The Morning After Wk 12 - The Turkey Leg Game

Bland does it again as Dallas celebrates Thanksgiving by destroying Washington.

There is much about this game that is incredibly repetitious as we ponder the details of a Cowboys’ Thanksgiving Day pounding of Washington, 45-10.

Before the game we knew that these two teams were going in different directions, but it took a few hours to fully see things materialize.

But, by the time things did run through the full game cycle, it was much like the games that have come before it. Dallas is really testing the resolve of the “this is the same Dallas team that always does this” crowd. If they do fall to a familiar fate as “they always do” it will have this odd subsection where they continue to do things that those other teams never did.

Yesterday was the 13th consecutive home win for the Cowboys – that is something last done from 1979-1981 in Dallas – and the last home game that had a reasonably competitive fourth quarter was on Christmas Eve of last season. You can certainly suggest that the applications of this factoid should not be misused, but you also cannot say you know of other times when Dallas has obliterated every visitor over the course of three months.

It hasn’t happened in decades.

In fact, if you want to push it a level further up the hill, how about this one: No team in NFL history has won its first five home games of the season by more than 20 points. I have no idea what to do with that number other than to say that if you are doing something that has never been done before, we should be extra cautious about saying this is exactly the same as we have seen again and again.

This game was not like many of the others where the opponent does not stay in the game from off the bus. It seemed very much like Washington had an opportunity to gather points in the third quarter that would have made it a one-score game and perhaps offer some pressure on Dallas. Then, like the Carolina game on Sunday, there was an opportunity to pucker up and show a nervy response.

Instead, the Cowboys stepped on the gas with such authority in both situations that you almost could see the reluctance of the opposing sideline to not make the Cowboys angry. You won’t like them when they are angry enough to break off another 25-point fourth quarter.

That was aided by yet another defensive touchdown, of course. Make it six times this season that the defense has scored – yes, five from DaRon Bland himself – which ties the all-time Dallas Cowboys record for an entire season of defensive production. That high was set in 2021 by the first year of the Dan Quinn defense, so to then equal it in 2023 demonstrates that there is no fluke involved.

That 2021 defense was led by Trevon Diggs intercepting everything in his vicinity and now Bland is doing the exact same thing. Quinn’s defenses are their own brand of offense and it shows a strength that pairs well with the other side of the ball that is setting its own marks at the moment with rhythm and booms.

That is the thing about the 2023 Dallas Cowboys. The offense and defense are now taking turns of dominance – sometimes in the exact same game. Both sides of the ball are not perfect, but they are close enough to terrify almost every opponent. They make it look easy and have done this in nearly every week since the bye. The exception being that 4th Quarter in Philadelphia where they fell one play short. That result – and the trip to San Francisco from early October – are pretty much the only things that hold everyone back from seeing this Cowboys squad from potentially what it is: a team that is on the path to some very big January results.