Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images The Cowboys had plenty of unanswered questions before last Sunday and the blowout loss to Philadelphia added a few more. It wasn’t surprising to see the Cowboys go down in Philadelphia last Sunday. But a 41-7 blowout, especially with Eagles QB Jalen Hurts sitting out, was quite stunning. Dallas’ ineptitude on both sides of the ball threw some gas on existing fires regarding the team’s future and opened up some questions about this weekend’s finale against Washington. Which QB should start in Week 18? There’s something about facing the Eagles that turns Cooper Rush from a feel-good story into a sorry sight to behold. Once Philly adjusted following some decent early drives, and even they included a terrible decision that led to a pick-six, Rush stopped looking even remotely capable as a passer. We finally got to see Trey Lance, albeit for just one paltry drive at the end. This Sunday’s regular-season finale has Dallas hosting the playoff-bound Washington Commanders. Dan Quinn has already declared that his team will be playing to win, wanting to preserve the sixth seed in the tournament. So the question for the Cowboys is whether they will match that effort the best they can or use this last game to evaluate talent. One could argue that starting Lance this week isn’t throwing in the towel. While Rush did beat Washington earlier this year, that was with CeeDee Lamb still in the offense. Now without any game-changers in the passing attack, one thing that could give Dallas an edge is Lance’s athleticism and the ability to punish the Commanders’ generally aggressive defense. Given how they’ve handled him the last two years, it’s pretty clear at this point that the Cowboys don’t believe in Lance as an asset now or in the future. But given what Rush put on display last week, Lance probably has the best chance of playing this week that he’s ever had with Dallas. How badly does Dallas need WR help in 2025? Nobody expects another receiver in Dallas to be as good as CeeDee Lamb. Only a handful of guys in the entire NFL are. But it’s become painfully obvious these last two seasons that the WR depth chart is lacking and needs to be a priority for the team this offseason. Granted, evaluating pass-catchers since Rush took over at QB hasn’t been easy. But even when Dak Prescott was playing we didn’t see much difference in production. He’s only shown sporadic chemistry with Brandin Cooks and none with Jalen Tolbert or any other options; nothing like we saw in the past with guys like Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson. While being older doesn’t help, Cooks seems like a bad scheme fit above all else. His best assets are underutilized in Mike McCarthy’s scheme. He’s not a good complement to Lamb and definitely not capable of stepping up as a primary option in Lamb’s absence. He shouldn’t be back next year, and that’s not about his talent but this just not being the ideal offense for him. Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks, and others are all perfectly adequate to bring back next year for competition and depth. Maybe you count on one of those guys emerging as a solid WR3, but you can’t do that and not make a more serious investment in the number-two spot. Even when Lamb’s healthy he needs someone else to draw the defense’s attention, and it’s especially vital to still have an impact player if he misses time. Should we be worried about Jake Ferguson? Staying on the subject of underwhelming receiving options, 2024 hasn’t been the third-year explosion anyone expected from Dallas’ top tight end. But while Ferguson’s down season is the biggest disappointment of any WR or TE, his comes with the most reasonable excuses and room for hope going forward. Ferguson left Dallas’ season opener against the Cleveland Browns with a knee injury and sat out a game before returning in Week 3. He also missed two games with a concussion in November. But despite still managing to play in 13 games his production is still well short of his 2023 numbers, including having not scored a single touchdown. There are several mitigating factors to consider. For one, Ferguson’s often looked like a guy playing hurt. He hasn’t had the same explosiveness after the catch, which naturally means he’s also going to have a tougher time getting open. There’s also been the Cowboys’ offensive line issues, forcing Ferguson to hang back more to help in pass protection than getting out into patterns. A lack of chemistry with Cooper Rush also appears to be an issue. When Ferguson was out with the concussion, Rush was doing a solid job of making Luke Schoonmaker and even Brevyn Spann-Ford look like they belong in the NFL. But when Ferguson returned, we didn’t see any real uptick from the TE position. If anything, Rush looks less comfortable getting the ball to the starter. The good news is that Ferguson still has one year left on his rookie deal and Dallas doesn’t have to make any big decision on him this offseason. There’s certainly enough room for hope his getting healthier, and getting Dak Prescott back, will bring next season closer to his own standard.

Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images The Cowboys have a lot of work to do over the offseason. The Dallas Cowboys came into their Week 17 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles riding a ton of momentum, having won four of their previous five games. However, what happened in the game wasn’t that surprising at all as the Eagles showed their superiority in a 41-7 win, earning a rare sweep in the season series. As the page turns to the final game of the season, it’s almost as if a bad nightmare is coming to an end in Dallas. The Cowboys have been riddled with injuries, and they happened to a lot of their most important players. It has simply been too much to bear for Dallas, and they need to start looking forward to 2025, seeing as they won’t be in the postseason. It will be the Washington Commanders that roll into town to close out the 2024 campaign. While the Cowboys can’t play spoiler in terms of keeping them out of the playoffs, but a win could possibly drop the Commanders to the seventh seed in the NFC and force them to hit the road against the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round. With that being said, here’s what we have learned about the Cowboys heading into Week 18 Rico Dowdle has proven himself no matter what happens Dowdle came into the 2024 season with the reputation of a guy who had some talent but couldn’t stay healthy enough to show it. Well, that particular narrative was put to bed, for now at least, as he will play in 16 games this season with 15 starts. Once the Cowboys finally decided that he was the unquestioned lead horse in the running back stable, Dowdle showed that while he’s not a game changer per se, he’s certainly a quality runner that can add value to any franchise. If you pair Dowdle with another quality guy at the position, it can produce a special tandem. When free agency rolls around, Dowdle will be one of the in-house guys the Cowboys have to make a decision on. He’s earned a good payday, probably in the $3-5 million range annually. However, if the Cowboys do bring him back, they should still pursue an upgrade in the draft. Getting a top guy in the building and re-signing Dowdle should be the Cowboys plan. Wide receiver should be high on the NFL Draft priority list CeeDee or bust. That’s pretty where the Cowboys are right now at wide receiver. With him missing the final two games due to a shoulder issue, the game against the Eagles gave other guys the opportunity to step up. Predictably, it highlighted just how bad the position is in Dallas. Brandin Cooks still has some ability as an older guy, but the Cowboys don’t use him correctly, which pretty much makes him irrelevant at times. The same can be said for KaVontae Turpin in terms of proper usage. Jalen Tolbert and Jalen Brooks keep having a flash here and there, but nothing has been consistent. It’s simply too much on Lamb to have to carry the load every week, and it also limits the options of Dak Prescott, which ultimately slows down the entire offense. The Cowboys have other pressing needs like cornerback, running back, and defensive line, but wide receiver needs to be in heavy consideration during the first two days of the draft. Dallas needs more speed and another dynamic playmaker to pair with Lamb expeditiously. Cornerback is also a position of need The Cowboys have two of the better cornerbacks in the NFL in Trevon Diggs and DaRon Bland. However, for the second consecutive year, Diggs has had to be shut down with an injury. Bland is back playing at the moment, but he missed 10 games this season with a stress fracture in his foot. Jourdan Lewis is having one of his best years ever, but he’s also a free agent in 2025, and a team could certainly make things hard for the Cowboys with their frugal spending ways. Caelen Carson has some promise, but he hit a rookie wall before being put on injured reserve with a shoulder issue. Although Diggs will likely be ready for when the next season starts, and Bland will have a full offseason to get back to himself, there’s still quite a bit of uncertainty at the cornerback spot in Dallas, especially with the future of Lewis being uncertain. That makes drafting a cornerback a big-time priority for the Cowboys in April.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images Three games from the college playoffs today to discuss. The College Football Playoffs roll on today with three games: Texas vs Arizona State, Ohio State vs Oregon, and Notre Dame vs Georgia. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images Cornerback is a big-time need for the Cowboys over the offseason. Coming into the 2024 season, the Dallas Cowboys cornerback room looked like one of the strongest position groups on their entire roster. The biggest boost to the group came in the fact that Dallas was returning their number one cornerback, Trevon Diggs, after he missed nearly the entire 2023 regular season with an ACL injury. The Cowboys were set to pair Diggs with All-Pro DaRon Bland, creating what on paper looked like the best cornerback duo in the NFL. To make the position group even deeper, the Cowboys re-signed slot cornerback Jourdan Lewis in free agency and spent their fifth-round pick on Wake Forrest cornerback Caelen Carson. Dallas appeared to have one of the strongest and deepest cornerback rooms in all of football. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, nothing has gone according to plan. The bad news for the cornerback room started two weeks before the beginning of the regular season when DaRon Bland broke a bone in his foot, forcing him to miss significant time. When Bland’s first injury occurred, word around the Cowboys was the All-Pro corner could be back in five to six weeks. The injury ended up being more severe after a setback, and the talented cornerback ended up missing the Cowboys’ first 10 games of the regular season. This was just the beginning of Dallas’ injury woes at the cornerback spot. After Bland, nearly every impactful cornerback on the Cowboys’ roster has dealt with injury issues at some point this season. Trevon Diggs and Josh Butler were the worst victims of the injury bug, suffering season-ending injuries that will force them to miss a significant portion of next season. Injury issues weren’t the only problem for Dallas’ cornerback group this season. Even when the group was relatively healthy, outside of Jourdan Lewis who has had an All-Pro-caliber season, the performance was disappointing. Caelen Carson was picked on with success consistently early on in the season, never getting his job back after a shoulder injury, and Diggs and Bland both showed some rust returning from different ailments. As if all this didn’t create enough uncertainty about the future of the position group, the Cowboys currently have three cornerbacks (Bland, Diggs, out for at least half of 2025, Carson) under contract for the 2025 season. The only cornerbacks under contract heading into 2025 for the Cowboys: – DaRon Bland– Trevon Diggs (knee injury)– Caelen Carson Cornerback is in serious consideration for Round 1 of the draft.#DallasCowboys — Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) December 29, 2024 Unless they have a shift in philosophy, it will be hard for the Cowboys to bring back Jourdan Lewis, who is a free agent at season’s end. With how he’s played this year, Lewis will almost certainly be offered a multi-year contract worth more money than the Cowboys will be willing to match. If Lewis does walk, Dallas would be down to just Bland and Carson as their starting corners until Diggs returns from injury late in the regular season. After the performance he put on display this season, it would be very hard to envision the Cowboys trusting Carson enough to enter the season with him as one of their starting cornerbacks. If this is the case, it will almost force Dallas to spend one of the first three draft picks on a cornerback or acquire a starting-caliber corner that can play outside in free agency. There are plenty of glaring needs on the Cowboys’ roster, but cornerback has quickly shot up toward the top of the list. With their best cornerback set to leave and injuries mounting at the position, cornerback has suddenly turned into one of Dallas’ biggest needs this offseason.

Photo by Rich Graes fourthsle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The latest news surrounding the Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones Issues Statement After Cowboys Release Ezekiel Elliott Again – Madison Williams, Sports Illustrated Elliott was two touchdowns away from passing Tony Dorsett as second all-time in Dallas Cowboys history for rushing touchdowns. The Dallas Cowboys released running back Ezekiel Elliott for the second time in his career on Tuesday before the team’s Week 18 finale against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave a statement about releasing Elliott shortly after the news dropped. “Out of respect and appreciation for Zeke and wanting to provide him with an opportunity to pursue any potential playoff participation possible, we are releasing him from the Cowboys roster today,” Jones said. “As I have said many times previously, Zeke’s impact as one of the greatest to ever play with the Star on their helmet will never change and is etched in our record books and history forever. We thank him, love him and wish him the absolute best.” Ezekiel’s agent Rocky Arceneaux released a statement after Jones. “I’d like to thank Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys for affording Zeke this unique opportunity in granting us our release,” Arceneaus said. “Even though nothing is imminent Zeke is excited about the possibilities and is grateful. He’s got a lot of good football left in him, and will remain a Dallas Cowboy for life.” Jerry Jones on Mike McCarthy’s future, how Cowboys move forward – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com Jerry Jones continues to keep McCarthy’s future with the team under wraps. “We’ve got this game ahead of us, but I’ll assure you that I have been for weeks thinking about how we go forward after this season.” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan Tuesday morning. Jones was asked a lot about the status of head coach Mike McCarthy, but did not provide any insight into where he was leaning with his decision about his future. “I don’t have any comment this morning other than what you just said, and I think the fan sentiment has shown that Mike’s certainly got the kind of coaching background and coaching success that would make him a very qualified coach in the NFL.” Jones said. “What I’m not going to do this morning is to get into any indication one way or the other that I’m not interested in having Mike back, I don’t want that to be the case at all.” Despite reports swirling that McCarthy would have several suitors if he decided not to return to Dallas, Jones echoed confidence in the job that McCarthy has done over the course of his five seasons with the Cowboys “Well, I feel good about Mike McCarthy,” Jones said. “The main thing is, I like the job that he’s done, it’s unfortunate we’ve had the year that we’ve had, but I feel good about Mike.” Cowboys draft: Dallas up to pick number 13 entering final week of season – RJ Ochoa, Blogging the Boys The Cowboys are outside the Top 10 in draft order heading into Week 18. Whatever the case, the Cowboys did lose last week and also saw some other teams who were in front of them (at the time) in the 2025 NFL Draft order win. This is a great combination of events! As we get set to enter the final week of the season, the Cowboys hold the 13th overall pick. Fans of the Cincinnati Bengals are likely going to be upset with the way things have gone if their team winds up missing the playoffs. That is how Cowboys fans were feeling a week ago when Dallas was coming off of four wins in their previous five games. Still though, at this time a week ago the Cowboys held the 15th overall pick per projections but their loss saw them move up just a bit. For what it’s worth, the last time the Cowboys organically held a pick this high was in 2021 when they were originally sitting at 10 overall before moving down to 12 with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys eventually took Micah Parsons and the rest is history. Here’s to hoping the Cowboys can pick up a bit more help and creep even higher before this all locks up on Sunday. 5 things to know about the Washington Commanders, the Dallas Cowboys’ Week 18 opponent – Abraham Nudelstejer, DMN Updates on the Cowboys Sunday opponent, the Commanders. Great signing One of Quinn’s big moves was hiring Kliff Kingsbury as his offensive coordinator. With Kingsbury in control, Washington ranks fifth in the league in points scored (462), fourth in total yards (6,015), third in rushing yards (2,506), and 16th in passing yards (3,509). Kingsbury joined the Commander after serving as a senior offensive analyst at USC in 2023. Prior to his time at USC, Kingsbury served as the head coach for the Arizona Cardinals for four seasons (2019-22). In his time with the Cardinals, he helped develop quarterback Kyler Murray before taking over an offense led by Daniels. From 2013-18, Kingsbury served as the head coach at his alma mater, Texas Tech. Former Cowboys oversee defense Much is made of the Commanders’ offensive accomplishments, but their defense has also contributed to the successful season. Washington’s defensive coordinator is Joe Whitt Jr., who joined the Commanders after serving as the secondary/defensive passing game coordinator for the Cowboys the previous three seasons (2021-23). Washington’s defense is ninth in the league in yards allowed per game, averaging 323.8 yards. The Commanders have the third-best pass defense in the NFL, allowing 187.1 yards per game. On the ground, Washington allows 136.7 yards per game, the 28th-ranked unit in the league. Washington’s defense has 41 sacks (T-11th). Dante Fowler Jr., another former Cowboy, leads the team with 10.5 sacks this season. Linebacker Frankie Luvu has eight sacks.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images Enjoy some college football playoffs Take a break from the pro game and enjoy the College Football Playoffs. Tonight’s game is Boise St. versus Penn State. This is an open thread for game chat.

Photo by John Smolek/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Dallas Cowboys currently hold the 13th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Last week went very well for the Dallas Cowboys as far as draft position is concerned. It is never easy, or preferable, to root for the Cowboys to lose a game and that is often what people tend to struggle with when we talk about things like tanking. As fans of the team, we are afforded the luxury of being able to emotionally focus on the next season while the current one is finishing up, but in reality it is difficult for any players or coaches to choose to lose. Whatever the case, the Cowboys did lose last week and also saw some other teams who were in front of them (at the time) in the 2025 NFL Draft order win. This is a great combination of events! As we get set to enter the final week of the season, the Cowboys hold the 13th overall pick. Tankathon Fans of the Cincinnati Bengals are likely going to be upset with the way things have gone if their team winds up missing the playoffs. That is how Cowboys fans were feeling a week ago when Dallas was coming off of four wins in their previous five games. Still though, at this time a week ago the Cowboys held the 15th overall pick per projections but their loss saw them move up just a bit. For what it’s worth, the last time the Cowboys organically held a pick this high was in 2021 when they were originally sitting at 10 overall before moving down to 12 with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys eventually took Micah Parsons and the rest is history. Here’s to hoping the Cowboys can pick up a bit more help and creep even higher before this all locks up on Sunday.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images What did you make of the Cowboys rookies last week? The final road game of the 2024 season for the Dallas Cowboys had an end result that was an embarrassing defeat against the Philadelphia Eagles. Injuries played a part but so did poor performances. But how did the rookies do during the Week 17 loss? OT Tyler Guyton Chuma Edoga once again started at left tackle last week. But Tyler Guyton did come in and take over the position and played a total of 32 snaps on offense. The pass blocking by Guyton was actually pretty good. He played 17 passing sets and allowed zero pressures and zero sacks. The run blocking, however, still looked a little clunky and had issues helping pave the way on outside runs for Rico Dowdle. It’s certainly an area for development this season for Guyton after he had the same problem in Week 16. DE Marshawn Kneeland Marshawn Kneeland played 27 snaps on defense in rotation and was largely silent. He had no pressures or sacks, and only managed record one tackle. Kneeland has made one tackle in the last three games. C Cooper Beebe Cooper Beebe played all 62 snaps on offense last week and had to deal with the unrelenting pressure from the interior of the Eagles defensive line. He allowed one pressure but managed to keep clean in terms of sacks. His one weakness was once again in run blocking and struggled with the competition. LB Marist Liufau Marist Liufau played as the starting Will linebacker and was in on 62 total snaps. It was one of Liufau’s quietest games since exploding onto the scene in recent weeks. He managed only one pressure and three tackles but he also whiffed on one tackle attempt making it a subpar game for the young linebacker. CB Caelen Carson Injured reserve WR Ryan Flournoy Ryan Flournoy played 13 snaps on offense and was targeted twice making one reception for three yards. The majority of his work came on special teams. T Nathan Thomas Injured reserve TE Brevyn Spann-Ford Brevyn Spann-Ford played only nine snaps and was in to play as an extra blocker in the run game. Much like the majority of the offense, Ford struggled to be consistent on his limited snaps. He added seven snaps on special teams. S Emany Johnson Inactive LB Brock Mogensen Inactive DT Denzel Daxon Inactive