The Dallas Cowboys technically had a lot to play for entering the Week 18 finale against Washington. Once the Eagles jumped out to an early lead against the Giants, though, attention quickly turned to Dallas playing complementary football to have something positive to build on going into the playoffs.
That … didn’t happen. Coming off a sluggish performance against the Titans on Thursday Night Football, the Cowboys did very little to silence their foremost critics who’ve been preaching they’ll be an early exit come playoff time.
Well, the playoffs are just days away, and Dallas turned in maybe their worst performance of the season. The Cowboys have been subject to gross halves and unwatchable quarters of football this year, but Sunday wasn’t what anyone expected, especially with the Commanders down a cavalcade of first-team players.
Let’s try to process the forgettable performance by highlighting the biggest concerns that could upend the Cowboys’ Super Bowl hopes.
3 Week 18 concerns that could doom Cowboys in playoffs
3. Running game went missing (again)
Don’t look now — seriously, don’t — but the Cowboys running game has been missing for three weeks now after Sunday’s disappearing act.
While that can be attributed to the strength of the opponent (Eagles, Titans and Commanders are elite against the run) you would still expect Dallas to show some semblance of competence. It is one of their perceived strengths, after all, right?
In Week 16 vs the Eagles, Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard combined to take 25 carries for 74 yards, equating to 2.96 yards per carry. Pollard missed Week 17 against the Titans, but Elliott struggled again to the tune of 37 yards on 19 carries. That’s 1.9 yards per carry, folks. Has to be the worst of Zeke’s career, no?
Either way, Sunday was another slow day at the office for Dallas’ rushing attack. Pollard returned from a thigh injury and eclipsed 1,000 yards for the first time in his career, but the two-headed monster logged just 29 yards on 1.9 yards per tote. The aerial attack wasn’t much better (more on that in a minute), but Mike McCarthy and Kellen Moore have a week to figure out what’s wrong with the run game.
The Cowboys are capable of flipping a switch at any time, but it’s definitely alarming the running game hasn’t established any momentum in the final month. Luckily, the Buccaneers allowed 4.5 yards per carry during the regular season.
2. Special teams blunders
The Cowboys’ special teams hasn’t been bad all year, but it hasn’t been great, either, and Sunday was a culmination of the unit’s inconsistencies.
A holding call on Tyler Coyle on the game’s opening kickoff negated a positive return by KaVontae Turpin. That marked the start of a wave of blunders by John Fassell’s normally-disciplined group, as punter Bryan Anger fumbled the snap minutes later and was tackled by Milo Eifler before he could get the punt away.
The gaffe set Washington up with 1st and 10 on the Cowboys’ 20 and the Commanders capitalized in the form of a Terry McLaurin touchdown on the first completion of Sam Howell’s (making his first start) career.
Two drives later, KaVontae Turpin muffed a fair catch. Much like Peyton Hendershot’s drop that landed in the arms of Kevin Byard against the Titans, Turpin’s muff fell right into the oncoming Christian Holmes, who showed good concentration to snatch the ball out of the air and complete the turnover.
Turpin’s had a couple close calls in terms of bobbling returns in recent weeks, and they finally came home to roost on Sunday.
To say this can’t happen in the playoffs would be the understatement of all understatements, as the Commanders were gifted a 1st and 10 on Dallas’ 15-yard line. Luckily, the defense made a red zone stand and Joey Slye missed a chip-shot 31-yard field goal, but odds are that doesn’t happen in the postseason.
To rub salt in the wound, Anger’s next punt traveled a lousy 41 yards, and Brett Maher missed an extra-point after the offense finally got on the board before halftime.
Make no mistake, special teams can lose you a playoff game. If Dallas’ unit doesn’t clean up its act, they could be one-and-done for the second year in a row.
1. Dak Prescott being carless with the football (again)
The majority of Dallas fans fight the good fight on Twitter in terms of defending Dak Prescott from Cowboys haters … and Dak haters. They’re always lurking in the shadows waiting for Prescott to make a mistake — usually an interception — and they came out of the woodwork after his pick-six against Washington.
Unfortunately, there was no defending Dak on Sunday. He threw the same throw on consecutive dropbacks, and both could’ve gone for pick-sixes. On the first, he tried to force a pass to Michael Gallup on a broken play. If not for Kendall Fuller slipping as the ball arrived, the pass would’ve been returned for a score.
On the second, Prescott threw a basic out route to Noah Brown and Fuller jumped it for a walk-in touchdown. Again, we’ll defend Dak through his darkest hours, but this was a pick you’d expect a rookie to throw … kind of like Sam Howell’s red zone interception in the first quarter.
There is no single concern from Week 18 that could doom the Cowboys in the playoffs more than Prescott’s penchant for turnovers. A handful haven’t been his fault but 15 with five games missed is bad no matter how you slice it.
If you want a glass-half-full takeaway, it’s that Prescott can’t (or shouldn’t) play much worse than he did Sunday. It’s only up from here.
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