Blogging The Boys
After officially being eliminated from playoff contention less than 24 hours before their Week 16 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cowboys had to find things to play for in a hurry, and deal with the latest talk around “The Streak” of not reaching a NFC Championship game aging another year. Dallas did not do a good job in either area when they lost to the Chargers, but with a few extra days to find this motivation for their first Christmas Day game since 2010, the Cowboys did something they hadn’t done since their last Super Bowl-winning season and earned a season-sweep of the Commanders in the process. The Cowboys won 30-23 at the Commanders on Christmas, their first regular season Christmas Day win since the season finale in 1995 against the Cardinals.
The Cowboys had lost their previous three Christmas games to the Titans, Eagles, and Cardinals, two of which also came in losing seasons with first-time head coaches. The 31-0 loss to the Titans in 2000 ended Dave Campo’s first season, and the 2010 loss to the Cardinals was one of three losses in the final eight games of a season then being coached by an interim Jason Garrett. With this win against the Commanders, Brian Schottenheimer joins Barry Switzer as the only other Cowboys coach to have wins in the same season on Thanksgiving and Christmas, although in Schottenheimer’s case both wins came against teams that will not be in the playoffs this season. Switzer’s Thanksgiving win was also against the Chiefs in that ‘95 Super Bowl season, but one that finished 13-3 and won the AFC West.
With the Schottenheimer era still just beginning, this Christmas game on Netflix was about playing with better energy compared to the Chargers loss which was the team’s third straight, notching another divisional win with yet another chance to add to it in Week 18 next Sunday, seeing young players get reps, and cornerstone players be just that. By getting off to a fast start and 21-3 lead against a third-string quarterback for Washington in Josh Johnson, the Cowboys made progress in all of these areas and did just enough through the second half to hold off the home team and win. The Cowboys have played late-season games in Landover before that were defined by the team being out of contention and suffering another defeat, but no such thing happened here on Christmas.
Let’s get to a few notes on the team’s seventh win of the season.
Another comparison between this Christmas game and Thanksgiving against the Chiefs for the Cowboys is that they matched a season-high in first downs with 28 against the Commanders. Doing so in a way that may never be repeated, the Cowboys were 8-20 on third down but a remarkable 6-6 on fourth down attempts. All but one of these conversions came on a drive that ended in points for the Cowboys, including three on their second touchdown drive to go ahead 14-3. The...
