Game Recap – Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys – Week 12

November 24, 2023

By Noonefromtampa

Commanders are the Turkey Feast Losing 45-10

First Quarter

Washington started on offense. Brian Robinson took the first two handoffs and gained 8 yards and 1 yard on two runs. On third down, Robinson then caught a screen pass from Sam Howell and took it for 19 yards and a first down. On the next play, Howell took a sack for an 8 yard loss and followed that up with an incompletion. Facing a third and 18, Howell threw another screen to Antonio Gibson, who gained 11 yards. Tress Way punted it 29 yards to the Dallas 15.

Dallas opened their first drive with a pass from Dak Prescott to Michael Gallup for 13 yards. Benjamin St-Juste was called for illegal contact on the next play.  Tony Pollard gained 5 yards on a run, but Prescott threw two incompletions on successive plays to force a Dallas punt.

Dallas was called for a facemask on the return, moving the ball out to the 18 yard line. Washington once again started their next drive with two runs by Robinson, who gained 7 yards. Third down was a Howell pass to Terry McLaurin for 8 yards. The Commanders followed that up with three straight passes to Curtis Samuel for 6 yards, Jahan Dotson for 10 yards and Samuel again for 8 yards. With 2 yards to go, the Dallas pass rush forced poor throws on the next two downs, forcing another Way put.

The next Dallas drive was marred by a number of penalties they committed, but which Washington could not exploit. After a false start on the first play of the drive, Prescott hit Jake Ferguson for 35 yards on a deep throw over the middle just past Cody Barton in coverage. Pollard then gained 9 yards on a run and lost 3 three yards on a great stop by Daron Payne. Prescott threw 8 yards to CeeDee Lamb for the first down. After an incompletion, Dallas was called for holding and a false start on successive plays both by Lamb. On second and 25, Prescott threw over the middle to Jalen Tolbert for 18 yards, and Pollard ran for 14 yards around the right end for the first down. Pollard caught a pass for 6 yards and fumbled but it was recovered by Dallas. Rico Dowdle ran for 7 yards and after an incompletion, ran 15 yards for the touchdown. The extra point was good. Cowboys 7, Commanders 0.

Second Quarter

After a run for no gain and an incompletion, Howell hit an open Samuel, who gained 30 yards on the play. Howell next hit Dotson for 12 yards, and that was followed by a 14 yard run by Robinson. The drive fell apart at that point. After a rush for no gain, Robinson was tackled for 8 yard loss on a screen and Logan Thomas caught a two yard pass on third down and 18. Joey Slye came on to salvage the drive with a 43 yard field goal. Cowboys 7, Commanders 3.

Pollard started the next Dallas drive with a catch good for 4 yards. Prescott scrambled for 10 yards on second down and then hit Luke Schoonmaker for 12 yards. After a two yard run by Pollard, Prescott threw over the middle to Lamb for 16 yards. On the next play, Prescott threw a 31 yard touchdown to Brandin Cooks on a great in-out slant. The extra point was good. Cowboys 14, Commanders 3.

On Washington’s next drive, after an incompletion, Howell hit Thomas over the middle, and he spun up field for 13 yards. Robinson and Gibson picked up 3 yards and 6 yards respectively on two runs. Samuel was interfered with on a third down catch on a crosser, with Washington getting the first down by penalty. Howell came back to Samuel on the next play on a bubble screen which gained 8 yards. Gibson then picked up the first down with a tough 3 yard run over the right side. After an offside penalty on Dallas, Howell was sacked for a 7 yard loss. Howell bounced right back with a 12 yard completion to McLaurin for the first down. After two plays which gained nothing, Howell scrambled and threaded a throw for 15 yards to Dotson at the Cowboys 14 yard line. After the two-minute warning, Samuel caught a dart from Howell for 13 yards down to the one. Howell ran it on for the touchdown on an option play. Slye converted the extra point. Cowboys 14, Commanders 10.

With 1:51 left in the half the Cowboys got the ball back and they didn’t need that much time to score, only 5 plays and one of those was an incompletion. Prescott threw a pass which bounced off Danny Johnson’s helmet and was caught by Jalen Brooks. Tolbert caught a 31 yard pass down the left sideline and then Pollard pushed his way into the endzone for the touchdown.  Brandon Aubrey hit the left upright on the extra point attempt. Cowboys 20, Commanders 10.

After an 11 yard completion to Brian Pringle, Washington’s attempted drive was stunted by a holding call on Charles Leno and they elected to run out the clock with a Robinson run.

Third Quarter

To start the second half, after a 10 yard pass to Pollard, Washington was able to hold Dallas to seven more yards and forced them to punt. That was the first stop since the first stop of the first quarter.

Robinson started Washington’s next drive with an 11 yard run. Howell then scrambled for 12 yards and followed that up with three straight completions to Dotson for 7 yards, Samuel for 11 yards and Dotson again for 8 yards. Robinson only picked up 1 yard on second and 2. On third down, Howell went deep to McLaurin in one-on-one coverage against Stephon Gilmore but Gilmore was able to break up the catch. The Commanders tried to run again on fourth down but lost two yards.

After the turnover on downs, Pollard ran for 4 yards on first down but was tackled for a 5 tard loss on a pass on second down. Percy Butler broke up a third down pass with a hard hit on Ferguson forcing a punt.

Washington was able to pick up one first down on their next drive but was impacted by a false start penalty which put them in a second and 13. They were unable to convert and had to punt.

On the next Dallas drive, Washington could not stop them on third down. Cooks caught a 25 yard pass on third and 11, then Lamb caught a 14 yard pass on third and 6.

Fourth Quarter

Pollard ran twice for 7 yards and Schoonmaker dropped the third down pass when hit by Butler. Aubrey nailed a 52 yard field goal down the middle of the uprights. Cowboys 23, Commanders 10.

After a sack for a 7 yard loss, Pringle came up 1 yard short on a 16 yard reception on third down. Washington elected to go for it and Howell was sacked again. With no pass rush, Prescott hit Lamb for a 15 yard touchdown on third down. The two-point conversion was initially ruled no good but was overturned on review when the film showed that Lamb got both feet inbounds. Cowboys 31, Commanders 10.

Washington turned it over on downs again on the next drive after moving it 40 yards with 24 coming on a McLaurin reception.

On Dallas’ next drive, embarrassingly, a wide open KaVontae Turpin scored on a 34 yard touchdown pass three plays after Pollard ran for 27 yards. Cowboys 38, Commanders 10.

Cole Turner caught a 29 yard pass on the next drive on a tipped ball. Two plays later DaRon Bland set the NFL record for interceptions returned for a touchdown by undercutting a throw from Howell to Dotson, returning it 63 yards and breaking tackles for the touchdown. Cowboys 45, Commanders 10.

Washington elected to run out the clock and mercifully ended this debacle.

Thoughts

Hopefully some coaching change will be made, if only symbolically in nature.

The Commanders offensive line and defensive line were beaten like drums by the Cowboys.

The defense has no pass rush and that exposes the secondary tremendously.

We should have a top 5 pick this year.

The more I watch these remaining games, the more I think we are looking at a significant roster overhaul.