Brett's Cowboys Corner

Two teams trying to get their seasons back on track. The Cowboys and Commanders get ready to kickoff at AT&T Stadium to take control of 2nd place of the NFC East, and begin the push towards Philadelphia.

Dallas moves past a bad road game against Carolina with a chance to pick up a divisional win at home. Though if it is anything like the previous Cowboy home games, expect 5 quarters of high scoring football. Just hopefully a winner will be decided this time.

Washington is dealing with some injuries at wide receiver, which should give a struggling Dallas secondary a chance to have some confidence building against a group they should be better than. A great opportunity to force a turnover and lock-up some rookies and 2nd year players.

DALLAS	WASHINGTON
Jack Sanborn: Coming back from concussion, the defense has been poor in the run game since he’s been out.	Javon Kinlaw: Playing against rookie Tyler Booker who is coming back from injury. Disrupt Dallas offense.
Caelen Carson: Playing his first week, off IR. With Diggs out, Carson will have the opportunity to get big playing time. No one has played well overall in the secondary.	Jacory Croskey-Merritt: Missing some offensive weapons, can have a big day as the past two running backs had against Dallas.
Ceedee Lamb: A bit more obvious. But coming back from injury, he will look to settle back into that WR1 role.	Zach Ertz: Test the Cowboys LBs. Needs to make up for 2 missing WRs.

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The Keys to Victory-

1 – Win The Coaching Battle.

Brian Schottenheimer and Dan Quinn worked together as coordinators in Dallas in 2023. But interestingly in 2022, Schotty was hired as a coaching analyst and worked directly with Quinn and his defense. They supported each other, as Brian learned new things about defenses and Quinn could build a game plan hearing the tips of our an offensive mind would attack the defense.

“What I had Brian do, ‘I want you to be that person taking on that game.’ So if you were in Tampa, ‘I want you to be [offensive coordinator] Byron Leftwich,’” Dan Quinn said. “Not how you would attack, but how they would.”

“I would recommend it to any young coach if you have a chance, and you’re an offensive guy, go to defense for a year and vice versa,” Schottenheimer said. “Why? You learn so much about what motivates them in terms of is it based off of personnel, the calls, how do they adjust formations on defense?”

That year, Schotty was in every defensive meeting. He learned the inner workings of defense, but more importantly for this week, he learned the philosophies of a Dan Quinn defense. A group that he will be seeing today.

It was an important role for Brian Schottenheimer in his journey to becoming a head coach, but we will see if there is any competitive advantage that it can give him to beat Washington.

2 – Stop The Run.

The Commanders are struggling finding consistency with their offense, and different injuries between the receivers, running backs and the quarterback certainly has not helped them. It has been reported that both Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel won’t play today.

The Cowboys are getting a break facing a not so threatening receiver core. At least it better not be for this poor secondary…though Dallas needs to keep an eye on the run game. As they gave up well over 100 yard rushing days the past two weeks.

The Cowboys will face Jacory Croskey-Merritt, a back who’s name is gaining traction in the NFL. He only has three games with over 50+ rushing yards, with a 100+ yard day against the Chargers. Hopefully Dallas won’t add their name to that list.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt has averaged 6.8 yards per carry across 27 carries out of 11 personnel formations this season (183 yards, TD), the 2nd-most among 28 running backs with at least 20 such carries, trailing only Rico Dowdle (7.3).

The Cowboys defense has allowed the 3rd-highest explosive run rate (17.6%) and the 2nd-highest success rate (51.5%) when facing designed runs out of 11 personnel this season. In Week 6 against the Panthers, they allowed Rico Dowdle to gain 96 yards across 16 carries out of 11 personnel formations, including 3 carries that gained 10+ yards.

Important to note, Jayden Daniels has a great running ability and can pick up first downs on scrambles. Though this season, especially after the knee injury, the amount of designed runs for Daniels has gone down.

3 – Let The Offense Work Naturally.

Always try to include a key about the offense, but there is less worry on this side of the ball. The quick key is to keep rolling as they have been doing. Unfortunately, to win games you need to come away with a lot of points, high 30’s have been the results.

Two things that change this week. Dallas is going against a guy who knows them really well. Former DC Dan Quinn, so that is a matchup to watch. Trying to be creative in that regard.

Also, as the Cowboys get all these weapons back. Don’t forget what has been working for the past few weeks. Don’t force the ball to Lamb and Turpin a bunch if not necessary.

Cowboys get a second chance with a Commanders loss last week. A win gets them second place in the NFC East. Overall a needed victory for morale and to keep that locker room tight.