Jayden Daniels wants a win over Cowboys he can call his own as Commanders try to bounce back

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EDT, Fox.

BetMGM line: Commanders by 2.

Against the spread: Commanders 3-3; Cowboys 3-3.

Series record: Cowboys lead 79-49-2.

Last meeting: Commanders beat Cowboys 23-19 in Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 5, 2025.

Last week: Commanders lost to Bears 25-24; Cowboys lost to Panthers 30-27.

Commanders offense: overall (13), rush (2), pass (23), scoring (7).

Commanders defense: overall (26), rush (20), pass (23), scoring (13).

Cowboys offense: overall (1), rush (15), pass (2), scoring (3).

Cowboys defense: overall (32), rush (29), pass (32), scoring (31).

Turnover differential: Commanders minus-3, Cowboys minus-2.

Commanders player to watch

WR Luke McCaffrey. After playing in his first 19 NFL games without a touchdown, the younger brother of 49ers star Christian McCaffrey has scored in three of the past four games. That includes a 33-yard TD catch in Week 6 — his only reception of the game. The third-round draft pick out of Rice in 2024 is averaging 31.5 yards on kickoff returns, the highest rate for anyone in the league with at least 10 runbacks.

Cowboys player to watch

QB Dak Prescott missed both Washington meetings last season after tearing a hamstring eight games in. He has found the form of 2023, when he was runner-up in MVP voting and beat the Commanders twice to improve to 11-2 against them in his career. Prescott has thrown at least three touchdown passes without an interception in three consecutive games. A fourth in a row would put him in the company of Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Russell Wilson as the only quarterbacks to do that. He leads the NFL in completions (164) and is second in yards (1,617) and TDs passing (13).

Key matchup

The defenses won’t be on the field at the same time, but which struggling unit will get enough done to win the game? Dallas is 32nd in total defense, Washington is 26th. On paper, the Commanders have the edge because they’re a respectable 13th in scoring defense. The Cowboys are 31st in scoring, allowing 30.7 points per game. Both teams are having coverage issues in the secondary, which is good news for Prescott and Jayden Daniels.

Key injuries

Commanders: Washington’s top three wideouts are all out for Sunday. Deebo Samuel didn’t travel with the team to Dallas because of a bad heel; Terry McLaurin, Daniels’ favorite and best option, will miss a fourth consecutive game with a quadriceps injury; Noah Brown was placed on injured reserve this week with knee and groin problems, sidelining him at least another four games. … RG Sam Cosmi came off the physically unable to perform list on Saturday after being sidelined all season because he tore a knee ligament in the playoffs. … CB Jonathan Jones came off IR on Saturday after being out since hurting his hamstring in Week 2. … DE Dorance Armstrong, who spent his first six seasons with the Cowboys, is nursing a hamstring injury. He’s fifth in the NFL with 5 1/2 sacks.

Cowboys: WR CeeDee Lamb, rookie RG Tyler Booker and WR/KR KaVontae Turpin are trending toward returning after missing multiple weeks. Lamb and Booker have been out three weeks with high ankle sprains, and Turpin has a foot injury that sidelined him the past two games. … CB Trevon Diggs is out after sustaining a concussion in an accident at home Thursday night.

Series notes

Daniels didn’t beat Dallas during his dynamic rookie season in 2024. He threw two touchdowns and two interceptions in a 34-26 loss at home last November when the teams combined to score five touchdowns in the last five minutes. Daniels was watching when Marcus Mariota led the winning drive in a mostly meaningless regular-season finale last season. The Commanders were only playing for seeding after qualifying for the playoffs. Daniels didn’t play in the second half.

Stats and stuff

The Commanders have alternated wins and losses so far this season. … In each of Daniels’ four games — he missed two with an injured left knee — he has at least 200 yards passing and at least one TD pass, the first Washington quarterback to start a season that way since Kirk Cousins in 2014. … LB Von Miller is up to 133 sacks, moving him ahead of Lawrence Taylor and into 14th place since the NFL began officially recording the statistic in 1982. … LB Bobby Wagner is second in the NFL with 65 tackles. … Washington has just three takeaways this season; only two clubs have produced fewer. … The Commanders had three turnovers against the Bears, equaling their total from the season’s first five games. Daniels was responsible for two, an early interception and a late fumble on a botched handoff to RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt. The rookie seventh-round draft pick also lost his own fumble in that game, his second week in a row with a fumble. … Prescott is one game shy of Tony Romo’s club record of 67 games with a passer rating of at least 100. … RB Javonte Williams is tied for third in the NFL with five touchdowns rushing and fourth with 476 yards rushing. … TE Jake Ferguson has a touchdown catch in three consecutive games. Jason Witten, the club’s career leader in catches and yards receiving, is the only Dallas tight end with a longer TD streak. It was five in 2010. … If Lamb returns, he needs 51 scrimmage yards to be the fastest to 7,000 in club history. … CB Trevon Diggs has an interception in his past two home games.

Fantasy tip

Cowboys WR George Pickens has a five-game touchdown streak, with six total in that span. It’s already a career high. He has thrived in the three games Lamb has been sidelined, so the question will be how many targets he gets if Lamb returns.

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