Hogs Haven
Marcus Mariota came on in relief of Jayden Daniels to lead the team to a win for the second time in the ‘24 season
The Commanders and Cowboys were living out the 2024 seasons that had been imagined in the ‘24 offseason and preseason — one team was looking to reach its 12th win in the final week while the other was stumbling towards the finish line of a difficult season with a losing record already locked in. But somehow it was the Commanders looking for their 12th win while Cowboys fans worried about draft position and impending coaching changes.
What was surprising was how fortunes had changed since preseason. The Cowboys had been expected by most NFL observers to have had a good chance to achieve their 4th consecutive 12-win season, and — stop me if you’ve heard this before — some media members expected them to contend for a super bowl berth. Instead, Dallas stumbled out of the gate, opening with a 3-5 record even before starting QB Dak Prescott was lost for the season. Instead, it was the Commanders, who had had a pre-season win total over/under of 6.5, that had found ways to win and who had already locked up a playoff spot.
The Cowboys had little left to play for but pride, and that had not been enough to avoid a 41-7 thrashing at the hands of the Eagles in Philly in Week 17, despite the fact that the Dallas offense opened the game showing a bit of life.
With an NFC playoff berth already guaranteed, some might feel that the Commanders also had little to play for; however, a loss to the Cowboys would possibly see Washington fall from the 6th seed to the 7th seed in the NFC playoff bracket. The opportunity to complete a 12-win regular season for the first time since Washington’s last super bowl season might also be seen as a worthy milestone by many. Still, some observers were questioning whether the team might prioritize getting players healthy for the playoffs — that is, until head coach Dan Quinn made his thoughts on the matter clear:
“We’re going to go after it as hard as we can. I think the seeding portion of this is really important, and that’s what we discussed as a team. We thought last night — the vibe was awesome at the game — we thought we left some plays out there. And so, for us, that leveling up as we’re heading into this week with Dallas would be really important. But we recognize having a sixth seed and going into the playoffs with that is a good thing. So, we’re going to fight like hell to keep that.”
The Commanders had a lot to clean up to get into playoff form. They suffered 5 turnovers in the victory over the Eagles two weeks earlier and had been flagged 13 times for 108 yards in the Week 17 overtime win vs the Falcons.
Dan Quinn...
