, on their way to the largest win over the Football Team in the history of the rivalry that has spanned 124 contests.
Week 16’s commanding performance now gives Dallas four wins in a row as the squad sits at 11-4 on the season. With nothing left to prove in the East, the Cowboys captured their first division title since 2018. That makes three NFC East crowns for quarterback Dak Prescott and the first under McCarthy.
If Cowboys fans were waiting for the offense to kick it into high gear, they got their wish on Christmas weekend. Prescott played the role of Santa Claus and led the unit to 497 yards of offense, which surely would have been even more if the team hadn’t pulled Prescott in the third quarter.
Prescott threw for 322 yards and four scores in the first half as the Cowboys put together their best half of football of the year. Running back Ezekiel Elliott ran in a score and caught one out of the backfield, while wide receiver Amari Cooper and tight end Dalton Schultz each caught touchdowns in the first 30 minutes.
However, the best play of the half came on a beautiful call from offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who has been questioned for the lack of wrinkles in the game plan recently. That wasn’t the case in this game as Moore dialed up a pass to an eligible receiving offensive tackle.
Prescott carried out a perfect play fake and tossed to wide open lineman Terrance Steele for the score. It was a dagger from Dallas that made it 35-7 with nearly four minutes left to go in the first half.
The other points in the first half came from the defense, who scored for the second time against Washington this season. With the Cowboys already up 14-0 in the first quarter, defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence picked off a wayward Taylor Heinicke pass and returned it 40 yards for the score.
With Dallas up 21-0 in the first quarter, the rout was on. By the time halftime rolled around, Cooper’s TD with five seconds remaining in the half made it 42-7 after a near perfect 30 minutes of football from the Cowboys. All it took was 30 minutes to prove that they still had this type of game left in them.
For an offense that was struggling during the second half of the season, the issues were nowhere to be found on Sunday night. Prescott was sharp and the passing game looked precise and dangerous. Most of the passes from Prescott were thrown with a confidence that had been lacking lately and each of his receiving options had a role in the return to dominance from Moore’s unit.
And it wasn’t just the offense that was excelling. Cornerback Trevon Diggs got the defense going early with an interception on Washington’s first play from scrimmage. Diggs’ 11th pick of the year tied him with Cowboys legend Everson Walls for the most in a season, an eye popping feat for a cornerback in just his second year in the league.
The defense also chipped in with five sacks, one of which came from rookie linebacker Micah Parsons, who now has 13 on the season. Dallas also held the Football Team to just 257 yards of offense and a 3-13 mark on third down chances in the blowout.
Special teams also got in on the fun as Corey Clement blocked a second half punt that was recovered in the end zone by Chauncey Golston for the score. With Lawrence, Steele, and Golston scoring touchdowns, the Cowboys set an all-time team record with 19 different Cowboys finding paydirt during the season.
The Cowboys are NFC East champions, and they did it in spectacular fashion. A few weeks ago many were wondering where this season was headed after a 1-3 November. Now 4-0 in December, the Cowboys have righted the ship by riding an emerging defense. All they needed was the offense to catch back up.
Everything clicked in the shellacking of their division rivals and the Cowboys are now 5-0 against the NFC East. For the opposition that had their fans chanting “we want Dallas” a few weeks ago, the Cowboys reminded them that the 27-20 Week 14 win was only a fluke by how close it appeared as they thumped Washington on their way to not just winning the division, but embarrassing the Football Team.
The Cowboys played their most complete game of the season and gave a national audience a glimpse at what they can accomplish when they bring their A game. The immediate spoils are an NFC East title and the rest of the NFC becomes a fresh target.
Do you think the Cowboys made a statement with their blowout win in Week 16? Share your best boasts about the victory with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.