{"id":442133,"date":"2026-09-20T16:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442133\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T16:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:56:16","slug":"five-washington-commanders-key-to-beating-dallas-cowboys-in-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/442133\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Washington Commanders key to beating Dallas Cowboys in Week 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commanders and Cowboys face off on Sunday afternoon. For the (checks notes) 133rd time<\/a>. Rarely do these matchups come so early in the season.<\/p>\n

Honestly, it\u2019s kind of a bummer that the first contest falls in Week 2, but the Commanders were dealt this hand and simply must play it well. They can\u2019t lose their second straight NFC East game in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

That would create a huge hole with lots of digging required to get out. That\u2019s why the Commanders must play well and come away with a victory in Week 2.<\/p>\n

An 0-2 record is no fun. An 0-2 division record is even worse<\/a>. They\u2019ll need excellence from several key players to leave Dallas with a win. Here are five (not named Jayden Daniels) that must show up big for Washington:<\/p>\n

The veteran No. 1 receiver wasn\u2019t a big part of Washington\u2019s offense against Philadelphia. He wasn\u2019t targeted until the fourth quarter, as the Eagles did a bunch to take him away. Washington still went to him in key moments late in that game, but he rolled with the punches like a veteran should.<\/p>\n

Still, designing plays to get him involved early on Sunday could assist with McLaurin finding a required early flow.<\/p>\n

There should be room for him to work within the suspect Dallas secondary, and that connection he and quarterback Jayden Daniels refined all spring and summer must show up in important, explosive moments. It\u2019s hard to keep McLaurin down. Seems borderline impossible in consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s top running back led the Commanders with 63 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. While there were some hard runs in there, it\u2019s still just 3.9 yards per clip<\/a>. He\u2019s got to be more efficient running the football in a zone scheme that suits him, but that\u2019s not the most important thing.<\/p>\n

Hold onto the freaking ball.<\/p>\n

Croskey-Merritt got the ball punched out with roughly four minutes left in the fourth quarterback. That simply can\u2019t happen. The Commanders acknowledged that point with actions, putting Kaytron Allen in the mix on that key comeback attempt.<\/p>\n

That was a shot across the bow if there ever was one.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think the ball security,\u201d Quinn said, \u201cthat\u2019s definitely the premium for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Croskey-Merritt must act like a feature back on Sunday, holding onto the ball while being a steadily productive force. If not, snaps may start going to others.<\/p>\n

The Commanders will play Sunday without captain and green-dot wearer Frankie Luvu. That means Leo Chenal will step in and take most every snap next to Sonny Styles. Washington paid him handsomely<\/a> to be a key defensive component.<\/p>\n

Chenal was more of a key reserve and roving chess piece in Kansas City, but he must be an every-down, stabilizing force in this one. There\u2019s no second option with Jordan Magee on injured reserve, so Chenal has to be good in coverage, a stout run defender while shutting down plays before they turn explosive. That doesn\u2019t sound super glamorous, but it\u2019s a required job with Luvu unavailable.<\/p>\n

The Commanders pass rush got off to a relatively strong start in Week 1, with impactful play when blitzing or applying a four-man rush. Now Washington adds Dorance Armstrong to the mix upon his reinstatement from a one-game suspension.<\/p>\n

Armstrong\u2019s return from suspension and an ACL tear that cut an excellent start to the 2025 campaign short comes in Dallas, where the Texas native got hurt<\/a>. It\u2019s a full-circle moment to be sure, and he joins Odafe Oweh and K\u2019Lavon Chaisson as edge rushers.<\/p>\n

Quinn not-so-subtly hinted at the fact Armstrong could join those two in a personnel package that has all of them rushing the passer at once. Armstrong can bring it from the interior, too, and should make the Commanders four-man rush super dangerous.<\/p>\n

Have you reached Mikey fatigue at this point? The cornerback\u2019s Week 1 gaffes have been rehashed and written about a ton <\/a>in recent days, to the point its put-up-or-shut-up time. There isn\u2019t much more to say other than that he\u2019s got to play better, and has a tough task ahead against the Cowboys receivers.<\/p>\n

Commanders fans should keep an eye on his play and his usage in this one, to see if Washington\u2019s staff sticks with Sainristil or decreases his snaps some. He\u2019ll still be involved in that game in some capacity, and simply can\u2019t give up the explosives that proved so costly in Week 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Commanders and Cowboys face off on Sunday afternoon. For the (checks notes) 133rd time. Rarely do these…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,45964],"class_list":["post-442133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-washington-commanders-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}