Sunday was an impressive day for the Dallas Cowboys.
Well, the Dallas Cowboys managed to pull out the win on the road despite being massive underdogs to Dan Quinn and his Washington Commanders. They did so in the most bizarre fashion, too, with an explosive fourth quarter for both sides. That complicates some of the grading scales here, but it was a generally good outing across the board for Dallas.
Quarterback
Cooper Rush just had his best game of the year, although it isn’t exactly saying much. Still, Rush completed 75% of his passes for 247 yards, averaging 7.7 yards per attempt. He also threw two touchdowns and, for the first time since becoming the starter, did not turn it over.
Rush’s production wasn’t just dink-and-dunk football, either. Rush had a handful of deep shots, including one completion of 41 yards to Jalen Brooks that set up the game-tying field goal right before halftime. It wasn’t a perfect game from Rush, but it was darn near close to it.
Grade: A
Running backs
On the whole, Rico Dowdle had a very productive game. He finished the day with 86 rushing yards on 19 carries, averaging a very healthy 4.5 yards per carry. His only real blemish was a fumble, but Dowdle had several explosive and powerful runs outside of that.
Beyond Dowdle, though, the Cowboys didn’t get much production from their run game. Ezekiel Elliott put up six yards on three carries and CeeDee Lamb’s lone carry was stopped for a gain of one. Trey Lance came in for one play, a speed out to the right, and he was tackled for a loss of three.
Grade: B+
Pass catchers
The Cowboys made it a point to get CeeDee Lamb involved early, with five of his 12 targets on the day coming on the first two drives of the game. Lamb was productive too, with 10 catches for 67 yards and a whole host of chain-moving receptions.
That opened things up for others, too. Jalen Tolbert caught a touchdown, Jalen Brooks had a huge reception, and both Luke Schoonmaker and Brevyn Spann-Ford ripped off a few big plays here and there. Still, there were several drops and plays left on the field that prevent this group from a better grade.
Grade: C+
Offensive line
The Commanders came into this game as a defense that wasn’t generating pressure at a very high rate but did convert those pressures to sacks at one of the best rates in the league. Then, the Cowboys ended up being down two starters at either guard spot.
So the fact that Rush was only sacked once with just two knockdowns is impressive. Similarly, the offensive line did a good job of creating some holes for Dowdle, though they also got beat bad on several stuffed run plays. All things considered, it was a good day for the unit, though they can do better.
Grade: B
Run defense
The Commanders entered this game as one of the better rushing teams in the league, which isn’t surprising with their three-headed monster of Jayden Daniels, Brian Robinson, and Austin Ekeler. But Dallas did a good job of bottling up the run, as Washington’s running backs totaled just 57 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Daniels, on the other hand, was a little harder to contain. The sensational rookie quarterback led the team in rushing with 74 yards on just seven carries, though 25 of those yards came on two scrambles. On designed runs, Daniels still averaged 9.8 yards per carry, which is not exactly ideal.
Grade: B
Pass rush
Daniels’ mobility makes him a very difficult quarterback to rush against. Only nine quarterbacks had been pressured less coming into this one than Daniels, whose ability to evade rushers has greatly helped this offense.
Consider it a massive win that Dallas managed to sack Daniels four times, and they were routinely in his face with eight knockdowns. Mike Zimmer had Daniels’ head spinning in the first half, especially, with his wide variety of simulated pressure looks. This was a glimpse into the potential of this defense under Zimmer.
Grade: A+
Pass coverage
At long last, DaRon Bland made his season debut, and it helped the Cowboys put up a great game in the secondary. Daniels rarely went Bland’s way, instead targeting Josh Butler a ton. However, Butler was up for the challenge, forcing a handful of incompletions and very nearly coming away with an interception on a deep shot.
The defense did pick Daniels off twice in this game too, though one was the result of a jarring hit from Chauncey Golston while the other came on an end-of-game Hail Mary. Still, Daniels had a hard time stretching the field the way he likes to. The only thing keeping the Cowboys from a perfect grade here is their bad coverage on the Hail Mary to Terry McLaurin.
Grade: A
Special teams
In the first half, the special teams unit was cruising to an F grade. Brandon Aubrey’s first field goal attempt was blocked, and his second try just missed. Bryan Anger also had a punt get blocked. And Aubrey even drew a penalty at the start of the third quarter for not kicking the ball into the landing zone, which gave Washington a short field.
But this unit came up big in the second half. Aubrey hit two field goals and, unlike the Commanders kicker, made all his extra points. KaVontae Turpin housed a kickoff 99 yards for a score in a pivotal moment of the game. And Juanyeh Thomas recovered an onside kick before returning it for another touchdown, icing the game. It was a very uneven game from this group, so I can’t give them a top grade, but the good definitely outweighs the bad here.
Grade: B+
Coaching
Mike McCarthy followed up one of his worst game plans ever with one of his best. He had Rush dealing in this game and Dowdle had one of his best games of the year. The ability to feed Lamb early opened things up for others the rest of the game, and McCarthy knew exactly where to attack his former coordinator’s coverages.
Defensively, Mike Zimmer’s unit was excellent in their pass rush plan and did an admirable job against the run and through the air. They came away with three takeaways in total and sacked Daniels four times, the second-most he’s had in a game all year. The only real criticism here is how the coaches handled things in crunch time, particularly when Dallas was trying to run the clock out and then the coverage decisions on that Hail Mary. Still, those are nits to be picked at a later time.
Grade: A
