Can the Dallas Cowboys deliver the guaranteed win vs. Washington? Here are some keys.
Coach Mike McCarthy has all but guaranteed a Dallas Cowboys victory on Sunday against the Washington Football Team.
Safety Jevon Kearse compared it to a playoff game because of its importance in the NFC East race and what is ahead for the Cowboys in a five-game stretch to end the season.
They remain atop the division with an 8-4 mark but Washington (6-6), winners of four straight games, are two games back and face the Cowboys twice in the next three weeks.
A win on Sunday would put the Cowboys firmly in control and likely back in contention for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
A loss, however, opens the door for chaos in Dallas.
Again, McCarthy has guaranteed the latter won’t happen.
“We know what people think of us,” McCarthy said. “We know who we are and where we are. We’re going to win this game. I’m confident about that.’’
McCarthy has no regrets about his guarantee and has no concerns about it serving as bulletin board material for Washington.
“We understand the urgency this time of year,” McCarthy said. “We understand the importance of this game. And we know who we’re playing. It was a clear, honest answer. So we feel good about it.”
The questions now revolve around what McCarthy’s confidence is based on, considering that the Cowboys have lost two of their last three games and three of the last five, and what do the struggling Cowboys need to do to win the game.
Stronger defense will back McCarthy up
Let’s start with the positives, and those don’t include the struggling Cowboys offense, which features seven of the team’s eight highest paid players in quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott, receiver Amari Cooper, guard Zack Martin and tackles Tyron Smith and La’el Collins.
The excitement in the Cowboys locker room is about a defense that has played better than expected behind rookie linebacker Micah Parsons and is now getting some reinforcements back from injury for the stretch run.
Two-time Pro Bowl defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, who is the lone defender among the top eight highest paid Cowboys, missed 10 games with a fractured foot before returning in last Thursday’s 27-10 victory against the New Orleans Saints.
Defensive end Randy Gregory will be back against Washington after missing the last four games with a calf strain.
So Sunday, the Cowboys will have their top three pass rushers on the field together for the first time since the season opener. They have played just 28 snaps together.
And that was before Parsons took off as a potential NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate with 10 sacks, 10 tackles for losses and 30 quarterback hits.
“It’s scary. The three-headed monster, you could say,” Parsons said. “It’s going to be exciting to all play together.”
And that doesn’t include defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, a projected preseason starter who missed the first 12 games with a dislocated elbow. Add in Trysten Hill, who missed the first eight games on injured reserve and the Saints game under NFL suspension, and the Cowboys will have all hands on deck up front for the first time all season.
“When you have five dominant rushers up front, it’s hard to send chips, it’s hard to slide the whole line,” Lawrence said. “Now it’s basically five-up protection – one-on-ones. I feel like no man in this world can beat me one-on-one, and that’s how I approach life. Having those guys out there, it’s a blessing to me – but also, having me out there is a blessing to them.”
Cowboys must fix struggles on offense
A blessing on Sunday would be for the Cowboys to regain some rhythm on offense as their recent struggles belie the stats that still have them listed as the league’s top ranked attack, with an average of 416.3 yards per game.
The Cowboys have struggled on the ground of late with running backs Elliott and Tony Pollard rushing for only 201 yards on 54 carries in the past three games combined.
Elliott has been bothered by a knee injury since October and now Pollard is nursing a foot injury. Both are expected to play against Washington.
Neither are helped by a reshuffled offensive line that suddenly lacks chemistry and continuity.
“I think it really falls in line with what you need to do here in December,” McCarthy said. “It’s execution is everything. We need to be better fundamentally. We’ve had very productive run game performances earlier in the year. We’ve had some times during the second segment of games where we weren’t in sync. It’s definitely a primary focus for us.”
And that goes double for the Cowboys passing offense that has been out of sync since a 30-16 loss to the Denver Broncos Nov. 7, due to press man-to-man coverage on the outside that other teams have similarly employed.
Cowboys receivers have failed to gain separation, and Prescott has been off.
Once considered a prime MVP candidate after tossing 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in the first six games, Prescott has seven touchdown passes and five interceptions over the last five games, and the Cowboys are 2-3 in those contests.
He missed one game in between with a calf strain.
“Yeah, it’s all about separation and spacing,” McCarthy said. “To be honest, go back to Denver. They came out and challenged us. They played a lot of match and man. I definitely see Washington taking that same approach.”
The Cowboys are confident in solving the Denver blueprint because they will have their top three receivers in Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and Michael Gallup on the field together for a full game for the first time all season. The group has worked extra with Prescott after practice this week to get their timing down.
“We’re going to have a lot of production coming forward,” Prescott said. “I still think our best ball is ahead. Obviously, we started off hot, went through a little bit of a lull. It’s growing pains. It’s just getting some kinks out. We’ve just got to continue to lock arms, be on the same page, trust all of the training that we’ve put in going back to the spring, and it will all play off.”
It better pay Sunday.
McCarthy has already guaranteed it.
