Cowboys Dominate As Commanders Lose QB: 3 Takeaways From Dallas’ Win

The Cowboys got into the win column on Sunday, taking their home opener against the rival Commanders. The biggest story coming out of the game, though, was Washington’s Jayden Daniels suffering another injury setback. Health continues to define the early career of one of the NFL’s brightest young stars. Here are my takeaways: Daniels was in a groove, reminding the NFL world about how talented a quarterback he is. After an impressive fourth quarter against the Eagles last week, he was giving the Cowboys all kinds of fits as a scrambler (seven carries for 69 yards). He was making sound decisions in the passing game, too (11-for-17 with 96 yards and a touchdown). He had found a groove in new coordinator David Blough’s offense. He was looking like the quarterback poised to finally build off his historic 2024 rookie season in a way he couldn’t last year, when he battled various injuries en route to missing 10 games. But then he suffered another setback. On the last play of the second quarter, he sustained a serious injury to his left elbow – the same one he dislocated and re-injured last season. He had a towel on his head as he was carted to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the game. Judging by how it looked, it could be an extended absence. It’s a devastating development for Daniels and Washington. The franchise goes as far as Daniels takes them. When he was healthy as a rookie, they went to the NFC Championship Game. With him missing most of last season due to injury and playing in many games at less than 100%, they missed the playoffs. We can’t speculate on the severity of Daniels’ injury at this time, but it’s a major hiccup in the Commanders’ hopes of contention. Dallas’ high-octane offense was quite comfortable against the Commanders, scoring 37 points and putting up 266 passing yards. But its running game went nowhere, producing 66 yards. The Cowboys had just 33 rushing yards more than 40 minutes into the game. And the Cowboys’ running game wasn’t much better in their season opener against the Giants, either — 69 rushing yards on 18 carries (3.8 yards per rush attempt). The run blocking has not been good. In Week 1, Dallas lead running back Javonte Williams was contacted behind the line of scrimmage on half of his carries (6-of-12), according to Next Gen Stats. The Cowboys can throw the ball against anyone, but there will come a time when they’ll have to be able to run the ball effectively. Not only will that prevent Dallas from being one-dimensional offensively, but it will also help it to control the clock in games. Entering the season, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said the offense’s motto will be “GOTI,” an acronym for the greatest offense there is. To live up to that standard, Dallas must figure out how to get the rushing attack going. Yes, Dallas’ defensive showing in its opener against the Giants was putrid — the worst of all the league’s defenses during opening week, according to some metrics. And Sunday, the Cowboys faced a Commanders’ offense that played without Daniels for the second half, perhaps inflating how good their defense looked. But the Dallas defense made a ton of strides in Week 2. Communication issues weren’t a glaring problem like they were in the opener. And over two weeks, we’ve learned that Dallas can make plays on the ball. It had a forced fumble that led to a takeaway against Washington, after registering four forced fumbles against the Giants in Week 1. An opportunistic defense is never out of the game, even if the consistency isn’t quite there. Dallas clearly has a ton of talent to become consistent eventually — it’s just that there are so many new faces that are still learning to play with one another. In fact, players who did not log a single defensive snap for the Cowboys last season accounted for 59.5% of their defensive snaps in their season opener against the Giants, the highest rate league-wide. You take all that into account, the Cowboys’ defense is headed in the right direction.