Cowboys Blasts Commanders, 44-22 (10-19-25)
By: Jaden Golding
Headline Photo Courtsey: Fox News
ARLINGTON, TX— It was a rough afternoon at AT&T Stadium Sunday afternoon, as the Washington Commanders struggled on both sides of the ball, falling to their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys 44-22. From the opening drive, Dallas (3-3-1) jumped out to a hot start on offense, it started with a nine-yard powerful run from Javonte Williams who ran over cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Lattimore was targeted twice afterwards, on a 13-yard reception by CeeDee Lamb and then a 37-yard pass interference call drawn by George Pickens. The pass interference call set up a two-yard Williams touchdown run.
Not to pick on Lattimore, but it was a rough evening for him (I’ll discuss a little more later) and the entire Washington (3-4) defense as a whole, which didn’t have an answer for Dallas’s offense. The Cowboys scored on seven of their total 12 drives Sunday afternoon. There were too many explosive plays that Dallas produced, once again showing the common issue with Washington’s defense this year, which has problems with communication and play. Here are some of Dallas’s chunk plays from yesterday;
70-yard touchdown by Lamb
24-yard catch by Pickens
15-yard catch by Jake Ferguson
44-yard catch by Pickens
33-yard run by Williams
17 yards by Williams
17-yard catch by KaVontae Turpin
68-yard pick-six by DaRon Bland
That is a key recipe for losing with all of those key plays surrendered. It was the second week in a row that Washington’s defense struggled to contain the run and to establish its ground attack against a bottom-ranked defensive unit.
On the offensive side for Washington, they never established a rhythm on their drives throughout the game. After a couple of earlier carries by Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Dallas shut him down by putting more players in the box, and adding more players up on the line to contain the run effectively holding him to 13 carries for 33 yards and 2.5 per carry.
Star quarterback Jayden Daniels, who left the game in the third after getting his leg awkwardly pulled on a sack that caused a fumble resulting in a hamstring injury, finished the game 12-of-22 for 156 passing yards, one passing touchdown, while having eight carries for 35 yards and a rushing score. Daniels never seemed to be comfortable throwing to his receivers who were missing three starters, Dallas’s defense played man nearly 50% of the game daring the Commanders to beat them down the field. The Commanders’ leading receivers were….
Jaylin Lane: three catches for 60 yards
Chris Moore: two catches for 59 yards
Zach Ertz: three catches for 37 yards and a touchdown
Robbie Chosen: four catches for 36 yards
Dallas outgained Washington 409 yards to 341.
Dallas sacked Washington four times and forced two turnovers (one interception & fumble).
Washington was flagged for 11 penalties for 118 yards.
Lattimore Struggles in Big Game
It was an afternoon to forget for Lattimore, as mentioned earlier he opened up the first drive by getting trucked by Williams, allowing a third-down reception for a first down, and committing a PI call that set up Dallas’s first touchdown. On Lamb’s 74-yard touchdown in the first, Lattimore accidentally ran into safety Quan Martin when attempting to undercut the deep pass over the middle, which allowed Lamb to run free to the endzone. That play was unfortunate, because Washington was in cover two which left the middle open and caused Lattimore to come from the left side attempting to pick off the pass.
The killer play came right before halftime, after Washington scored, cutting it to 20-15 with 45 seconds left. All the defense had to do was hold off Dallas and they would get the ball back after the half with an attempt to reclaim the lead. It was 2nd-and-17 from the Dallas 21, Prescott found Pickens down the deep left sideline for a 44-yard reception by Pickens. The problem on that play was that Lattimore was pressed up on Pickens, which was unnecessary because Dallas needed to gain 17 yards. Prescott had the one-on-one matchup with no safety help and trusted his receiver to come down with the ball.
Later, in the fourth quarter on a 3rd-and-5, Lattimore was called for another defensive pass interference after grabbing Lamb on a pass over the middle.
Lattimore’s style of play where he likes to hand-check at the beginning of the routes is not sufficient anymore because refs nine times out of ten are going to flag defenders for that. He’s constantly getting caught grabbing receivers and getting physical with receivers but still struggling to make the play if he’s not getting flagged.
Injury Plague Continues
Monday afternoon, head coach Dan Quinn announced good news and bad news. Jayden Daniels, who got an MRI on his hamstring, came back with clean results with no damage or significant injury. But, Daniels’ status for Monday night against the Chiefs is unknown, and we will learn more later in the week when preparation starts.
Now the bad news, defensive end Dorrance Armstrong who left early in the first quarter with a knee injury, had pretty significant damage which will cause him to miss the remainder of the 2025 season. Armstrong landed awkwardly on a play where he was trying to reach the backfield. It’s unfortunate because Armstrong was off to an excellent start looking to have a career year, he already amassed 5.5 sacks leading Washington.
Washington now has three defensive ends (Armstrong, Javontae Jean-Baptiste (pec), and Deatrich Wise Jr.(quad) who have had season-ending injuries.
Quinn stated he was meeting with GM Adam Peters today to review the roster and market for potential replacement options moving forward.
Up Next:
Washington travels to Arrowhead for a battle with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night starting at 8:15 p.m.
Dallas travels to Denver for a showdown late Sunday afternoon.
