Week 2 – Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys

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September 21, 2026

By Noonefromtampa

First Quarter

Washington was able to stop Dallas from running the ball outside of a Dak Prescott 11-yard scramble. The problem was that nobody could cover CeeDee Lamb, who had 5 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown in the first two series. Washington was able to stop the Cowboys on the second drive and force a field goal. The Commanders went three and out on their first series.

Second Quarter

On a drive that started in the first quarter, the Commanders found themselves in a deep hole thanks to a questionable offensive pass interference call on Terry McLaurin which negated a first down. Jayden Daniels, who already scrambled for a first down, found McLaurin for 24 yards. Colson Yankoff had a 14-yard reception and Daniels had another 18-yard scramble for a first down. Washington got into the red zone but a bad pitch to Jacory Croskey-Merritt cost them 13 yards. Rachaad White got the 13 yards back on third down and Washington had to settle for a 27-yard Drew Stevens field goal.

Dallas had one 7-yard run and the rest were passes on the next scoring drive. Pickens caught passes of 12 yards and 18 yards on the drive, Ryan Flournoy has 3 catches for 18 yards. The killer was the uncovered Jake Ferguson 10-yard touchdown, which gavd Dallas a 17-3 lead.

Washington was able to answer that with a touchdown scoring drive of their own. Daniels scrambled for 20 yards and White ran for 21 yards which was aided by a 15-yard personal foul call. Stefon Diggs scored two plays later on a quickly run play which left Dallas out of position. This cut the Dallas lead to 17-10.

Javon Kinlaw was able to sack Prescott to put Dallas in a second and nineteen to go situation. Washington was able to stop Dallas and force a three and out for the first time today. Jaylin Lane had a 14-yard return of the punt.

After White gained 9 yards on first down, Daniels threw deep to Treylon Burks, who had beat his man, but the ball was just of his diving fingertips. Daniels was able to scramble for a first later in the drive to extend it. Diggs caught a third down pass of 10 yards to keep the drive alive. Daniels scrambled for 15 yards down to the Dallas 14 yard line. An 8-yard to Diggs and a 4-yard put the ball on the Dallas 1 yard line. Dan Quinn decided to go for the touchdown with three seconds left in the half, with the horrible result of Daniels being tripped by Nick Allegretti and Daniels dislocating his left elbow again. Halftime score 17-10.

Third Quarter

Marcus Mariota started the second half. A short quick off gave the Commanders the ball on the own 40-yard line. Mariota found McLaurin for 26 yards after a short run by Croskey-Merritt.  Dyami Brown caught an apparent touchdown on a deep throw by Mariota but it was ruled out of bounds and upheld on review even though his knee was clearly inbounds. Washington settled for 47-yard field goal, which cut the lead to 17-13.

Dallas drove down the field in their next drive, with the big plays being completions to Ferguson for 14 yards and George Pickens 12 yards. K’Lavon Chaisson was able to sack Prescott for 4-yard loss forcing a Brandon Aubrey 44-yard field goal.

Brown fumbled a screen pass after the kickoff, which Dallas quickly turned into a 12-yard Ferguson touchdown, to make the lead 27-13.

The series ended with a missed 51 yard field goal by Stevens, but featured multiple penalties against both teams, two trick plays by Washington and a couple of nice plays. Antonio Williams missed a throw to McLaurin for a sure touchdown on the first trick play. The second trick play featured horrible blocking and no gain. Croskey-Merritt had two nice runs for 17 yards, and Brown caught an 18 yard pass to them on the Dallas 27 yard line.

Fourth Quarter

Dallas picked up only 17 yards and one first down, but that was no problem for Aubrey who nailed a 60-yard field goal to make the lead 30-13.

Washington was able to get a touchdown on the next drive. Williams had 3 catches for 24 yards, and White had a key 10 yard catch on third down to extend the drive. Diggs caught a 20 yard touchdown on a nice play design which had him wide open in the end zone. Dallas led 30-20.

Dallas answered with their own touchdown, with Lamb making both key catches over Mike Sainristil, the first being a 35 yard catch on second and 12 and the capping the drive with a 24 yard touchdown. The drive was 11 plays for 93 yards. Dallas led 37-20.

Washington elected to run out the clock with three minutes on the clock.

Thoughts

More stupid mistakes like being offsides and negating an interception or having a penalty that negates a first down. If you can’t beat yourself, you can’t beat the other team either. Giving up an easy touchdown because of a turnover doesn’t help also.

That was a horrible call on the non-touchdown catch by Brown. The NFL officiating needs to be better. There were a few other missed calls or questionable ones in the game too.

Game management still seems to be an issue, with the strange calls by the coaches. Kicking the field at the end of the first half would have made the score 17-13 with Washington starting the second half with the ball and the momentum. The injury was a fluke play and not the coaching staff’s fault.

Does the secondary not have a cornerback better than Sainristil? The opponent’s game plan seems to be, see where #0 lines up and throw it there.

I bet Williams would love another shot at that throw to McLauren. That should have been a touchdown.

The big question will be whether Daniels comes back and try and salvage the season or has season ending surgery to tighten up the ligaments in the elbow.

Key stat – Washington 1 of 3 in the red zone, Dallas 3 of 4 in the red zone.

Meaningless stat – Washington rushed for 182 yards with a 5.7 yard per attempt. Daniels had 69 yards rushing to lead the team. Without that they still averaged 4.5 yards.

Do we need some sort of ceremony to lift whatever curse this team seems to be under?

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