Commanders Vs. Cowboys (Game Two) - Studs and Duds (by @Tiller56)

If you though the Greg Manusky and Jack Del Rio defenses of yesteryear were bad, wait until you get a load of this! Dan Quinn’s unit make the aforementioned two look like the late Buddy Ryan.

The nightmare of a season continued for Washington as they fell 30-23 to the Cowboys at home. The silver lining… they remain inside the top 10 for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Below are my Studs and Duds of the game, followed by some notes.

Studs

• Bill Croskey-Merritt: Fan have waited all season to see the breakaway speed Bill possesses. It was on full display when he took a carry up the B-Gap, broke to the outside, and turned on the jets to go 72 yards untouched. For the game, the rookie had 11 carries for 110 yards and two scores.

• Johnny Newton: Santa Newton delivered the presents, and he did so in the biggest way possible. It what was easily his breakout game, Newton was completely dominate all afternoon, amassing nine total tackles (two for a loss), three sacks, six pressures, and five quarterback hits. This begs the question – was it the scheme he was being asked to play this season, or talent?

• Jake Moody: Moody made all three of his field goal attempts, one from 51 yards, to remain perfect on the season with Washington.

Duds:

• Quan Martin: Martin has struggled all season, and his deficiencies were on full display again Christmas day. He was caught flat-footed on Turpin’s long touchdown where he was supposed to have deep-third in cover three. Whether it’s blowing assignments, or missing tackles, Martin is a major liability on the back end of this defense. He may be one of the worst starting safeties in the NFL

• Mike Sainristil: Sainristil was getting run over, around and through (literally) all game. He’s shown poor coverage most of the season and on Christmas day, he was showing poor tackling. When it rains, it pours.

• Dan Quinn: The Cowboys’ offense put up 480 total yards and a whopping 28 first downs against Quinn’s defense, as this unit, YET AGAIN, showed to be undisciplined, continued to blow coverages and miss tackles. Dallas was four-for-four on fourth down and punted just once on the afternoon. Dan Quinn should have fired himself at the half.

Notes:

• With his 10 combined tackles on the afternoon, Bobby Wagner is just five tackles shy of reaching 2000 for his career.

• Ricky Barber was very active during the game, and the rookie picked up his first career sack to go along with five combined tackles and two quarterback hits.

• Ben Sinnott caught three passes for 29 yards and blocked his tail off during the game. I can’t figure out why Kingsbury refused to use him in the passing game most of the season.

• Brandon Coleman was not very good at left tackle (although he was playing banged up) committing two false start penalties and giving up three pressures during the game.
• Deebo Samuel was running hard after the catch and made some impressive plays – including his 41-yard catch-and-run where he knocked a Cowboys’ defenders helmet off at the end of the play. I’m glad we had Deebo here this season, but I do not want him to return for another year.

• Nick Allegretti entered the game for the injured Tyler Biadasz and the results were NOT good. He was a turnstile on the interior and generated very little push in the run game.
• Frankie Luvu continues to be undisciplined, and I can easily see why other fanbases around the league view him as a dirty player. He was flagged for a personal foul on a late hit after a Von Miller sack on Dak Prescott, and even though I clearly thought he made an honest mistake, I can see why Cowboys fans would take offense to it.

• Von Miller picked up another sack, giving him eight on the season. I also believe he got himself a nice bonus for reaching that total.
• Bring on Caleb Downes!