Commanders most to blame for disastrous loss to Cowboys
The Washington Commanders suffered the worst loss of the three-game Thanksgiving slate, falling to the Dallas Cowboys 45-10. This was Washington's third straight loss and their fifth in the last six games. Though the Commanders have been able to stay competitive in most of their games this season, they were no match for the Cowboys , who thrashed them all afternoon. The Cowboys were so dominant that quarterback Dak Prescott was already eating turkey from the Salvation Army bucket before the game was over.
Yes, many expected the Cowboys to win and Dallas has notoriously beat up on weaker teams all year. However, Washington never seemed to stand a chance and the Cowboys topped it off with a huge 25-point fourth quarter. How come the Commanders couldn't stop Dallas? Let's take a closer look at what led to such a blowout.
Commanders Offensive Line
It's no surprise to see the Commanders offensive line here as they've let up a ton of sacks and pressure all season. The Commanders offensive line continued to struggle against Dallas as Sam Howell was sacked another four times. The matchup was a nightmare from the start, going up against the great Cowboys' defensive line. Micah Parsons got 1.5 of those sacks, Johnathan Hankins had two, and Dante Fowler Jr. had half a sack.
Howell has now been sacked a whopping 55 times this season, which is 17 more than the next quarterback. Howell is certainly taking too many, but he deserves a better offensive line that will give him more time in the pocket so he isn't constantly forced to make plays under pressure or suffer a big loss.
Commanders Defense
While normally one player or unit would get the blame, the entire Washington defense struggled to contain the Cowboys at all three levels. Despite only holding the ball for 23:06 minutes of the game, the Cowboys still put up 38 points of offense. Dallas didn't run the ball much, only carrying the ball 18 times as a team for 100 yards. When they did run the ball, they did well. Tony Pollard led the team with 13 carries for 79 yards and an average of 6.1 yards per carry. The Cowboys also dominated the Commanders in pass protection. Though it's hard to blame the defensive line after they traded to of their best pass rushers in Chase Young and Montez Sweat, and were going up the great Cowboys O-line, they had 0 sacks on Dak. Prescott had a clean pocket throughout most of the game, which allowed him to then tear up the secondary.
Prescott put in a classic Cowboys Thanksgiving performance, going 22-32 for 331 yards and four touchdown. He averaged over 10 yards per attempt and had two 30+ yard touchdown passes. On the receiving end, four different Cowboys scored receiving touchdowns including Brandin Cooks, CeeDee Lamb, KaVontae Turpin and Rico Dowdle. The Cowboys receivers didn't just beat the Commanders defenders to catch the ball, they broke open and had easy catches for much of the game. On the touchdowns, the three receivers beat each of their defenders either with speed or a move to catch the ball for the score.
The Commanders players didn't execute, but they didn't seem to have a good game-plan to go off of anyway. This was evident by the fact that defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Vieselmeyer were fired the next morning after the game. All day the Washington defense didn't seem to find any way to get to the quarterback or keep up with the Dallas receivers. They may not have the most talented defense, but they could have at least schemed some better plays to keep them in contention longer or make a few plays.
Now, Ron Rivera will take over the defensive play-calling. Given that Rivera has been on the hot seat for much of the year, this may not indicate a positive change for the Commanders. He will have his work cut out for him as he faces the Miami Dolphins next week.
