With a 38–10 win over the Washingtоn Commanders on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East and will be the No. 2 seed in the playoffs for their conference. They will play the first two games at home, and next weekend they will host the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers.
There were four scores and one pick for Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott on his 31-for-36 throwing day. Two of those scores went to CeeDee Lamb, who also caught 13 passes for 98 yards. This season, he has the most catches in the NFL with 135.
With 5:11 left in the game and the Cowboys ahead 35–10, Cooper Rush took over for Prescott.
The Cowboys also did well on defense against Washingtоn. The Commanders’ QB Sam Howell was picked off by Donovan Wilson and DaRon Bland, and Jourdan Lewis recovered a ball that Brian Robinson Jr. lost.
For the second time in three years, Mike McCarthy’s 12–5 team won the division. It lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round in 2021. Last year, the Cowboys placed second in the NFC East, behind the Philadelphia Eagles. They made it to the divisional round, but lost again to the 49ers.
On Sunday, the Eagles (11-6) lost to the New York Giants 27-10. They will be a wild-card team in the playoffs. Before the Arizona Cardinals beаt them in Week 17, they were in charge of the division. Since then, they’ve lost five of their last six games.
The loss made sure that Washingtоn (4-13) would have the second pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
How Dallas won the division
It didn’t look like the Dallas Cowboys would be able to host a playoff game after their loss at Miami on Christmas Eve. After two weeks, the NFL’s best home team has won 16 straight games at home, going back to the beginning of last season. If it makes it to the next round, it will host both a wild-card game and a divisional round game. The Cowboys will be the favorites in both, which gives them a huge chance to make it to the NFC championship game for the first time since 1995.
Pollard peaking at right time
If you ask me, the best thing about Sunday’s game might have been how healthy the running game was. It’s clear that Washingtоn’s defense isn’t very good, but getting Tony Pollard going was a good sign going into the playoffs.”I thought this year would be better for me,” Pollard said last week. “Being myself is important to me.”Why doesn’t he have more big plays this year? He said, “I’m not sure.” “But the game is still going on. There are still many games to play. “Let’s see.”
Cowboys individual goals set
The Cowboys put the Commanders down so they could reach some personal and team goals. Pollard ran for more than 1,000 yards for the second time in his career. Bland had not picked off a pass in just over a month (since November 30), but he now has the league’s highest total of nine this season.With this sack, Micah Parsons now has 14 for the season, which is the most in his career. The Cowboys won the division. This is the 19th season in a row that the NFC East has not had a repeat division winner. This is the longest streak of any division in NFL history.
Dallas cruises past Washingtоn to close season on high note
There was never any real question about the game. It wasn’t long before the Cowboys jumped in and played with their food. A field goal was blocked, and Prescott’s pass was picked off after it was tipped. Dallas quickly got things back on track, mostly thanks to a strong defense and the pass from Prescott to Lamb. The only thing that went wrong with the Cowboys’ game today was their kicking, which isn’t a big deal. They’re in a good groove going into the playoffs.
What to make of Commanders’ season
It wasn’t a total loss for the Commanders this season. Okay, but Washingtоn got the second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft because of their 4-13 record. There are a lot of quarterbacks on the board, and Washingtоn is still not sure what to do with the most important position in football. Sam Howell had a good start to his first year as a starter, but by the end, he had thrown 21 touchdowns and 21 picks, which was the most in the league.They are USC’s Caleb Williams, UNC’s Drake Maye, and LSU’s Jayden Daniels. There will be at least two on the board. That opens up the chance to trade down, which isn’t a bad choice for a team with big needs.Notre Dаme оffensive tackle Joe Alt would fill a need, but fans would not be happy with him. The next people who make decisions want the unknown the most. Ron Rivera, who is the head coach and in charge of the front office, will likely be fired on Monday.After the loss on Sunday, whoever takes over has a lot to work with.
Rivera’s future with the team
Rivera’s job as coach of the Washingtоn Commanders looked bad at the start of the season. Now it looks like his future is set.Washingtоn finished with a 4-13 record, which brought his overall record with the Commanders to 26-40-1. He had a 102-103-2 record over 13 seasons, with the first nine in Carolina.But Rivera, the last coach hired by former owner Dan Snyder, had trouble because of the players he chose.For Washingtоn, only one of their 34 draft picks, Chase Young in 2020, was called to the Pro Bowl. Also, none of their four first-round picks are sure-fire ways to improve a team that doesn’t have much skill. There were mistakes made by free agents, especially in the last three seasons.A new era starts when Rivera leaves. People are very optimistic about a team that hasn’t been in the NFL for over 20 years because managing partner Josh Harris will be in charge instead of Snyder.