Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys didn’t have to worry about the NFC East title anymore once they kicked off against the Washington Football team. Instead, they took care of star quarterback Dak Prescott’s slump. They celebrated their NFC East division title, which was secured with a Las Vegas Raiders victory over the Denver Broncos about an hour before kickoff, by routing the Washington Football team 56-14.
This one was over well before half-time. The Cowboys (11-4) tied the franchise record for points in a first half while taking a 42-7 lead and frustrating Washington to the point that defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne scuffled on the sideline. Prescott also tied the club record for passing TDs in a half with four before halftime — one each to a running back (Ezekiel Elliott), a tight end (Dalton Schultz), a receiver (Amari Cooper) and a backup tackle (Terence Steele, who was lined up as a tight end when Prescott faked the handoff for an easy 1-yard score ). He also threw for 321 yards by half-time and finished the game with 330 passing yards on 28 completions out of 39 attempts before being pulled in the third quarter.
Cowboys fans were hoping that the Dallas offense would come out of its recent funk and that Dak Prescott would return to the form he showed during the first 6 weeks of the season before he injured his calf. The offensive explosion that ensued put to bed any doubts that the offense is broken. It wasn’t just the Cowboys offense that came to play though. Dallas put points on the board in all three phases of the game with DeMarcus Lawrence scoring on an interception return and rookie DE Chauncey Golston recovering a blocked punt in Washington’s endzone. Lawrence’s TD came when the Cowboys were already up 14-0 late in the first quarter. He deflected Taylor Heinicke‘s pass with his right hand, corralled the ball and rumbled down the left sideline 40 yards for a TD. Heinicke was making his second consecutive start against Dallas after missing the game in between because of COVID-19. He gave up an interception to Trevon Digg’s on the first offensive play for Washington, who were playing five days after a Coronavirus-delayed loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The recipient of that interception was none other than Trevon Diggs who added to his league leading tally of 11. That also tied him for the club record with Everson Walls who was present at AT&T Stadium on Sunday Night along with Trevon’s charismatic young son Aaiden. Another player on record breaking pace, Micah Parsons, added his 13th sack of the season putting 1 1/2 away from tying the single season record for rookies. That record was set by Jevon Kearse, the uncle of Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse. Parson’s is considered a strong favorite to win the DPOY award as he continues to wreak havoc on opposing offenses.
The NFC East Champs were in full on celebration mode throughout this game. Dak was fist pumping up and down the field and on the sidelines. Young Aaiden Diggs was dancing in the stands. DeMarcus Lawrence was mobbed by his defensive teammates after scoring his touchdown; and, the offensive linemen even got in on the act joining arm in arm to celebrate Terence Steele’s first career TD catch. The big Left Tackle scored the much anticipated first TD by a “big man’ for the Dallas Cowboys 2021 offense and his teammates couldn’t be happier. Ezekiel Elliott, who scored 2 of his own touchdowns, even retrieved the game ball for his teammate to keep as a souvenir.
It was a much different story on the Washington sideline. The Football Team had brought their own heated benches to AT&T Stadium. This was likely in response to the Cowboys doing the same thing in Washington 2 weeks ago after being tipped off that the heated benches for visiting teams at Fed-EX field were malfunctioning. Never mind that AT&T Stadium is an indoor stadium in a very warm Texas climate. Washington must have perceived the initial act as a slight and saw this as an opportunity to even the score. If the goal of of the Washington Football Team was to get under the Cowboys skins, it backfired in a major way. All those heated benches seemed to do was get their own teammates hot. Washington defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne had a heated exchange while sitting on those heated benches. Payne poked his finger into Allen’s face and Allen, a team captain, threw a punch at his former Alabama Crimson Tide teammate. Washington are trending in the wrong direction and getting themselves into hot water. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are catching fire at the right time and hoping to stay hot deep into a post season run.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode