Dallas Cowboys historical notes from win over Washington Commanders
The Dallas Cowboys took care of business on Sunday against the Washington Commanders and it is still hard to believe. With the Cowboys back in action so soon on Thanksgiving Day there is not a ton of dwelling on the game, even if it yielded positive results, but before we fully bury it we should take note of things that were impressive in certain respects.
This is where our the handy tools at Stathead and Pro Football Reference come into play. Every week we use their offerings to look through both Dallas Cowboys franchise history and NFL history at large to see how certain things that just happened stack up relative to the record books.
Here are this weekās historical notes. Thankfully they are finally of the positive variety!
The Dallas Cowboys have their 12th hat trick against the Washington franchise
In case you did not realize, the Cowboys beat the Washington franchise for the third time in a row on Sunday. That it is the 12th win streak of at least three games that Dallas has had against Washington throughout all of time.
The Dallas Cowboys have won three games in a row against the Washington franchise.
It is the 12th winning streak of at least three games that Dallas has had against Washington all-time.
Washington has only had a winning streak of at least three games against Dallas twice.
You will note that the Washington franchise has only achieved such a streak on two occasions.
Little brothers stay little brothers.
A Cowboys running back hit 19 carries which has not been a common thing
Here lately the Cowboys have said that they are committing to Rico Dowdle as their lead back. It only took them until mid-November to realize that this was in the best interest of the team, but at least they landed on the proper conclusion.
As a result of this Dowdle had 19 carries during Sundayās win. It was only the second time all season that a Cowboys runner was given the ball at least 19 teams as Dowdle also had 20 carries in the teamās previous win on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Over the last three seasons (this one obviously isnāt finished) there have only been 10 instances now of a running back on the team getting at least 19 carries. This isnāt to say āif you run the ball 19 times you will automatically win!ā but it is interesting to note how infrequently the Cowboys have devoted so much work to one player.
A win despite allowing 412 yards with a backup quarterback is sort of a Mike McCarthy special
Much of the overall statistics of this game are/were inflated by the chaotic ending, particularly the massive touchdown that Washington had. But the numbers are the numbers and all told the Commanders finished the game with 412 total yards against the Cowboys defense. The Cowboys have only won six games under Mike McCarthy when allowing at least 412 yards and would you believe that four of them were with a backup quarterback under center!
All three games from 2020 featured Andy Dalton playing quarterback, but this little finding is somewhat interesting. If you are looking for a single takeaway it is probably nothing real, but it at least partly suggests that McCarthy can help a backup quarterback power through when everything else is falling apart. This game wasnāt quite that, obviously.
Washington is a perfect opportunity for Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks these days
On the subject of quarterbacks, Cooper Rush threw for over 240 yards, had two passing touchdowns and posted a completion percentage of 75%. That is a very solid day at the office.
The last time that a Cowboys quarterback met these specific thresholds in a game was the last time they traveled to Washington (Week 18 of last season) when Dak Prescott did it.
Shout out to the Commanders.
Luke Schoonmaker had quite the day for a Dallas Cowboys tight end
We have seen tight end Luke Schoonmaker really make the most of his opportunities since Jake Ferguson suffered a concussion early on against the Houston Texans. Consider that Schoonmaker has posted back-to-back games with at least 55 yards receiving.
In this game specifically, Schoonmaker had 55 exactly and caught a touchdown. Given that he had three receptions some quick math will tell you that he averaged over 18 yards per receptions.
This was only the 21st time in franchise history that a Cowboys tight end had at least 55 yards per reception while averaging at least 18 per with a touchdown to boot.
Look at those names!
Jayden Daniels now shares company with Sonny Jurgensen relative to the Dallas Cowboys
Once again, some of the numbers involved in this game were inflated by the end. Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels had a massive touchdown that really changed what his box score looks like, but the play was real and happened so it obviously counts.
That being said, Daniels threw for 275 yards and had two touchdowns all while posting a completion percentage north of 65%. This was only the 24th time that a quarterback did this in a losing effort against the Cowboys and as you can see if you scroll all the way down, some of the best quarterbacks in Washington franchise history are on the list.
Maybe that is good news for young Jayden.
KaVontae Turpin is doing some pretty incredible things and making them look normal
KaVontae Turpin returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the first time in his career in this game and what a return it was. While that specific return stands out, he had a really solid day in that department in general and has put himself in some rare space as a result.
Over the last decade there have been nine instances of a player averaging at least 44 yards per kickoff return with at least four returns total in a single game. You can see that the last two instances belong to Turpin from mid-October to now.
Turpin is proving to be not just a serviceable return man, but an absolute weapon in that part of the game overall. It is amazing to see.
The last two years have each featured a 4-7 team reaching the playoffs
It is understandable if you want to scoff at this idea, but we are here to talk about all relevant things and there are potentially some people who are wondering if the playoffs are suddenly something that are back on the table for the Cowboys.
For what it is worth, Dallas is now officially 4-7 and is looking at just eight teams across all of NFL history for guidance on how to turn that into a postseason berth.
As you can see there have indeed been only eight teams to be 4-7 (or worse) and play beyond the regular season. It should be noted that the last five instances of this occurring have all happened since 2008 and all featured teams ultimately winning subpar divisions. That will not likely be the case for Dallas given that the Philadelphia Eagles are really distancing themselves in the NFC East race.
Still though, these are the numbers if you are curious. Interestingly each of the last two seasons has seen a team rise from 4-7 to playoff football and they each even won a playoff game on top of it.
Time will tell what the future has in store for the Cowboys.
