The ugly that was the season is finally over for the Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys may have come up short losing to the Washington Commanders 23-19 in the regular-season finale, but they did so in exciting fashion. It took a last-second touchdown catch by Terry McLaurin for the Commanders to get the victory, but they were pretty much outplayed the entire game by Cowboys team playing a third-string QB.
As exciting and entertaining as this game was for the Cowboys, there was still quite a bit of good, bad, and ugly that took place to close out the 2024 season. For those of you worried about Dallas worsening their spot in the 2025 NFL Draft you can breathe a sigh of relief, but there was plenty of other positive and negatives Sunday afternoon.
THE GOOD – Micah Parsons and Brandon Aubrey
Both Micah Parsons and Brandon Aubrey became part of history in the Week 18 matchup with the Washington Commanders. With a couple of QB sacks Sunday, Parsons joined an elite group of just four other players to have 10+ sacks in each of the first four seasons in the league, all of which are now in the Hall of Fame. Aubrey nearly knocked out one of the Cowboys cheerleaders with an errant kickoff Sunday afternoon, but he also set a franchise record of most field goals made in a season for the organization, which he set in 2023.
THE BAD – Trey Lance losing his first Cowboys start
The Cowboys finally decided to see what they paid a forth-round pick for by starting Trey Lance in the regular-season finale, and it did make the game more exciting. Lance was at times impressive with both his arms and legs Sunday afternoon, completing 20 of 34 passes for 244 yards and adding another 26 yards of the ground on six attempts. Sadly, he couldn’t get his first TD pass in years, even missing a wide open Rico Dowdle.
THE UGLY – Cowboys’ red zone woes
Just like the rest of the season, the Cowboys struggled once again in the regular-season finale once they got down into the red zone. They made a half a dozen trips into the red zone Sunday afternoon against the Washington Commanders defense and was only able to come away with one touchdown. If not for these red zone woes, Dallas more than likely would have completely dominated the Commanders to close out the season. Add this to the long list they need to evaluate further and improve during the offseason for next year.
