Forget any talk about bad calls, no calls, or even phone calls. A professional football team based in Washington D.C. went to AT&T Stadium in Texas and delivered an amateur performance. Washington allowed 42 points and 394 yards of offense – IN THE FIRST HALF – in route to an embarrassing 56-14 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
The most aggression the Washington defense showed in the first half was on the sideline when Jonathan Allen punched fellow defensive tackle (and college teammate) Daron Payne after an argument broke out between the pair.
“When things are going bad like they are, things get heated,” Allen said after the game. “I think everybody saw what happened. I think the important thing is to move forward from it. S**t happens. Brothers fight.”
“Just a little disagreement. Maybe the wrong place, wrong time to have it,” Daron Payne said in a press conference that lasted less than a minute. “It is between us. All good.”
Sadly, the performance still would not qualify as one of the year’s worst moments as the organization has already had to deal with more revelations about Dan Snyder trying to obstruct the Wilkinson investigation. The team’s head trainer being arrested by the DEA and, earlier this week, a player was the cause of a one-car accident that killed his passenger.
“I mean, if you look at the things that have happened in the last couple of weeks, we’ve dealt with a lot, but that’s football,” head coach Ron Rivera said. “That’s life. You’re going to deal with a lot in life. How you handle it, though, that’s the important thing, and we didn’t handle it very well tonight. That’s disappointing. We’ve got to be better than that. We expect to be able to win football games. We’ve got to be better than that as a group.”
The Dallas scoring drives were quick and efficient. The Cowboys intercepted Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke’s first pass, a deep shot to Terry McLaurin. Prescott hit Ezekiel Elliott on a five-yard touchdown pass nine plays later.
On its next series, the Cowboys made it 14-0 when Prescott found tight end, Dalton Schultz, on a nine-yard score.
Then the roof officially caved in. Heinicke was intercepted by defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence. Lawrence was attempting to bat the pass down but was able to catch it and return it 40 yards to make the score 21-0.
“Good play by them,” said quarterback Taylor Heinicke. “There’s nothing I could do. I was trying to throw the slant right there, and he just got a hand on it.”
For a brief moment, Washington was able to delay the inevitable. After hitting rookie wide receiver Dyami Brown on a 48-yard pass, Heinicke found Antonio Gibson on an eight-yard catch and run to cut the lead to 21-7.
It didn’t matter. The Cowboys scored on the following three possessions of the half, including 12 plays in the last 1:39 of the half to score 42-7 at the break.
Prescott was on the sidelines in a baseball hat before the third quarter was over, his final stats, 28 for 39 for 330 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a rating of 131.4.
That did nothing to slow the Dallas offense down, however. Backup quarterback Cooper Rush hit Malik Turner on a nine-yard touchdown pass at the start of the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 56-7, making it the highest point output by a single team this season. Heinicke finished 7 of 22 for 121 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
“You have to have a short memory. You can’t let this linger into next week,” Heinicke said. “Next week is a new game, and you can’t change what just happened. So, yeah, short memory, and then get out and play next week.”
Washington is now 6-9, only mathematically alive for the playoffs. The Philadelphia Eagles will come to Fed Ex Field for the home season finale on January 2nd, which figures to see more Eagles fans than Washington fans at the stadium.
The four-game winning streak is now ancient history. The front office can’t ignore the quarterback problem any longer. Washington must decide; trade for a veteran or do whatever it takes to move up in the 2022 draft far enough to ensure it can draft the college quarterback coaches and talent evaluators perceive has a chance to be a franchise QB.
There is a serious question to be asked, including whether this organization can win with the current front office structure or with an owner that has overseen one of the longest and worst losing eras in team history?
Only time will tell.