Commanders key numbers, Week 12: Washington embarrassed at home by Cowboys

So much for a bounce-back week.

Coming off a mini bye week after playing on Thursday Night Football in Week 11, the Washington Commanders were outplayed in all facets by the Dallas Cowboys in a 34-26 loss.

One team was missing its starting quarterback and their top defensive back. They dealt with a blocked field goal, a missed field goal, a strip fumble, and a blocked punt on consecutive possessions. The other team was the Commanders.

As was the case against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, the Commanders' offense was lackluster for most of the game, only showing signs of life late in the fourth quarter with the team down 20-9.

Yes, the five touchdowns and field goals the teams exchanged in the final five minutes of the game made for some good entertainment. The 31 combined points were the second-most in a contest since the turn of the century. For Washington, it was all meaningless once the clock hit zero.

The Commanders tried to pull the same magic they had done against the Chicago Bears, but lightning didn't strike twice. After cutting Dallas' lead to five with 3:02 remaining, Washington saw KaVontae Turpin muff a kickoff return, only to run past the entire Commanders special teams to score a touchdown.

After a quick field goal on the next drive and a forced three-and-out, Jayden Daniels found Terry McLaurin for an 86-yard touchdown to bring the game within one. Instead of going for the win, Dan Quinn decided to send out Austin Seibert. That didn't end well. After missing the extra point, the contest was all but over.

You can get lucky once. But if you keep playing with fire, you're going to get burned.

Washington's historic offense that was seen in the first quarter of the season is gone. Daniels, although still performing at a high level, has come back to earth over the past few weeks. The lack of receiving threats outside of McLaurin has continued to become more evident. Maybe the hot start set expectations too high, but this three-game losing streak is a reality check that should humble this team.

There isn't much worse than losing to a division rival after being heavily favored to win. Having the team rub it in your face is salt in the wound.

Let's review key numbers from the Commanders embarrassing loss to the Cowboys.

Commanders key numbers from Week 12 loss vs. the Cowboys

112.96: If you had Cooper Rush outplaying Daniels on your bingo card, then I might want to ask your advice on some lotto numbers. Dallas' quarterback finished 24-for-32 for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He is now 2-0 in starts against Washington with a combined 112.96 passer rating.

16: The Commanders' offense accumulated most of its stats in the final five minutes of the game, finishing with just 16 fewer yards of offense in that span than it did over the remainder of the clash. In the last five minutes, the Commanders had 198 total yards of offense and 17 points, while across the rest of the game, the team had 214 yards and nine points. That's not a recipe for success.

2.38: On three of their first five possessions, Washington started in Dallas territory. They still couldn't take advantage. Across those three possessions, the Commanders only managed 31 total yards and three points across 13 plays, for an anemic 2.38 yards per play.

28:19: It took 28 minutes and 19 seconds of game time before McLaurin had his first reception. This comes after the wideout saw zero targets in the first half last week against the Eagles. All the blame can't fall solely on Washington not having too many other receiving threats as CeeDee Lamb had seven receptions for 40 yards before the former third-round pick's first catch.

25: After only punting 11 times over the first six games of the season, Tress Way has seen a major uptick in his touches with 25 punts over the past six games. If that doesn't show you how the offense has regressed, I don't know what will.

1: Sunday marked the first game in the Super Bowl era where there were two kickoff returns for touchdowns (both by the Cowboys), two missed extra points (both by Seibert), and a blocked punt (by the Commanders). It also happened to be the first time since 1977 that Washington blocked a field goal and a punt in the same game.

78: Coming into the game, Washington had the seventh fewest penalty yards per game, 43.4, but played very undisciplined. The Commanders had all of the first-half penalties in the game and finished with 8 infringements for 78 yards. Four of the 8 penalties resulted in automatic first downs for Dallas, with a defensive pass interference on Noah Igbinoghene also wiping out an interception.

40%: Seibert, who has been a revelation for the Commanders, missed a field goal early in the game from 51 yards, before connecting from 51 with 1:40 remaining. He dropped to 2-for-5 (40%) from beyond 50 yards, while also losing his perfect streak on made extra points.

3: Frankie Luvu continues his hot streak with 3 passes defended and a tackle for loss in the game. However, the Washington defense was not able to get enough pressure on Rush, who was sacked just once, after being taken down five times last week against the Houston Texans.

113: The Commanders had their worst offensive first half all season, finishing with just 113 total yards against a team that had come in giving up 402 yards per contest over their five-game losing streak. Daniels had just 57 passing yards and a 37.8 passer rating at the half to go with 25 rushing yards.

-2: Washington came into the game with the best turnover differential in the NFL (+6), with the Cowboys having the worst (-12). However, the Commanders had a -2 differential with three turnovers (2 interceptions, 1 fumble lost) to the Cowboys' one (1 fumble lost).

With a game against the Tennessee Titans coming up, Washington needs to get things sorted quickly. The AFC South squad is coming in with momentum after a win over the Texans.

Washington could be missing both pieces of their running back tandem and will be facing off against an overperforming Will Levis, who has completed 67% of his passes and amassed a 111.8 passer rating against three top-10 defenses in a row - something the Commanders are not.

The bye week can't come soon enough.

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