Washington Owned by Cowboys - And By Dak Prescott

Dallas supplants Washington as NFC East champions

Remember when Dallas-Washington was a rivalry?

The Cowboys treated their longtime NFC East spoils like a rag doll Sunday night, flinging the Football Team around AT&T Stadium’s artificial turf with little regard for Washington’s feelings or playoff hopes.

The 56-14 deconstruction by Dallas cemented a fact that became official before kickoff in Arlington. The Cowboys (11-4) are the class of the division, and the WFT (6-9) is nothing more than a footnote in season that witnessed a resounding changing of the guard.

Yes, the WFT won the NFC East last year and reached the playoffs. The Cowboys were a mess in Mike McCarthy’s debut campaign, namely due to Dak Prescott’s season-ending ankle injury.

The roles were reversed in 2021. WFT quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was lost before the season was a game old, giving way to overmatched Taylor Heinicke. Prescott returned with a vengeance, out to prove he again belonged among the elite at the position.

Washington wanted to stand in the way of Cowboys’ ascent, and surprisingly found itself in position to contend for the division title and knock Dallas down a notch just two short weeks ago.

A four-game winning streak and the Cowboys coming to FedExField offered that opportunity. Instead, the Cowboys escaped enemy territory with a 27-20 win to snuff out WFT’s division dreams.

Two weeks later in Texas, Washington’s faint postseason aspirations evaporated before most fans settled into their JerryWorld seats. Prescott and the Cowboys humiliated their longtime rivals before a national TV audience and put the rest of the NFC on notice.

The Cowboys learned before game time they had clinched the division, thanks to the day’s earlier games. Ron Rivera's club was essentially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.

Prescott is 9-1 against Washington in his career. WFT did win both games last season, but with Prescott out, those now seem like a fluke.

True rivals bring out the best on one another. That’s not happening in this classic series that goes back to 1960.

Washington has been snakebit by COVID-19 this season, but the franchise hasn’t had much to celebrate in years. The loss Sunday clinched the seventh losing season in the last nine.

Only two Dallas seasons over the same time span have ended south of .500. America’s Team also owns a 13-5 edge over those nine years.

The Cowboys have Washington’s number. And now its division title.

AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth