Game Preview, Week 12: Dallas Cowboys at Washington
November 23, 2024
by Steve Thomas
Washington obviously laid an egg both last week against the Eagles and in the prior week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fortunately, they now have a “get right” game of sorts to look forward to this week. That’s pretty amazing to say outloud, because the hated Dallas Cowboys are coming to Northwest Stadium for a visit. Washington, of course, has been mostly terrible against Dallas for many years. This season, however, is different, because the Cowboys have fallen apart, particularly as compared to pre-season expectations, and are now missing their starting quarterback. As a result, the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington has a good opportunity to get its season back on track with a divisional win at home. Can they do it? Logic would say yes, but history should make us all a little leery. This week’s game preview starts below.
Game time & location: Sunday, November 24, 2024, 1:00 p.m. ET, Northwest Stadium, Raljon, Maryland; Gates open 11:00 a.m. ET; Red Zone parking lots open 8:00 a.m.; all other parking lots 9:00 a.m.
Television: FOX
Television announcers: Joe Davis, Greg Olsen, Pam Oliver
TV broadcast map: Click here
DC-area radio: BIG-100 (WBIG FM)
Washington radio network: Click here
Cowboys radio network: Click here
Satellite radio: Sirius: 83 (Wash. broad.); SiriusXM: 227 (Wash. broad.); internet: 831
Washington roster: Click here
Washington depth chart: Click here
Cowboys roster: Click here
Cowboys depth chart: Click here
All-time head-to-head record vs Cowboys: 46 – 78 – 2 (last 10: 3 – 7)
Last meeting: L, January 7, 2024, 10 – 38
Cowboys record: 3 – 7 (3rd place) / road: 3 – 2 / NFC: 1 – 5 / NFC East: 1 – 1
Early odds: Washington, – 10.5
3 KEYS TO THE GAME
Washington’s passing offense needs to get back on track
Washington has obviously had less than stellar outings by their offense for the last two weeks. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, in particular, has struggled, whether due to injury or not, at least in comparison to the lofty standards he established earlier in the season. The biggest key to this game for Washington will be to get back to productive and efficient production. One of the things Dallas does well on defense is pressuring the quarterback, although it might not be totally obvious since they’ve had the second-least number of pass attempts against in the league. Dallas’ run defense is roughly bottom 10, so Washington needs to help out Daniels this week by focusing on a quality rushing attack while limiting the penalty mistakes.
Pressure Cooper Rush and limit big plays
Rush obviously isn’t a young rookie – he’s been in the NFL since 2017 – but he isn’t an elite quarterback. The problem for Dallas here is that their running game isn’t up to snuff and to make up for it, they pass. Alot. In fact, they’ve had more pass attempts than any other team in the league. They also have one elite receiver, CeeDee Lamb, who has almost twice as many pass attempts to him than any of Dallas’ other receivers. This means that Washington needs to step up their pass rush and start to disrupt Rush, taking care, of course, to ensure that Lamb sufficiently covered. Rush isn’t good enough to successfully drive Dallas’ offense by himself, but particularly so when his is repeatedly harassed by pass rushers.
The offensive line needs to protect Jayden Daniels
Dallas’ defense only has 24 sacks, which is a middle of the pack number; however, they are #1 in the NFL in overall pressure percentage, which is sacks, hurries, and hurries. They are also #1 in hurries. This means that Dallas will likely try to keep Daniels under a significant amount of pressure in this game. Therefore, one significant key to this game is for Washington’s offensive line to step up, limit the penalties – because there’ve been quite a few with this team – and play well in pass protection. Daniels will need time to get the passing game going again for the first time in a couple of weeks.
3 KEY MATCHUPS
Benjamin St-Juste vs CeeDee Lamb
Washington’s new #1 corner, Marshawn Lattimore, is still injured and will be out for another week. It’s unclear when he’s going to hit the field in Washington for the first time. For this week, that’s leaves us with St-Juste primarily responsible for covering Dallas’ most important player. Lamb has 67 receptions in 106 targets, 774 receiving yards, and 4 touchdowns. St-Juste obviously hasn’t had a great season, but this might be both his greatest challenge and a way to prove to Washington’s coaching staff that he belongs. This is probably the most important matchup in the game.
Terry McLaurin vs Trevon Diggs
McLaurin versus Diggs is another one of these battles that I write up for every Dallas – Washington game, simply because it is such a high-profitle matchup. McLaurin had a very quiet day against the Eagles last week and has had multiple fairly quiet games against Dallas over the years. Washington needs him to help open up the passing offense again, which was focused entirely too much within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage last week. Whether he can accomplish this is an open question given Diggs’ talent level. We’ll see. Either way, this one will likely be the subject of a significant chatter by the television broadcast crew.
First of all, Martin is listed as “Doubtful” on the injury report, so it more likely than not that he’ll be out. With that having been said, I still threw this matchup in because it’s the highest profile faceoff in the trenches. Payne hasn’t had his normal level of impact this year, but he’s still the highly-paid, high-profile defensive tackle. He’s going to match with Martin in this game, who is on his way to a Hall of Fame-caliber career. Martin is injured and didn’t practice Wednesday and Thursday, so he’s almost assuredly going to be limited. Keep an eye out on how this one goes.
OFFICIAL INJURY REPORT (active roster only)
LP – limited practice FP – full practice DNP – did not practice
NIR – not injury related Q – questionable O – out
D – doubtful
| Washington | Cowboys |
| CB M. Davis, NIR (personal); Wed: NL; Thurs: DNP; Fri: NL | S M. Bell, shoulder; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O |
| DE C. Ferrell, knee/NIR (rest); Wed: LP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: LP | TE J. Ferguson, concussion; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O |
| CB M. Lattimore, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O | WR C. Lamb, back/foot; Wed: LP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: FP |
| OLB D. Fowler Jr., hip; Wed: NL; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP | G Z. Martin, ankle/shoulder; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: D |
| LB N. Bellore, knee; Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP; game: Q | G T. Smith, ankle/knee; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| CB N. Igbinoghene, thumb; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP | LB N. Vigil, foot; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: Q |
| K A. Seibert, right hip; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP; game: Q | WR B. Cooks, knee; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| DE D. Armstrong, thumb; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | CB T. Diggs, groin/knee; Wed: NL; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| T B. Coleman, thumb; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | DE M. Kneeland, knee; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| DE J. Jean-Baptiste, ankle; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP; game: Q | CB J. Lewis, neck; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP |
| LB J. Magee, elbow; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | FB H. Luepke, calf; Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP |
| TE B. Sinnott, illness; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | CB L. Bland, foot; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| T C. Edoga; toe; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP; game: Q | |
| T T. Guyton, shoulder; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | |
| LB E. Kendricks, shoulder; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
Steve’s Prediction
Dallas is a big mess, and it isn’t going to get better for them this week. Washington gets back on track and wins 34 – 13.