The Cowboys have had three possessions so far Sunday. They have 17 points.
Dallas leads Washington 17-3 with 9:55 remaining in the first half, outgaining the Commanders 175 to 102.
Dak Prescott has completed 14 of 17 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. He has a 3-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and a 10-yarder to tight end Dalton Schultz.
Lamb already has 89 yards on five catches.
The Cowboys are coming off an upset loss to the Giants, but they seem intent on not ruining the home opener.
Cowboys linebacker Dee Winters (shoulder) is questionable to return. They were already playing without DeMarvion Overshown, who has a strained right hamstring. Shemar James has replaced Winters.
Commanders Clips
The Cowboys are without starting safety Malik Hooker, who fractured his forearm in the season opener. P.J. Locke started for him, but lasted only three plays.
He was injured with 8:48 remaining in the first half on a non-contact play.
Locke was running toward Rachaad White, who caught a short pass from Jayden Daniels, when he suddenly pulled up.
Locke needed help getting off the field but walked slowly to the X-ray room after an examination in the sideline medical tent.
He is questionable to return with a foot injury.
Markquese Bell has replaced Locke in the lineup.
The Cowboys lead 10-0, and CeeDee Lamb has five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. He was wide open in the end zone for a 3-yard score. Dak Prescott is 8-of-11 for 101 yards and a touchdown.
The Cowboys settled for Brandon Aubrey’s chip-shot, 25-yard field goal on their second drive after stalling at the Washington 6.
The Cowboys and Commanders each won’t have two key players on Sunday.
Dallas had already ruled out safety Malik Hooker (forearm) and linebacker DeMarvion Overshown (hamstring). Hooker and Overshown, both of whom are starters, will miss 1-2 weeks.
The Cowboys’ other inactives are wide receiver Camden Brown, outside linebacker James Houston, offensive lineman Ajani Cornelius, cornerback Caelen Carson and running back Tyler Goodson.
The Commanders will play without linebacker Frankie Luvu (groin) and tight end Chig Okonkwo (hamstring). Both are starters.
Their other inactives are wide receiver Luke McCaffrey, quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, cornerback Isaac Yiadom, defensive tackle Ricky Barber and offensive guard Tanoa Togiai. Kaliakmanis will serve as the emergency third quarterback.
Last Sunday, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reported that the Seahawks were seeking up to four second opinions regarding quarterback Sam Darnold’s injured glute tendon.
Those second opinions came back better than expected.
Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reports that the various medical opinions were encouraging, and that Darnold is expected to return sooner than the Seahawks had initially believed. Darnold is not as injured as the Seahawks had initially feared.
Last Sunday, it was believed he could miss 4-6 weeks. Now, he possibly will return for Week 3 at Washington and, if not then, Week 4 vs. the Chargers.
For today at least, it’s Drew Lock time in Arizona, as the Seahawks try to extend their winning streak over the Cardinals to ten, and a franchise-record overall winning streak to twelve.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold left the Week 1 game against the Patriots after five snaps, with a hip injury becoming a glute tendon injury for which the team reportedly sought multiple second opinions.
Amid initial concerns that Darnold could miss 4-6 weeks, he could be back three weeks after the injury happened.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports that Darnold is “recovering faster than anyone had anticipated,” and that he could return to practice “in some form or fashion” this week. That doesn’t mean he’ll be ready to go against the Commanders in Week 3. He could be back in Week 4 vs. the Chargers.
A significant game is looming in Week 5. That’s when the 49ers, who beat the Seahawks in Seattle last season, return to town for what will be a potentially massive NFC West showdown.
Today against the Cardinals, it’s Drew Lock. The Seahawks have beaten Arizona nine straight times, tying the longest active streak by any franchise against another team. Via NBC Sports research, the Chiefs have also beaten the Commanders nine straight times.
More importantly, the Seahawks have now won 11 in a row. That equals the longest streak in franchise history. Which means, obviously, that a win today would give Seattle its first-ever 12-game win streak.
Commanders wide receiver Stefon Diggs punctuated his first touchdown as a member of the team with a celebration that hurt Washington on the field and hurt Diggs in the wallet.
Diggs jumped on the goalpost and wrapped his arms and legs around it, which drew a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct during the game. The NFL announced on Saturday that Diggs has also been fined $14,926 for the infraction.
The score put the Commanders within two points, but the penalty pushed them back 15 yards and forced a kick rather than a conversion try. The Commanders ultimately lost 24-22 when another two-point try failed with a minute to play in the game.
Diggs had four catches for 55 yards in his Commanders debut and he’ll try for his first win in the uniform in Dallas on Sunday.
The Cowboys added a pair of linebackers to their roster for Sunday’s game against the Commanders.
Justin Barron and Curtis Robinson were both elevated from the practice squad on Saturday. The two players will revert back after the game.
The moves come after the Cowboys ruled DeMarvion Overshown out for this week because of a hamstring injury. Rookie Jaishawn Barham is set to start in his place on Sunday, which means he’ll also be wearing the green dot to receive play calls from coaches.
Barron appeared on special teams in two games for the Cowboys last season. Robinson appeared in 14 games and made three starts for the 49ers last season.
The Cowboys are better at home than they are on the road. Especially when an NFC East team is visiting Dallas.
Quarterback Dak Prescott has a record of 22-2 in division games played at home. Via NBC Sports research, it’s the best winning percentage at home against division opponents (91.7 percent), with a minimum of 15 starts, since the merger.
Prescott also has won 19 home games against NFC East teams in a row since 2017. He’s one game away from tying Tom Brady’s record of 20 straight home division wins since the merger, at 20.
For Washington, quarterback Jayden Daniels has lost five straight starts. A loss would tie him for the second-longest losing streak for a Washington quarterback since the merger. Robert Griffin III and Joe Theismann lost six in a row. In 2023, Sam Howell lost eight in a row.
It won’t be easy for Daniels. Prescott has had a high level of success against Washington, overall. He’s 13-2 against them, with 32 touchdown passes and five interceptions. At home against Washington, Prescott is 7-0 with 20 touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
When discussing the Week 1 loss to the Eagles, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn made a specific point of saying that cornerback Mike Sainristil didn’t play well enough. Sainristil says he’s staying positive.
Quinn doesn’t often call out players by name, but during his Monday press conference after Sunday’s loss, he named Sainristil, whose coverage breakdown gave up an Eagles touchdown pass, as one of the players who needed to correct the way he played.
“We’ve definitely identified a few things that, ‘Hey, man, these are the things that we have to get corrected,’” Quinn said.
“Mike’s a very good competitor. I’m certain that we will, but to have that type of play and just not have the right focus at the right time, completely not acceptable.”
Sainristil told reporters in the Commanders’ locker room this week that he won’t let that get him down.
“People sometimes focus on, What did I do bad? But you don’t play a game and do all bad things. You have to focus on the good things, keep the good things good,” Sainristil said. “I’m not somebody that sits there, whether I played good, whether I played bad, a few good plays or a few bad plays, I’m not going to sit there sulking.”
Sainristil said he’ll always try to get better, whether his coach calls him out or not.
“For me, it’s just focusing on, What can I do better, every single day?” Sainristil said. “Whether I played good or whether I played bad.”
The latest Cowboys’ season of high expectations started with a thud on Sunday night, when Dallas lost to the Giants in the regular-season opener.
In a Friday appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones acknowledged that the outcome had something to do with the opponent.
“They just did a good job all over,” Jones said regarding the Giants. “And I will tell you, they were better than we thought they were. I’m anxious to see how New York continues to play, but I really — combination of things. We didn’t play as well as we should play and can play, but they played better than I thought they could.”
Was it also a product of the Cowboys not being as good as Jones had thought they would be?
“Of course,” Jones said. “Well, and to say it that way, I’d rather say it more positively. We’re not at the level that we thought we would be.
“I can give you a lot of reasons, logical reasons. We’re dealing with a conceptually new coaching staff, dealing with a ‘new’ to a lot of people out there. The defensive scheme. And then you’re dealing with people who are fresh into that scheme. Now, you got some really veteran players out there. But still, they’re changing up some of the things that they’re doing. Are they capable of doing what we’re asking? Absolutely they are.
“But the bottom line is that the last time, frankly, the last time that, from my perspective, that we had as many changes on defense, we had as many changes with the coaching staff, had as much change with the personnel, and had as much change with the team was the first year Jimmy Johnson was our coach, and we won one football game.
“Now, things have changed, and you can come in with less experience than you could in those days. But having said that, it’s a challenge now to put it together and get it ready to go. We didn’t play well last week. I said — what I meant to say was, New York had really more to do with it than I thought they would. Than I thought they would. And so that’s a factor. But Washington could have a lot to do with it here Sunday, too, so we’ve got to be ready to step up the level of play. There’s no question.”
It’s a sensible explanation. But it cuts against the vibe that had been created before the season, when season tickets were being renewed and hype was being generated and fans were being persuaded that things would be different this year.
What should the real expectations be? With Jerry suggesting that the Cowboys undergone an overhaul they haven’t experienced since the year Jones bought the team, they perhaps should be a lot lower than they were a week ago.
