After officially being eliminated from playoff contention less than 24 hours before their Week 16 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cowboys had to find things to play for in a hurry, and deal with the latest talk around “The Streak” of not reaching a NFC Championship game aging another year. Dallas did not do a good job in either area when they lost to the Chargers, but with a few extra days to find this motivation for their first Christmas Day game since 2010, the Cowboys did something they hadn’t done since their last Super Bowl-winning season and earned a season-sweep of the Commanders in the process. The Cowboys won 30-23 at the Commanders on Christmas, their first regular season Christmas Day win since the season finale in 1995 against the Cardinals.
The Cowboys had lost their previous three Christmas games to the Titans, Eagles, and Cardinals, two of which also came in losing seasons with first-time head coaches. The 31-0 loss to the Titans in 2000 ended Dave Campo’s first season, and the 2010 loss to the Cardinals was one of three losses in the final eight games of a season then being coached by an interim Jason Garrett. With this win against the Commanders, Brian Schottenheimer joins Barry Switzer as the only other Cowboys coach to have wins in the same season on Thanksgiving and Christmas, although in Schottenheimer’s case both wins came against teams that will not be in the playoffs this season. Switzer’s Thanksgiving win was also against the Chiefs in that ‘95 Super Bowl season, but one that finished 13-3 and won the AFC West.
With the Schottenheimer era still just beginning, this Christmas game on Netflix was about playing with better energy compared to the Chargers loss which was the team’s third straight, notching another divisional win with yet another chance to add to it in Week 18 next Sunday, seeing young players get reps, and cornerstone players be just that. By getting off to a fast start and 21-3 lead against a third-string quarterback for Washington in Josh Johnson, the Cowboys made progress in all of these areas and did just enough through the second half to hold off the home team and win. The Cowboys have played late-season games in Landover before that were defined by the team being out of contention and suffering another defeat, but no such thing happened here on Christmas.
Let’s get to a few notes on the team’s seventh win of the season.
Another comparison between this Christmas game and Thanksgiving against the Chiefs for the Cowboys is that they matched a season-high in first downs with 28 against the Commanders. Doing so in a way that may never be repeated, the Cowboys were 8-20 on third down but a remarkable 6-6 on fourth down attempts. All but one of these conversions came on a drive that ended in points for the Cowboys, including three on their second touchdown drive to go ahead 14-3. The final fourth-down conversion was a simple Dak Prescott sneak for a yard to keep the clock running to triple zeros and end the game.
The second touchdown drive was more of a statement than the first for the Cowboys, and although they don’t leave this game without a long list of further things to correct such as 11 penalties and conceding six sacks, it was moments like this that proved they were flat out better than the Commanders as well. The first touchdown drive was capped off by a beautifully executed throw out of 13 personnel to Jake Ferguson, who later left the game with an injury, but not before scoring his first touchdown since Week 11 – and crossing off something that was on my personal pregame wish list from Santa. The Cowboys moved all of their skill players including lesser-used ones like Hunter Luepke, Jalen Tolbert, and Brevyn Spann-Ford around a lot in this game, overwhelming the Commanders with different looks while still forcing them to respect the downhill run game. With three tight ends on the field in the red zone, the Cowboys took advantage passing out of this run look to hit Ferguson in the back in the end zone.
Compared to an opening drive for six that had to overcome yet another failed pass to a running back when Javonte Williams was targeted incomplete on second down, and was extended by a third-down pass interference penalty that bailed the offense out of having Kavontae Turpin and George Pickens in the same spot, the Cowboys first half execution picked up quickly in this game and made a statement about backing up their talk throughout the short week of still playing to win.
Pickens and Tolbert had fourth-down conversions on the next drive capped off by Williams’ four-yard touchdown run, but it was the touchdown itself that best encapsulated what this Dallas offense wants to be all about. Cooper Beebe at center and T.J. Bass making his second straight start at left guard executed a double team that bulldozed a Commanders defender all the way across the goal line, with Williams following close behind and scoring. These two touchdowns were sandwiched around a promising drive for the Commanders that settled for a red zone field goal after a Jadeveon Clowney 3rd-and-goal sack, an early turning point in a game that would later get much tighter and have the road team relying on all the points they could get.
Another clear sign of progress of the Cowboys still working hard in preparation for this game and wanting to play up to a standard came when Turpin added to this 14-3 lead with the longest touchdown in Christmas Day history across the NFL. Turpin’s 86-yard deep ball was a carbon copy of a play the Cowboys tried to hit the speedy Turpin on last week against the Chargers, getting the matchup they wanted with Turpin running against a linebacker, but he gave up on the route downfield. This time Turpin caught the ball and was off to the races, capping off a flawlessly executed play from start to finish between Prescott and Turpin.
Throwing out of an empty formation, the Cowboys needed an answer for the Commanders aggressive pass rush to give Prescott the time to deliver this ball downfield. Jake Ferguson started the play aligned inside from Turpin, in position to help Tyler Smith at left tackle but also give Turpin a free release upfield. On the other side to help Terence Steele, the Cowboys motioned Luepke out of the backfield. The interior of the offensive line has been a strength from nearly start to finish all season in Dallas, but inconsistency at tackle has been enough to make a top-ranked and highly-talented offense inconsistent enough to not finish games. Schottenheimer using as many motions and personnel groupings as he did to keep the aggressive Dan Quinn defense at bay was a win for his Cowboys offense and something to feel good about going into the Giants rematch.
With so many bodies around the line of scrimmage, inviting the Commanders defense down into close quarters as well was a recipe for big plays so long as the Cowboys could protect, which is not something they did a great job of overall, but given their skill out wide they made it work. This was yet another game that proved George Pickens needs to be a long-term component to this offense.
The Turpin touchdown was also a turning point in another area the Cowboys have struggled in mightily, winning the battle of field position. Scoring on a drive that started at their own three-yard line with a third down deep ball, the Cowboys were one play away from having to punt and likely give great field position to the Commanders. With the way the Dallas defense has put up so little resistance this season, defending short fields while not being able to sustain drives to score on long fields has been a theme of recent losses to the Lions, Vikings, and Chargers. As it turned out, the Cowboys avoiding this by springing Turpin behind the defense proved even more important, as the Commanders answered with a Jacory Croskey-Merritt 10-yard touchdown attacking Kenneth Murray and Malik Hooker right up the middle.
Another opportunity for the Commanders to have great field position that the Cowboys denied came after their first punt of the game, which was brought on by back-to-back plays of George Pickens being called for pass interference and then a third-down drop. C.J. Goodwin made a strong special teams tackle on the punt that also got penalized for the Commanders, but yet again it didn’t fully matter as Croskey-Merritt ran right by Murray and Reddy Steward again, this time for a backbreaking 72-yard touchdown. The Cowboys were now in a one score game and it was time for fans to put the eggnog down and lock in on a game that got close in a hurry, but the two teams trading four field goals for the remainder of the afternoon was enough to keep Dallas ahead.
Kenneth Murray struggling in run defense is nothing new from this season, so much so that it’s hardly worth pointing out. What was way more disappointing on the explosive run for a touchdown was the way Steward was asked to defend down in the box. The Cowboys have strong box safeties in Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson, and Steward actually flashed some positive plays as a deep coverage safety earlier in this game. For as much as the Schottenheimer offense deserves praise in this game for putting their players in the best position to succeed, in what could well be the second-to-last game of the Matt Eberflus experience on defense, the Cowboys did not do this playing against such a banged up Commanders offense.
The defense did have to rise up and make plays to hold Washington to the two field goals they managed for the rest of the game though, doing just enough to support a 30 point output from the offense which has become the benchmark the Cowboys need to score to win as currently built. After being called for a facemask penalty to extend a drive, rookie CB Shavon Revel redeemed himself and had the coverage on Treylon Burks on 3rd-and-goal to hold the Commanders to three at 27-20. The Cowboys also forced a three and out with second and third down short-yardage run stops following Brandon Aubrey’s 58-yard field goal miss.
Christmas cookies for everyone, the Cowboys played as a team and got another NFC East win within a division they’re guaranteed to finish second in. In a season where the early expectation was that Dallas would be woefully behind the two division teams that reached the NFC Championship Game a year ago, sweeping one of those teams in the Commanders and having a head-to-head win against the Eagles who hardly look as dominant as they did in 2024 may be a slight something to appreciate this holiday season. The Cowboys coaches, players, and front office have already promised bigger and better things for 2026, and not losing a game on the same streaming platform that hosts a ten-part documentary to their past success isn’t a bad place to start. A lot of players that can be part of a brighter future had their fingerprints on this win under the tree.
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