Dallas City News

The season is over for the Dallas Cowboys and anyone who paid even a fractional level of attention over the offseason had a funny feeling that this sentence would be written on the final day of the league’s regular season as a whole.

Upcoming weeks and months will provide more time for further introspection and analysis on what exactly went wrong across the blunder that was 2024 for America’s Team, but that so many were ready for it to end and unbothered when it did is pretty representative of who the Cowboys were this past season and what kind of expectations they set for themselves.

Their final game against the Washington Commanders saw them start Trey Lance at quarterback for the first time, a microcosm of how many decisions they have made in recent history have come too late or without a ton of logic to support them.

The final quarter was a bit interesting, but it was ultimately the 10th loss of the season.

Here is our recap from Sunday’s game as written across each quarter. We have sorted it in chronological order so it can be read as the game happened.

Welcome to the offseason.

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1st Quarter

The game began with Washington on offense, a matter that Micah Parsons seemed to take personally.

Parsons got after Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels early on and in the process reached double-digit sacks on the season. This marks the fourth straight season in which Micah has had double-digit sacks, making him the fifth player in NFL history to do it. All told the Cowboys stifled Washington and forced a punt.

This set Trey Lance and Co. up to work and they had a bit of success doing it. Trey hooked up with a handful of wideouts early on and the Cowboys were able to put a Brandon Aubrey field goal on the board to take the lead.

Defensively the Cowboys kept form and forced another Washington punt. Unfortunately they got nothing done and punted it right back. But then Washington did the same!

The quarter ended with Dallas holding the ball for the third time and with a lead at their back.

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2nd Quarter

Early in the second quarter it looked as if another possession for the Cowboys was going to stall out… it actually did technically.

After Dallas punted away to Washington they benefitted from a muffed punt and receovered it near the redzone.

Ultimately the Cowboys had to settle for another field goal which doubled their lead.

Washington seemed committed to not doing much on offense and punted again. Keep in mind that while they obviously knew they were playoff-bound that they played their starters in this game.

Stop me if you have heard this before… the Cowboys were forced to punt it away. That kind of game.

Finally the Commanders were able to score some points, although they dropped an easy touchdown before doing so. Washington put up a field goal with just under five minutes left in the half that narrowed the gap.

The next Cowboys possession crossed midfield around when the two-minute warning came. Dallas faced a 4th and 1 and decided to go for it with Hunter Luepke, clearly in the name of coming away with points before halftime.

Dallas got down near the goal line and went for it on fourth down in the final seconds of the half. Trey Lance had an amazing bit of scrambling to keep the play alive, but ultimately under threw Rico Dowdle and no points were found.

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3rd Quarter

As they deferred to start the game the Cowboys began the second half receiving the ball. They put together a lengthy drive that took up about half of the third quarter, but ultimately they had to settle for another field goal.

Washington took over for the first time in the second half and sent Marcus Mariota out at quarterback for Jayden Daniels. It was noted that this was a non-injury decisions which signaled that Washington was fine living for another day, one to come for them in the playoffs.

Mariota made some pretty quick work and some of it was thanks to a huge gain off of a free play that the Dallas defense gave up. Ultimately he found Zach Ertz for a touchdown to give the Commanders their first lead of the game.

The quarter ended with Dallas threatening after Deuce Vaughn put together his finest work of the season on the drive.

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4th Quarter

The Cowboys held the ball to start the quarter and almost scored a touchdown for the first time in the game. Unfortunately Jake Ferguson could not quite get two feet down in time, but Brandon Aubrey booted his fourth field goal of the day to give Dallas the lead once more.

Washington put the pedal to the metal on the next drive and found themselves back in the endzone thanks to a Marcus Mariota run. This gave them a four-point lead and satisfied members of Team Tank.

The Cowboys took over and were clearly intent on making this a game, something they certainly did. Trey Lance and friends moved down the field and picked up a huge pass interference penalty that Jonathan Mingo drew to really set them up nicely. Ultimately Rico Dowdle cashed in for his second rushing touchdown of the season which gave the Cowboys a 3-point lead once more.

Washington and Dallas traded punts which set the Commanders up for a game-tying or game-winning drive.

That drive was successful as Marcus Mariota ultimately found Terry McLaurin for the game-winning touchdown. Ballgame. Season.

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Notable Recent News

With the offseason up next for the Cowboys all eyes will be fixated on what the team is going to do at the head coach position.

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NFL News Relevant To The Cowboys

If the Commanders lose this game they will visit the Philadelphia Eagles in the first round of the playoffs; however, with a win the Commanders would set up a situation where Philly would host the Green Bay Packers.

Nothing will make last season’s playoff loss for the Cowboys better, but Green Bay doing the same to the Eagles would not hurt.

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Up Next For The Cowboys

The offseason begins.