{"id":471845,"date":"2025-12-26T01:46:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471845\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T01:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T01:46:24","slug":"cowboys-second-half-offensive-struggles-reemerge-in-washington-after-electric-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/471845\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowboys\u2019 second-half offensive struggles reemerge in Washington after electric start"},"content":{"rendered":"

LANDOVER, Md. \u2014 When it mattered most in Thursday\u2019s 30-23 win over the Washington Commanders<\/a>, the Cowboys<\/a> did what they needed to. Their ability to convert first downs during winning moments should be commended.<\/p>\n

But a follow-up question: Should it have been that difficult? The way they started on offense would\u2019ve suggested no.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys offense started off fast against a Washington defense that\u2019s struggled mightily this season. They scored touchdowns on their first three possessions, punctuated by quarterback Dak Prescott\u2019s 86-yard touchdown pass to KaVontae Turpin<\/a>. The Cowboys led 21-3 at that time. <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was huge, knowing going into this game teams, I guess you could say, not playing for anything, you wanted to get on top and not give them any hope,\u201d Prescott said. <\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Cowboys allowed Washington to rebuild hope as the game went on. Their defense allowed the Commanders and third-string quarterback Josh Johnson to claw back into the game, but it was their offense that struggled to put the Commanders away until Prescott found George Pickens for a 21-yard gain on third-and-1 with under two minutes left. <\/p>\n

The Cowboys scored three Brandon Aubrey field goals after they went up 21-3. That sputtering performance, from a scoring perspective, came days after they were shutout in the second half in Sunday\u2019s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to do a better job of finishing,\u201d Prescott said after the game. \u201cThis game could\u2019ve stayed lopsided.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were multiple reasons for it. Prescott said the Commanders deserve some credit for how they competed and executed after allowing three straight scores to start the game. Left tackle Tyler Smith said their early start was sparked by a \u201chappy marriage\u201d of running the ball and throwing it and playing a clean game devoid self-inflicted mistakes. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think where they got us was coming out of the half we kind of stalled ourselves a bit,\u201d Smith said. \u201cKind of got ourselves behind the sticks. We didn\u2019t convert the way we wanted to, so it\u2019s about being consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offensive performance overall was inconsistent. Prescott, for example, had the eighth-lowest completion percentage of his career (51.4%). He was also sacked a season-high six times. <\/p>\n

Still, the Cowboys did just enough to win, even if was a stark difference from how they began. Smith said he recalled there being moments where it wasn\u2019t easy for the offense to move the ball. He said he kept reminding himself to keep swinging, knowing they would be in for a battle in the second half \u2014 something that proved to be true. Ultimately, the switch from success to struggle didn\u2019t affect that mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re weak-minded, yeah, definitely I would say that,\u201d Smith said about the second half struggles potentially affecting them. \u201cYou need a strong mind. When things are going your way in football, it\u2019s like a movie \u2026 but how are you going to be on fourth and short? How are you going to be when you give up a sack? How are you going to be when you\u2019re getting edged when you don\u2019t want to get edged? You have to be a competitor through all phases of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cowboys showed that in the end \u2014 even if the beginning indicated it didn\u2019t have to be that much of a struggle. <\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, us not finishing the way we wanted, but at the end of the day, we had the ball with two minutes and we needed a first down,\u201d Prescott said, \u201cand we did that and got the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LANDOVER, Md. \u2014 When it mattered most in Thursday\u2019s 30-23 win over the Washington Commanders, the Cowboys did…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":471846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,10768,7311,13555,1596,8998,1232,358,3187,50025,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-471845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-cowboys","11":"tag-dak-prescott","12":"tag-dallas","13":"tag-dallas-cowboys","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-tyler-smith","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115783348170135232","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}