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By Chris ChaseNov 24, 2016 at 8:33p ET
The 2016 Dallas Cowboys have won a lot of games a lot of different ways but none was more impressive, important or indicative of the greatness of the team's two top rookies than their wire-to-wire Thanksgiving win over the red hot Washington Commanders.
The NFL's Thanksgiving record book will read Cowboys 31, Commanders 26, a score that hardly tells the tale of the teams' second meeting of the year. Since Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott found their footing in Week 3, the Cowboys had walked onto every football field as the superior team and played accordingly. That wasn't the case Thursday. Washington had 505 yards of total offense. Kirk Cousins had the second-most passing yards in Thanksgiving history. Kicker Dustin Hopkins missed two field goals that would have changed the entire tenor of the game. The team failed on a two-point conversion. On multiple occasions, Dallas faced third-and-long when the game's momentum was at a tipping point. The Commanders controlled the clock, winning the time of possession battle 33:24 to 26:36. None of it mattered as the Cowboys stormed to 10-1 and basically clinched the NFC East and a bye in the playoffs, barring a complete December meltdown.
Getting beat up isn't the m.o. for this Dallas team with its dominant offensive line and rushing attack that takes advantage of it appropriately. The team hadn't been both outgained and lost the time of possession battle all season. They did on Thursday with a resilient Commanders staying alive until the final minutes despite a disastrous first defensive drive (Dallas went 75 yards on seven plays to open the game), two missed field goals in their first three offensive drives and a two-score halftime deficit.
Three times in the second half they cut the Dallas lead from two scores to one. The Cowboys responded with a touchdown of their own each time. From midway through the third quarter up through Dallas' final kneel-down drive, the game went: Touchdown (WAS), Touchdown (DAL), Touchdown (WAS), Touchdown (DAL), Touchdown (WAS). Washington, which came within a fingertip of beating Dallas in Week 2, kept punching and Dallas took it, then punched back harder every time.
This wasn't like the Dallas-Pittsburgh game -- still the most entertaining of the season -- when good offenses took advantage of bad defenses in a game that always seemed like the best team would come out on top. It was a worthy battle on both sides of the ball and one that solidified Prescott's status as the most important player on the Cowboys and the MVP front-runner. (Sure, the Cowboys offensive line, as a unit, provides the greatest advantage in football. On Thursday, Prescott showed that he's not just some quarterback who stands in the pocket picking apart defenses with all the time in the world.)
The score was 24-12 Cowboys when Kirk Cousins and DeSean Jackson hooked up on a picture-perfect 67-yard touchdown pass. 24-19, Cowboys, 9:22 remaining. The tide was ever-so-slightly shifting. Washington gave a little momentum back with a failed onside kick, but the defense got Dallas into a 3rd and 7 at midfield on their first set of downs. The secondary smothered the Dallas receivers and looked like they'd force a punt that would give Cousins the ball back with a chance to go ahead. But Prescott waited a beat, waited another and then scrambled for the first down.
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The 2016 Dallas Cowboys have won a lot of games a lot of different ways but none was more impressive, important or indicative of the greatness of the team's two top rookies than their wire-to-wire Thanksgiving win over the red hot Washington Commanders.
The NFL's Thanksgiving record book will read Cowboys 31, Commanders 26, a score that hardly tells the tale of the teams' second meeting of the year. Since Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott found their footing in Week 3, the Cowboys had walked onto every football field as the superior team and played accordingly. That wasn't the case Thursday. Washington had 505 yards of total offense. Kirk Cousins had the second-most passing yards in Thanksgiving history. Kicker Dustin Hopkins missed two field goals that would have changed the entire tenor of the game. The team failed on a two-point conversion. On multiple occasions, Dallas faced third-and-long when the game's momentum was at a tipping point. The Commanders controlled the clock, winning the time of possession battle 33:24 to 26:36. None of it mattered as the Cowboys stormed to 10-1 and basically clinched the NFC East and a bye in the playoffs, barring a complete December meltdown.
Getting beat up isn't the m.o. for this Dallas team with its dominant offensive line and rushing attack that takes advantage of it appropriately. The team hadn't been both outgained and lost the time of possession battle all season. They did on Thursday with a resilient Commanders staying alive until the final minutes despite a disastrous first defensive drive (Dallas went 75 yards on seven plays to open the game), two missed field goals in their first three offensive drives and a two-score halftime deficit.
Three times in the second half they cut the Dallas lead from two scores to one. The Cowboys responded with a touchdown of their own each time. From midway through the third quarter up through Dallas' final kneel-down drive, the game went: Touchdown (WAS), Touchdown (DAL), Touchdown (WAS), Touchdown (DAL), Touchdown (WAS). Washington, which came within a fingertip of beating Dallas in Week 2, kept punching and Dallas took it, then punched back harder every time.
This wasn't like the Dallas-Pittsburgh game -- still the most entertaining of the season -- when good offenses took advantage of bad defenses in a game that always seemed like the best team would come out on top. It was a worthy battle on both sides of the ball and one that solidified Prescott's status as the most important player on the Cowboys and the MVP front-runner. (Sure, the Cowboys offensive line, as a unit, provides the greatest advantage in football. On Thursday, Prescott showed that he's not just some quarterback who stands in the pocket picking apart defenses with all the time in the world.)
The score was 24-12 Cowboys when Kirk Cousins and DeSean Jackson hooked up on a picture-perfect 67-yard touchdown pass. 24-19, Cowboys, 9:22 remaining. The tide was ever-so-slightly shifting. Washington gave a little momentum back with a failed onside kick, but the defense got Dallas into a 3rd and 7 at midfield on their first set of downs. The secondary smothered the Dallas receivers and looked like they'd force a punt that would give Cousins the ball back with a chance to go ahead. But Prescott waited a beat, waited another and then scrambled for the first down.
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