What we learned: Career years from stars help Cowboys to NFC East title

DALLAS — The Dallas Cowboys were tasked with winning on the road to claim the NFC East title in Week 18 and came out champions. Although they haven’t exactly been road warriors away from AT&T Stadium this season, the victory over the Washington Commanders played out like many of their home games, in blowout fashion.

A few weeks ago, winning the division felt like a pipe dream, but with the Philadelphia Eagles collapsing like a cheap pool toy, the Cowboys took advantage. Beating the Commanders handily after a sluggish start gave Jerry Jones’ team the No. 2 seed in the NFC and 12 wins for the third straight year.

Now they have a chance at two or more home games in the playoffs, as long as they keep winning. The Week 18 finale was a perfect ending to another great regular season for the Cowboys, and one in which they saw many of their top players enjoy their best seasons statistically. The postseason now awaits and as star pass rusher Micah Parsons put it, this is now about “legacy.” Before turning the page to what lies ahead, here’s what we learned about the Cowboys in their dominating 38 10 win over the Commanders in Week 18 to earn bragging rights in the East: While the team was on their way to ending the game early in the third quarter, head coach Mike McCarthy kept most of his starters in to hit milestones for the year.

Among the markers that Cowboys players hit in this season finale: Dak Prescott earned the NFL passing touchdown crown with 36. CeeDee Lamb ended the year with second most receiving yards, but 1,749 yards is a ridiculous number, and he led the league in catches with 135. He also topped the WR position in scrimmage yards and total touchdowns at 14.

Micah Parsons got his 14th sack of the year, a new career high. DaRon Bland picked off his ninth pass, which made him the NFL’s interception leader in 2023. Tony Pollard rushed for 70 yards, pushing him over the 1,000 yard mark for the second consecutive year. Tony Pollard also eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards in 2023.

He's the sixth running back in team history to have consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, joining Calvin Hill, Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith, DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott. Once the numbers were hit in the fourth quarter, McCarthy then pulled his best players. Kudos to the coach for getting his players their milestones and for their great statistical seasons.

With the team’s best players elevating their game in 2023, the Cowboys wouldn’t be in position to make some noise in the playoffs. When the Cowboys lost All Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs early in the year, it meant that they had to turn to their veteran cornerbacks to pick up the slack faster than anticipated.

2017 third rounder Jourdan Lewis was in the last stages of recovering from a foot injury that saw him miss half of the 2022 season, but he still wasn’t fully ready to play a large role. Diggs’ injury sped up Lewis’ timeline to contribute and it took some time for the former Michigan standout to get back into football rhythm.

Those days seem well behind Lewis now. Week 18 was another good game from Lewis, who has become one of the top defenders on the Dallas defense in the last few weeks. Against the Commanders, Lewis forced a fumble that gave the Cowboys great field position, which should’ve led to points if not for a blocked field goal attempt.

Lewis also made a few sure tackles to ensure that there wouldn’t be more yards after catch damage from the Commanders receivers while also playing well in coverage. Lewis is playing some of the best football of his career at a juncture where the defense could have been shorthanded. The Cowboys haven’t known much about how their rookie kicker would respond to adversity because he hasn’t faced much.

Through the first 16 games this season, Brandon Aubrey had made every field goal that he attempted, going a cool 35 for 35, which included making all of his kicks from over 50 yards. Strangely enough, he had missed three extra points, but Aubrey had been money otherwise. Against the Commanders, the perfect season went away.

Aubrey had a kick blocked and missed a short attempt one kick after to cause some nerves. Dear @dallascowboys fans I’m sorry for ruining Brandon Aubrey’s perfect season. Also, you’re welcome for the NFC East title and yesterday’s blowout win. Hopefully @gregolsen88 will be able to talk kickers with me again now Sincerely, KB (and all announcer jinxes all time) Even if there were brief moments of questioning – especially after what happened with Brett Maher last year – those concerns were quickly erased when Aubrey nailed his last kick, a 50 yarder late in the fourth quarter.

There was no loss of confidence from Aubrey, which should alleviate some worries heading into the playoffs where games often come down to clutch kicks. The worst thing to come out of the win against the Commanders was the injury to starting cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Late in the second quarter, the veteran cornerback was hurt defending a completion when he pushed a receiver out of bounds but landed awkwardly on his shoulder/arm.

Gilmore left the game and didn’t return, a sign of a significant injury. However, after the win, Gilmore had a sling on his shoulder and it was reported that the shoulder had popped out, and that he popped it back in. Gilmore is expected to play against the Green Bay Packers in Sunday’s Wild Card contest, but there will be questions about how effective he can be if the shoulder is in bad shape.

The Cowboys don’t have much depth at the cornerback position after their starters, so Gilmore’s health was the top concern leaving D.C. The most important thing that we learned, of course, is that the Cowboys have a champion’s makeup as the week 18 win earned them an NFC East title! Do you think the Cowboys are headed for success in the playoffs? Share your thoughts with Ben on Twitter @BenGrimaldi .

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