Clarence Hill: 5 Things from the Dallas Cowboys’ embarrassing 26-6 loss vs. Commanders

What is the opposite of building momentum and heading into the playoffs with confidence and on a roll?

Whatever it is, it has picture of the Dallas Cowboys next to it after Sunday’s dismal and deflating performance in an embarrassing 26-6 loss against the Washington Commanders in the regular-season final.

Washington was out of the playoffs and had nothing to play. They started a rookie quarterback for the first time and rested a number of injured starters.

The Cowboys (12-5) still had an outside chance at the NFC East title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. And they badly wanted a team-record tying 13th win on the season, or so they said.

But most importantly they wanted to play well so they could head into the playoffs with confidence and momentum.

What the Cowboys got was arguably their worst performance of the season and certainly their worst effort since a 19-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the season opener.

“It was tough. Yeah, definitely surprised,” a disappointed linebacker Micah Parsons said. “I don’t know where you can start. From the very beginning of the game to the end it just wasn’t good. And we talked about championship teams got to perform better. I think everyone has a fall and there’s a rise in every movie. So hopefully that falls into the rise up next week because we got to play better.”

The Cowboys were listless and passionless and mistake prone from the outset with a fumbled punt snap and a muffed punt in first quarter.

Quarterback Dak Prescott was downright awful, completing 14 of 37 passes for 128 yards, including league-record tying 15th interception.

It was his second pick-6 of the season and marked his seventh straight game with an interception.

Prescott used three different negatives to describe his and the Cowboys performance.

“(Expletive), I hate to use that language but it was simply as that,” Prescott said. “it was crappy it stinks. I gave them a touchdown. I don’t think I’ve seen us like that Yeah, we’ve got a lot of we’ve got the right guys in this locker room that understand that nobody played their best ball as simple as that. But to be accountable, certainly myself, be accountable for what you put out there, what you did, and the understanding that’s not who we are, and then moving on and doing what we’ve got ahead of us it’s one play at a time.”

Prescott got no help from a non-existent running game.

A Cowboys offense that led the league in yards, points and third down conversions since Prescott returned after missing five games with a fractured thumb had 12 3-and-outs in the game.

And the Cowboys defense let rookie quarterback Sam Howell pass for a touchdown and run for a touchdown in his first start of the season.

“We played poorly and that starts with me and I’ll take responsibility,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “You know, we’ve we’ve played 17 games, I think our productivity over the course of 17 games is good or better than anybody’s in the league. But you want to be playing your best ball in January. I totally agree with that. We’re all disappointed in our performance.”

And now they are locked in as the fifth seed in the playoffs and get a rematch on the road with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card game. They will meet on Sept. 16.

Brady has never lost to the Cowboys, who hope to avoid going one-and-done in the playoffs for the second straight season under McCarthy.

“Okay, we get suck on that all week,” owner Jerry Jones said. “And if that didn’t make you want to get ready to go, nothing else will. And that was as thorough a butt kicking as we’ve had all year.”

5 Things from the Cowboys 26-6 loss Commanders

Dak Prescott throwing picks at an alarming rate

A conversation was had this week about whether the NFL should consider changing how it looks at interceptions because many of quarterback Dak Prescott interceptions can be blamed on his receivers.

That part is true, but the quarterback controls where he throws the ball and it remains a quarterback stat.

And Prescott continues to streak in the wrong direction in what was easily his worst game of the season.

Prescott tossed a 29-yard pick-6 to Kendall Fuller in the second quarter one play after nearly throwing pick-6 only to have Fuller drop it.

He didn’t drop the second one, extending Prescott’s interception streak to seven straight games. He ended the season with an league-high tying 15 interception, despite playing only 12 games.

Fourteen came in the last 11 games.

Against Washington, Prescott was not only bad with his interceptions but his accuracy as well.

He entered the game on pace to set a personal record for completion percentage in a season at 69.2 percent.

But on Sunday he couldn’t connect with his receivers on a consistent basis.

His numbers were down right atrocious. There were a couple of drops but there were a number of off target throws.

He finished with 14 completions on 37 attempts for 128 yards. He ended the game completing just 4 of 15 passes down the stretch before giving way to Cooper Rush.

It wasn’t the performance the Cowboys wanted to enter the playoffs with.

“Yeah, I mean, it stinks,” Prescott said. “I’ve got to get get better at it and simple as that.”

Run game still on the decline

One of things that made the Cowboys offense special for much of the season was the balance on offense, led by a strong running game.

The Cowboys have struggled on the ground the last four games.

There was hope that the return of leading rusher Tony Pollard, who missed the Tennessee game with thigh bruise, would make a difference against Washington.

Pollard got the 12 yards he needed to top 1,000 for the first time in his career. But that was the only bright spot on the ground.

Pollard finished with 19 yards on seven carries. He had just one yard in the second half.

Ezekiel Elliott was even worse. He finished with 16 yards on six carries.

This effort from Elliott comes one game after he had just 37 yards on 19 carries against the Titans.

And the Cowboys needed a yard on fourth down with 10:43 left in the fourth quarter, quarterback Dak Prescott was stuffed for no gain.

Blame also goes to the Cowboys offense line, which has four new starters since the start of the season due to injuries.

The running attack had just 64 yards on 27 carries. The entire offense generated just 182 total yards.

“We got to get it going. We got run the ball in Tampa. We all know that,” McCarthy said.

Not so special teams

The bad omen came early for the Cowboys special teams when safety Tyler Coyle was flagged for a holding penalty on the opening kickoff return.

And it simply went down from there.

Punter Bryan Anger dropped a snap on the punt four plays later. Washington converted the play into a 16-yard touchdown pass from Sam Howell to Terry McLaurin two plays later.

Returner KaVontae Turpin them muffed a punt two drives later, giving Washington a first down 15 yards from the end zone.

The Cowboys survived because Joey Slye missed a 37-yard field goal.

And when the Cowboys did score a touchdown on the final drive of the first half, Brett Maher missed the extra point.

And in the third quarter, the punt return unit allowed a 16-yard punt return.

Rematch vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers set

The events on Sunday locked locked the Cowboys into the fifth seed in the playoffs and a trip to the Tampa Bay for a wild game against the Buccaneers.

It’s a rematch of the first game of the season when the Tampa Bay beat the Cowboys 19-3 in a game in which quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a fractured right thumb and missed the next five games.

Tampa Bay has not had a great season, winning only seven more games since the season opener and finishing 8-9. But they rested their starters in the final game of the regular season with their division title and seed already locked off.

And they also come into the game knowing that quarterback Tom Brady is undefeated in his career against the Cowboys, including two wins in the season opener in 2021 and 2022.

But Cowboys believe they can end the Brady streak despite awful loss to the Commanders.

“It’s disappointing. No question. The timing of it is definitely not what you’re looking for,” McCarthy said. “I clearly recognize that but you know, I think it like it’s like a lot of things in life. You get kicked, punched in the mouth, you have a chance to respond. And I have great confidence in our football team that we will respond.”

Cowboys opponents for 2023 almost set

With the end of the regular season the Dallas Cowboys 2023 schedule comes into focus.

In addition to the games against their NFC opponents home and away — the Eagles, the Giants and the Commanders — the Cowboys will have road games at Los Angeles Chargers, the Carolina Panthers, the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco and Arizona Cardinals.

They will home game against the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, New York Giants, Los Angeles Rams and the winner between Sunday night’s Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game.

The dates and times will be announced by the NFL in May.