Well, at least “A Christmas Story” was on full-repeat last Thursday. The Washington Commanders’ 30-23 loss to rival Dallas saw the Burgundy and Gold shoot its eye out for the 12th time this season.
Defensively, they allowed touchdowns the first three times the Cowboys had the ball, as the visitors converted 4-4 fourth downs in that stretch (they’d finish 6-6 on the day). And even when the offense, led by third-string quarterback Josh Johnson, was finally able to crawl back into this one, they had to settle for field goals when time on the clock started to become as much of an enemy as the score.
First Down: Johnson completed 15-23 passes for 198 yards but came up woefully short on third down (more on that below), making one wonder what needs to happen for Washington to get perennial practice-squad QB Sam Hartman on the field for a regular-season game.
Rookie Bill Croskey-Merritt made his first move to get more carries in 2026 with his 72-yard touchdown run, but not lost in the glare of his two 100-yard games this fall are six outings where he was held to fewer than 30 yards. Second-year defensive tackle Johnny Newton tallied three sacks; is that the start of something special or just a late-season mirage? And what do we read into Jake Moody (9-9 on field goals this fall) and his 51-yarder?
Second Down: Philadelphia’s 13-12 win over Buffalo keeps the Eagles in contention for the No. 2 seed, as they’d need a win over Washington plus a Chicago loss against Detroit to move past the Bears. The Bills’ failed 2-point conversion in the final minute of regulation delivered New England its first AFC East title since 2019 (their 11th straight at the time).
Week 17’s early window saw Pittsburgh fall at Cleveland 13-6 after Aaron Rodgers’ fourth-down pass fell incomplete, setting up a Sunday night showdown for the AFC North to wrap up Week 18. Meanwhile, the best matchup on paper gets shoved to Saturday night with San Francisco and Seattle battling for the NFC West and home-field advantage.
Third Down: Washington converted just one of their six chances to move the chains, with Josh Johnson completing one of four passes (a fifth was waved off due to defensive pass interference) for one conversion. He was also sacked once, while Jeremy McNichols lost two yards on his lone third-down rush.
Terry McLaurin made the only catch/conversion, while Deebo Samuel was targeted twice.
Yardage breakdown: 0-2 on third and short, 0-1 when needing four to six yards, 1-3 on third and long.
Flag on the Play: Washington was penalized 10 times for 71 yards (a defensive offsides was declined because the Cowboys posted an 86-yard TD pass on the play). Three of the four on offense were false starts (two on Brandon Coleman), giving the team an NFL-high 30 false start penalties this year.
Two of the five on defense were pass interference calls that jump-started the Cowboys’ first two touchdown drives, while there were also a pair of unnecessary roughness infractions. Most costly flag? I’m going to say it was Jeremy Reaves’ unnecessary roughness call on a second-and-goal from the Washington 9 that gave the Cowboys a first-and-goal from the 4. Dallas would score one play later to take a 14-3 lead and enjoy at least a seven-point cushion the rest of the way.
Fourth Down: The put-together-at-the-last-minute crew of Ian Eagle/Nate Burleson/Matt Ryan did a fine job, although I wasn’t a fan of the extended zoom call interviews with Clinton Portis in the first half and Emmitt Smith after intermission.
And even though Ian wasn’t as busy as his son Noah (who called the Detroit-Minnesota game for Netflix and the Baltimore-Green Bay game for Peacock), both were better than Rich Eisen, who’s standalone games should be the 9:15 a.m. European broadcasts. Washington’s 4:25 p.m. assignment on CBS for Week 18 means we’ll likely see either Andrew Catalon/Charles Davis/Jason McCourty or Spero Dedes/Adam Archuleta, if we’re lucky.
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