Brett's Cowboys Corner

The Cowboys will end their road trip and return home for a matchup against a division rival, a team that in their own way is trying to find themselves.

The Commanders lost last week to the Chicago Bears, along with the Eagles losing the Giants. The NFC East can be considered to be open to anyone taking it. Which is why wins are pivotal.

Unfortunately, the games where you should feel good about winning have past. The Cowboys have one of the hardest remaining schedules to finish the season. After week 12, they will play four straight teams that had won 14+ games last season (Eagles, Chiefs, Lions, Vikings).

Injury Report

On the bright side, the Cowboys saw all active players back at practice. Ceedee Lamb and Kavontae Turpin both are expected to be ready to go. The team is also expecting to stay heavy with WRs, as Johnathan Mingo is projected to be added back to the 53-man roster after being on IR.

The worry is less about the offense and more on the defense. There will be some decisions to make on the personnel. Projecting to see Donovan Wilson and Jack Sanborn both to be healthy, along with Caelen Carson ready to come off IR if the Cowboys choose to activate him.

As the Cowboys carry the worst statistical defense in the NFL. Change is needed. Defensive Coordinator Matt Eberflus told the media, “we know the solution is in the room,” and, “Nothing is off the table,” but said the changes would be more subtle than big when it comes to the struggling defense.

I don’t know if subtle change is best case scenario, as time is fleeing before your team falls too far behind. Dallas has been given a second chance at life with loses from Washington and Philadelphia. A win this week would place Dallas 2nd in the NFC East.

Commanders Offense

A year after an NFC Championship appearance, this 2nd year Commander offense has dealt with injuries and struggled to find consistency. This will be Jayden Daniels third game back from his knee injury, Deebo Samuel’s second game back and potentially the return of Terry McLaurin.

Kliff Kingsbury runs the offense and he runs a college style offense, complimenting QB Jayden Daniels. You will see a lot of hurry up offense. Receivers will spread out wide and they like to run the ball with the spread. Kingsbury is creative when crafting run plays, a lot of moving bodies on the offense line.

They focus on getting the ball to outside, run towards corners. Screen plays. This game will be important for your safeties to play well. After giving up huge run days to the Jets and Panthers, they are in for another big run attack.

Overall, the Commanders need a chance to settle into their offense and get a rhythm going…a get-right game. Great, the Cowboys lead the league in letting offenses have a get-right game.

Commanders Defense

Washington’s defense is very familiar, as they are led by two former Cowboy coaches, HC Dan Quinn and DC Joe Whitt Jr.

They play a lot of zone defense, particularly nickel defense with 5 DBs on the field. Expect Jake Ferguson to be treated like a WR with a corner on him. They play the best against the pass, and Dallas will have two starting WRs coming back. Dallas will look to get those guys going, but it is important to not lose focus on the weak points of Washington.

They have given up the run. This should be a week where Javonte Williams and maybe Jaydon Blue to get more reps. The Commanders have dealt with some injuries, Dorance Armstrong has a hamstring issue. On the Wednesday practice report, Washington rested most of their starters. With Von Miller, DaRon Payne and Javon Kinlaw.

The focus on controlling the ball for Dallas. They will need to operate with almost perfection with their offense and special teams units.