The Washington Commanders dropped to 4-8 after Thursday’s 45-10 Thanksgiving Day loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Amazingly, this was a competitive game entering the fourth quarter, with Dallas leading 20-10.
That’s when everything fell apart for the Commanders.
Washington’s defense finally broke, allowing two Dak Prescott touchdown passes — he had four on the day — and Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland intercepted Washington quarterback Sam Howell, returning it for a touchdown, his fifth this season and a new NFL record.
The loss was so bad that head coach Ron Rivera moved on from defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and secondary coach Brent Vieselmeyer on Friday.
It’s time to review Pro Football Focus‘ best and worst from Washington’s Week 12 game against Dallas. Here are the PFF grades.
Top 5 offense
- TE Cole Turner: 91.4
- WR Curtis Samuel: 86.8
- RG Sam Cosmi: 83.3
- WR Byron Pringle: 79.8
- LT Charles Leno Jr: 69.4
Cole Turner and Byron Pringle played 12 and 17 snaps, respectively. Samuel was outstanding for the Commanders on Thanksgiving. It was his best game of the season, and the Cowboys had no answer for him. He was Washington’s best player on Thursday.
Cosmi graded well, but he had his moments, good and bad.
Top 5 defense
- LB Cody Barton: 76.7
- CB Danny Johnson: 64.8
- CB Kendall Fuller: 62.6
- DT Daron Payne: 60.8
- DE Andre Jones Jr: 58.8
This was Barton’s first game back after missing four games, and he was easily Washington’s highest-graded defensive player. This is a trend for Barton, who had his best performance in Week 6, his last full game before an injury in Week 7.
There weren’t a lot of positives for the rest of the defense.
Bottom 5 offense
- WR Jamison Crowder: 53.4
- WR Dyami Brown: 52.4
- RT Andrew Wylie: 51.5
- TE John Bates: 50.4
- LG Chris Paul: 47.3
More problems for Washington’s offensive line. Wylie, as expected, struggled with Micah Parsons. The Commanders are still struggling at center and left guard.
Bottom 5 defense
- DT Jonathan Allen: 46.6
- DT John Ridgeway: 45.6
- LB Khaleke Hudson: 42.9
- S Percy Butler: 27.9
- CB Benjamin St-Juste: 27.6
Another rough day for the youngsters in Washington’s secondary. St-Juste was targeted 11 times and allowed seven receptions. Both Butler and St-Juste had tackle and coverage grades of under 30. Brutal. It’s no surprise that Washington made long overdue changes on defense.
Other notable grades
- QB Sam Howell: 55.6
- WR Jahan Dotson: 64.5
- WR Terry McLaurin: 63.3
- RB Brian Robinson Jr: 54.9
- S Kam Curl: 47.9
- LB Jamin Davis: 50.1
Howell had some good moments in this game, but he was picked off once and could have intercepted on two other occasions. His first half was better than his second half. However, he consistently had pressure in his face throughout the game. McLaurin had a critical drop in the game. Curl and the entire secondary struggled vs. Dallas.
