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For the first time ever, the Cowboys will play a game against the Commanders. Sure, the Dallas-Washington rivalry is one of the best in sports history, but this matchup will be a first since the franchise adopted the new nickname.
But will the results be the same this year? The Cowboys not only swept Washington in 2020, but scored 56 points in the game at AT&T Stadium last December. That was the most points scored by the Cowboys in this series, and tied for the third-most in franchise history.
Can Cooper Rush keep it going this Sunday and lead Dallas to a third-straight win?
The DallasCowboys.com staff gives their ‘gut feeling’ for this Week 4 matchup.
Kyle Youmans: Dallas has dominated on the defensive side of the football and started to click offensively. Week 4 could be the perfect storm where both units to come together and click for a big win against a “down” opponent. However, there’s something giving me pause about this being an “easy win” against Washington. They’re beginning to enter desperation mode with two straight losses and what better way to get back on track, than to beat your bitter rival on the road? My prediction is that Dallas gets off to a slow start. They’ll allow some early points, before locking down defensively while showing they’re the better team. The offensive rhythm picks up late and Dallas overcomes a slow start with a dominant second half and two fourth quarter scores to win, 27-10.
Rob Phillips: This league really is week to week — remember how the Cowboys responded against the Bengals after a really disappointing Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay? — so it’s too convenient to just assume Washington can’t play any better than last Sunday’s blowout loss to Philadelphia. The Commanders offense averaged 27.5 points and got two 300-plus-yard performances from Carson Wentz in their first two games. That said, I’m not picking against the Cowboys defense in this matchup. They’ve been too deep and too disruptive in these first three games. Micah Parsons is feeling much better this week, and he’s heard his teammates tease him all week about not getting a sack against the Giants. I don’t expect that to become a streak. I’ve got the Cowboys improving to 3-1 with a win Sunday, something like 24-17.
Patrik Walker: Yes, the Commanders allowed Carson Wenz to be sacked nine times last week by the Eagles and, yes, the Cowboys sacked Daniel Jones five times and pressured him a career-worst 24 times in their win over the Giants, but don’t go eating the cheese, folks. It’s most definitely a game the Cowboys should win handily, but they’ll need to “guard against false confidence” – as head coach Mike McCarthy so eloquently put it – and execute for 60 football minutes. That said, I don’t believe there is a such thing as a trap game when Micah Parsons is involved, and he’s very displeased with having had no sacks against the Giants (something teammates poked fun at The Lion about). I expect Parsons to lead the charge in that category and or the defense to then feast on Wentz’s mistakes (e.g., fumbles, INTs) from there, and another solid outing by Rush (and the rushing attack) helps the Cowboys break the 30-point mark for the first time this season. 31-13, Cowboys
Nick Eatman: I see a couple of scoring trends that are certainly favorable for the Cowboys. On offense, they’ve scored 3, 20 and 23 points. Defensively, they’ve allowed 19, 17 and 16 points. So if the Cowboys can keep both of these patterns going, it’s going to make for some fun times here over the next few weeks. Not sure, that will keep up forever, but I’m going with it this week. Before I get to the final score, I will see if I can capitalize off last week’s prediction of Trevon Diggs getting his first pick of the season. This week, I’m going to say KaVontae Turpin finds the end zone one way or another – probably on offense. But I do think Cooper Rush will get his season-high in passing yards, surpassing 235. He might even flirt with his career-high of 325, set last year in Minnesota. I see the Cowboys taking a lot of deep shots in this game. Give me Dallas, 24-12.
