DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys left Washington, D.C. with exactly what they came for. By a 27-20 final score, first place Dallas had a win over the rival Football Team to tamp down the division’s second place team and give themselves an opportunity to put the NFC East to bed sooner rather than later.
Following a triumph in New Orleans to open the month, Dallas has now grabbed two straight wins to begin a pivotal December and have seen the lead in the East grow to three games with four to play. Stopping the WFT winning streak became paramount as it gives the Cowboys some extra breathing room down the stretch.
In the first half, the Cowboys had three sacks, an interception, and a fumble return for a touchdown to help stake the team to a 24-0 lead. Washington couldn’t get anything going offensively as Dan Quinn’s unit gave up a paltry 29 total yards in the first 30 minutes.
Once again, the defense picked up the slack for a struggling offense. That’s not at all what anyone expected from this team this season but Dallas can count itself as fortunate that they are able to get this kind of effort from the defense when the offense falters.
Defensive end Randy Gregory – fresh off his four-game injury absence – served notice with a spectacular interception in the first quarter. With Dallas up 3-0, and following a Dak Prescott interception, the Washington offensive line tried to chop Gregory’s legs out from underneath him to throw a screen. Gregory avoided the chop, tipped the pass, and snatched it for his first career interception.
The turnover was the first of four for a ravenous defense and set the offense up with great field position. Five plays later, Prescott found Amari Cooper open in the end zone for the only offensive touchdown all day for the Cowboys.
Defensive Swiss army knife Micah Parsons continued his superlative rookie campaign by forcing the next turnover. On fourth down in the first quarter, the Football Team felt compelled to challenge the Cowboys and it didn’t end well. Parsons sacked quarterback Taylor Heinicke, forced the ball out, and defensive end Dorance Armstrong returned it 37-yards for the score.
The game was just 14 minutes old and the Cowboys had already made two huge defensive plays and were leading 18-0. That surely wasn’t what Washington fans had in mind when they began chanting “we want Dallas” over the last few weeks.
Things got more interesting late, with the offense bogged down all afternoon. The inconsistency was very frustrating to watch and the team even tried running through backup running back Corey Clement, who was playing for the injured Tony Pollard.
With starting runner Ezekiel Elliott healthy enough to play and get carries in the first half, it was puzzling to see him on the bench for most of the last 30 minutes of play and not be on the field.
With a big second half lead, it’s likely that Dallas didn’t think that it would matter and resting Elliott with his leg ailment seemed like the smart thing to do. However, after scoring just three points in the second half, the game got unnecessarily close when Prescott threw an extremely strange pick-six to give Washington a chance.
With Dallas up 27-14 with just over four minutes remaining, Prescott rolled out and had tight end Dalton Schultz wide open for an easy gain, but he didn’t make the throw. Instead, Prescott waited too long before throwing it right to Washington linebacker Kelly Holcombe, who returned it 31 yards for the score that made it a one possession game.
The offense followed with a three-and-out to give Washington the ball back with an opportunity to drive and either tie or win the game. Holding onto a one score lead, the defense finished the job on Gregory’s biggest play of the game.
On third down and with the Football Team trying to pull off the miracle, Gregory sacked backup quarterback Kyle Allen and forced a fumble that the Cowboys would recover to seal the win. The game-winning sack capped off Gregory’s great day which saw him give a performance that rivals some of the best in team history.
Just as no one predicted, it was the Dallas defense that played a bigger role in a division win. With the Cowboys essentially having their three receivers healthy and ready to go for the first time since Week 1, and with Elliott pronounced healthier than he’s felt in weeks, the offense managed just one touchdown. Ironically, the defense matched that total.
The team will have to worry about what is going wrong with Prescott and gang as they go forward, but the bottom line is the Cowboys came away with the win. Dallas is now 3-0 in the division and have beaten each of their rivals.
Ultimately, when the offense needed them to do the heavy lifting, the defense stepped up and paved the way to victory. If the offense isn’t going to play at a high level, the Cowboys should be happy that the defense will.
In coming away with the win, the Cowboys backed up their coach who semi-guaranteed it, and humbled a fanbase in Washington who had gotten a tad too confident in the last month. It’s now clear that the NFC East is the Cowboys’ division to lose and the defense made sure of that.
Do you think the Dallas defense is now a stronger unit than the offense? Share your best boasts about the victory with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi.