DQ Report, Wk 12 - The Daron Bland Episode

The Cowboys defense has discovered a high-quality starting corner out of necessity.

The Cowboys beat Washington with considerable strength and ease in a game that feels like ancient history. They won 45-10 and to be completely honest, as we sit here with the amount of time that has passed since last Thursday, there is barely a single Washington offensive snap that I remember, save for the one DaRon Bland ran back to set an NFL record.

I want to spend this episode writing about him, primarily.

First, for those who want the nuts and bolts of the game, I will do my duty, but I am absolutely “on to Seattle” in my head. It just wasn’t very memorable to find some points of conflict or intrigue that can measure up to Bland’s accomplishment will not be terribly easy.

So, here we go with the facts and figures for those who want them:

Washington did offer some resistance their first four drives. They have an offense that moves the ball. They are top-10 in passing yards and explosive plays and any of us who have watched Washington over the years know that we shouldn’t act like that is nothing. Eric Bieniemy and Sam Howell both have done enough to at least consider their places in the next iteration of whatever Washington becomes. They had 13 first downs and 10 points inside the two-minute warning of the first half. That is not going to set any records, but it also isn’t horrendous.

But, Dallas clearly came out in the second half and decided enough was enough.

The shutout they pitched in the final 30 minutes is more like it and although Washington did march into Dallas territory several times, it all felt academic as we were looking for pie in the kitchen.

NOTE: As we continue to alter these graphics so all can enjoy, we will put a checkmark with the green (for our colorblind audience) to denote that this is “above average” and something for red which signifies below average. If you just see the white ink, we will put that in the realm of “average or neutral”. For instance, Washington had the ball for nearly 37 minutes but lost by five touchdowns. We are not going to fret too much about losing time of possession in this case. Hope that sort of makes sense moving forward.

Overall, it was more of the same from Dallas when it comes to a larger picture of the performance. In fact, let me post the overall game-by-game results and show you what we are talking about.