ARLINGTON, Texas – Micah Parsons said days ago that the Cowboys defense was getting more and more on pace, ready to compete against anyone in the NFL.
And he warned that when the offense returned to the rhythm with which it started the season, it would be one of the most complete and difficult teams to slow down heading to the postseason.
This Sunday, the Cowboys backed up Parsons’ words and delivered a coup of authority in all phases of the game in a 56-14 victory over Washington Football Team.
Better still for them, they came out to play one of their best regular-season games in recent years, already with the divisional championship in the bag, and they didn’t even flinch. Many would think the Cowboys would slow down, but it seemed otherwise …
“It feels great,” catcher CeeDee Lamb said. “We have preached complete soccer all season and I think today was the game in which we fulfilled the most on offense, defense and special teams. It was huge.”
“On offense, we didn’t have to worry too much,” he added. “The defense didn’t have to worry too much either. Special teams had a lot of impact.”
The offense that had suffered to run the ball, be precise on the pass and, above all, score touchdowns, was almost unstoppable against Washington from the beginning.
In the first half, Dak Prescott had already surpassed 321 passing yards with four touchdowns. It was the first time a Cowboys quarterback had thrown that many touchdowns in two quarters. Already in the second half, with the game resolved by then 42-7, he only added 68 more yards (389).
“Dak came out very dangerous and accurate,” said Lamb, who completed five passes for 66 yards. “He’s always spreading the ball. It’s up to us to complete those passes and build up his confidence. Today was incredible.”
Not even the riskiest bettor would have thought the Cowboys would score twice with their defensive ends. First it was DeMarcus Lawrence who intercepted a pass that returned 40 yards for a touchdown, with such skill as to provoke the envy of any running or even receiver.
Defensive end Chauncey Gholston scored as well, after running back Corey Clement blocked a punt in the third quarter.
“Even I was surprised because actually the plan was to stop and block for CeeDee (Lamb) to get back to the end zone. The idea was to put a good comeback,” explained Gholston. “But Corey did his thing. I just heard the rebound and reacted. I saw the ball and I saw the kicker. No one was going to stop me.”
The day was completed with a touchdown pass to offensive tackle Terence Steele, when many would have thought that if an offensive lineman was going to score it would be Connor McGovern, who has participated from the backfield in every game this season.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Ezekiel Elliott said. “He can run and he has good hands. But nothing was as impressive as D-Law’s (DeMarcus Lawrence) pick six today. We should find a way to get the balls out on offense.”
The Cowboys (11-4) are already National Conference champions of the East in their own right. It is true that they qualified for the playoffs from Thursday in a mathematical way or that the Sunday before their game they had already secured that title.
But this team already has 11 victories. They are undisputed divisional leaders and still aspire to the best ranking in the National Conference with two games to play.
Dallas will host the Arizona Cardinals (10-5), who are far from their best, next weekend and will close the regular season in Philadelphia, while Green Bay, which has the best record in the conference, has games pending against Minnesota and Detroit.
In the event of a win-loss match at the end of the season, the Cowboys have the NL’s best record, 9-1, and are 5-0 undefeated in their division.
If the Packers (12-3) tie the best seed in the Conference, the Cowboys will try to be one of the best three to receive the playoffs, at least in the first round, at their stadium, where they have scored more than 35 points in five of seven games and at least 40 in four games …
“It’s about building momentum, like we did today,” Lawrence said. “The offense scored, the defense also scored and stopped Washington. The special teams have done great things. Everything clicked in all three phases of the game.”
“The division championship is one of the goals we set ourselves,” he added. “But now we have to leave that behind and move on to the next objective.”
