Game Preview, Week 18: Washington at Dallas
January 4, 2025
by Steve Thomas
Congrats to Washington’s entire coaching staff and roster for a job well done this year – this group collectively accomplished far more this season than nearly anyone expected. As a result, the Redskins Washington Football Team Commanders Washington earned a record of 11 – 5 so far and has clinched a Wild Card spot in the playoffs. What’s at stake this week against the hated Dallas Cowboys is whether Washington will have the second or third Wild Card spot, meaning the 6th or 7th seed in the NFC. The competition is the Green Bay Packers, who are also 11 – 5 overall. The first applicable tiebreaker in this situation is conference record. The Packers are 6 – 5 in the NFC, but Washington is 8 – 3 and thus has the tiebreaker locked up. Therefore, the net result is that if Washington defeats the Cowboys this week, they’ll by the sixth seed and face either Tampa Bay, Atlanta, or the Rams in the Wild Card round. If they lose, and Green Bay beats the Bears, then they’ll have to face the Eagles, who have locked up the #2 seed and are a noticeably worse option. So this game is pretty important to Washington. Can they win? We’ll see. Dallas isn’t good this year, but they did beat Washington down pretty easily in Raljon in week 12. Our game preview is below.
Game time & location: Sunday, January 5, 2025, 1:00 p.m. ET, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas; Gates open at 10:00 a.m. CT
Television: FOX
Television announcers: Adam Amin, Mark Sanchez, Kristina Pink
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: 226 (Dallas broad.); SiriusXM: 381 (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 – 79 – 2 (last 10: 3 – 7)
Last meeting: L, November 24, 2024, 26 – 34
Cowboys record: 7 – 9 (3rd place) / NFC: 5 – 6 / NFC East: 3 – 2 / Home: 2 – 6
Washington record: 11 – 5 (2nd place) / NFC: 8 – 3 / NFC East: 3 – 2 / Away: 4 – 3
Early odds: Washington, -6
3 KEYS TO THE GAME
Play all the starters and don’t take a week off
This seems obvious, and I don’t think that this coaching staff would either sit the starters or allow the players to relax, but it still needs to be said. As I said at the top of the column, Washington has something to play for and needs to win this game. Plus, if they expect to make a mark in the playoffs, they need to continue to play well. Washington’s coaching staff needs to emphasize to the team that this game matters and they are expected to continue to play as thought something’s at stake. Which is true. We’ll be able to tell early on what kind of mental space the players are in for this game.
Eliminate turnovers and limit penalties and mistakes
I’d say that Washington’s single biggest problem this year has been their tendency to make soul-crushing mistakes and penalties at inopportune moments. It’s cost them points and wins. Certainly, Washington needs to get better in order to beat Dallas – don’t forget that, despite Dallas’ record this year, they did handle Washington pretty easily in the first matchup in week 12, albeit before their injury situation went way downhill. More importantly, though, Washington will not win playoff games against the NFL’s best team when they continue to metaphorically shoot themselves in the foot. They have had a pretty serious penalty problem all year, and their turnovers seem to come in bunches. Watch out for whether Washington is getting flagged early by the refs in Dallas, or whether things are going smoothly. That’s going to be critical to their ability to win a big game.
Establish a non-Jayden Daniels running game early
Washington has unfortunately been forced to rely upon Jayden Daniels to be their entire running game throughout much of the season. At halftime of the Falcons game last week, Washington had a total of 8 carries for 47 yards, with Daniels himself accounting for 24 of those yards in 2 carries. Brian Robinson Jr. had 6 carries for just 23 yards at halftime. Things did improve in the second half, and by the end of that game, Washington’s running backs had a combined total of 19 carries for 85 yards. That’s not great. Washington needs to do much better than that both against Dallas and in the playoffs. Dallas has a very poor run defense, surrendering an average of 4.8 yards per carry, which is tied with Washington for 30th in the NFL. Washington needs to figure out how to take advantage of that weakness in order to win this game.
3 KEY MATCHUPS
Michael Davis vs Jalen Tolbert
Since Marshon Lattimore will not be active in this game, this most likely leaves Davis to face off against Dallas’ new #2 receiver. Since CeeDee Lamb is now on injured reserve, that honor falls to Jalen Tolbert. Davis was . . . terrible against the Falcons last week, and, to add to the pain, had a couple of serious penalties. Therefore, I’m not confident that he can hold his own against Tolbert, who isn’t at Lamb’s level but is a talented player. Watch out for how open Tolbert seems to be early on in this contest, because if it happens, I’d guess that it will be Davis’ fault.
Terry McLaurin vs. Daron Bland & Jourdan Lewis
I write about McLaurin versus Diggs in every Dallas – Washington game preview because it is the highest-profile matchup on the field. Diggs, of course, is on injured reserve now, which leaves Bland and Lewis to try to handle McLaurin. Neither one of them are anywhere close to the level of McLaurin, so this game might be an opportunity for him to finish the season on a strong note. The combination of McLaurin and Daniels have been on a roll recently, and it’d be great for the team for that success to continue. Watch McLaurin to potentially have a big day against Dallas’ corners.
Michael Dieter vs Micah Parsons
Micah Parsons is the heart and soul of Dallas’ defense. He’s had a fairly tough year, at least by his standards, and has put some controversial statements into the media. This season, he’s played in 12 games, and has 39 total tackles, including 27 solo and 10 tackles for loss, and 9.5 sacks. All of those are well off of his normal statistical numbers. None of these things matter much, though, when we’re talking about this game in particular. With Tyler Biadasz listed as doubtful for this game due to injury, managing Parsons will very likely fall to Michael Dieter. Washington’s center is going to have the principal task of keeping up with Parsons and calling the correct resulting protection call on every play. Keep an eye on Parsons’ impact on this game.
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 | Dallas |
| DT J. Allen, NIR (rest); Wed: DNP; Thurs: NL; Fri: NL | CB K. Hall, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O |
| C T. Biadasz, ankle; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: LP; game: D | LB N. Vigil, foot; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| WR D. Brown, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP | G T.J. Bass, thigh; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP |
| WR J. Crowder, NIR (rest); Wed: DNP; Thurs: NL; Fri: NL | T C. Edoga, toe; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| TE Z. Ertz, NIR (rest) ; Wed: DNP; Thurs: NL; Fri: NL | TE P. Fant, calf; Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| DE C. Ferrell, knee/NIR (rest); Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP | LB E. Kendricks, NIR (rest); Wed: LP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| OLB D. Fowler Jr, NIR (rest); Wed: DNP; Thurs: NL; Fri: NL | S D. Wilson, knee; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| CB M. Lattimore, hamstring; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O | WR J. Brooks, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| T C. Lucas, groin; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: LP; game: D | CB J. Lewis, elbow; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| WR T. McLaurin, ankle/NIR (rest); Wed: DNP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP | WR J. Tolbert, finger; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| S T. Owens, ankle; Wed: DNP; Thurs: DNP; Fri: DNP; game: O | T M. Waletzko, knee; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP |
| T A. Wylie, groin; Wed: DNP; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP | DE M. Parsons, wrist; Wed: NL; Thurs: LP; Fri: FP |
| LB J. Magee, hamstring; Wed: LP; Thurs: LP; Fri: DNP; game: O | DT M. Smith, pelvis; Wed: NL; Thurs: LP; Fri: LP; game: Q |
| RB A. Ekeler, concussion; Wed: FP; Thurs: FP; Fri: FP; game: Q | |
| WR K.J. Osborn, illness; Wed: NL; Thurs: NL; Fri: DNP; game: Q | |
| LS T. Ott, NIR (personal); Wed: NL; Thurs: NL; Fri: DNP; game: Q |
Steve’s Prediction
Washington will rebound for week 12 and take care of business in a fairly close game. Washington wins 31 – 27.