Washington lost another heartbreaker that left fans speechless. The reeling Cowboys, looking like a modern MASH unit, entered Northwest Stadium and left with an improbable 34-26 victory.

The Commander’s anemic offense mustered just nine points through three quarters. Kliff Kingsbury’s deadly offense looked like it had been planned all afternoon — until he decided to take the training wheels off his starting quarterback and attack the middle of a Dallas defense playing in a Cover 2 grenade. Somehow, after playing terribly all game, Washington found itself in position to tie the game with more than 20 seconds to play after Terry McLaurin took a pass 86 yards for a dramatic touchdown . All it took was an extra points conversion to tie the game. Then disaster struck. A bad snap and an even worse kick gave the Cowboys a one-point lead. You can read the rest on ESPN…

Are the Commanders frauds after dropping their third straight game? I think this is going to be a very serious question that needs to be answered.

Below are my Studs and Duds from the game, followed by some comments.

Studs:

Frankie Luvu – Luvu was once again all over the pitch, this time putting together a team effort that yielded eight tackles, one for loss, three passes defended and two digs.

Bobby Wagner – I have to give Wagner his props. He played hard yesterday. He’s no longer a great cover linebacker, but he plays his assignments well and is rarely out of position. He put Luvu ahead for tackles with eight and also had a nice streak of Dowdle where he just knocked the ball away from the running back. He did get a costly passing penalty, but he fell to the ground and I don’t think the hit was intentional (although he deserved a flag).

Tres way – If nothing more, he handled Tyler Ott’s terrible snap, got the ball upright in time and even had the laces pointed outward. Did the snap still disrupt the timing of the kick – maybe, but Tress gave Seibert the chance to convert the extra point.

Duds:

Austin Seibert – Seibert missed a field goal (unfortunately) and two extra points. Now the snap was bad on the final extra point, but Way handled it well and got the laces pointed out in time for the kick to happen. Washington really needed those five points today.

Tyler Ott – You have ONE job: to put the snap in the hands of the holder or gambler. In the biggest moment of the game, when this snap meant the most, Ott sent a worm burner back to Tress Way on Seibert’s extra point attempt. UNACCEPTABLE!

John Bates – Bates’ only target of the game resulted in a fumble recovered by Dallas. It was a momentum shifter and a setback for Washington.

Noah Igbinogheen – Noah received TWO very expensive pass interference penalties. On the one hand, if he just turns his head, he gets an INT on an underthrown ball.

Jeremy Chinn – He had a huge hit that could have been ruled a fumble, but he also had multiple coverage errors, one that allowed an easy touchdown for Schoonmaker, and some missed tackles.

Cliff Kingsbury – The offense was NOT firing on all cylinders today – this after the “mini-bye”. I’ve asked this question before and I’ll ask it again: Has the NFL discovered Kingsbury? If I had to watch him call another screen I would pull my hair out! Washington’s offense was 4-12 on third down. MISERABLE!

Special Team Commanders – This was the WORST special teams performance I have ever seen two teams perform! The missed tackles and failed lane assignments on Turpin’s kick-off return were horrendous. Larry Izzo is a good coach, but this was an overall bad day for his unit.

• If you take a casual look at Jayden Daniels’ stats, you might wonder why he wasn’t listed as a Stud. however, if you actually watched the game, you know he didn’t play that well, and the majority of those yards came in what Dallas fans would call “garbage time.” 86 of his 274 passing yards came on one bizarre play by McLaurin. He missed a few throws in the first half and too often stuck to his first read. I will say the drops didn’t help him either, but the one Robinson let go through his hands on the screen should never have been thrown. He had to ground the ball at BRob’s feet or take off and try to make something happen with his legs. He did well with his legs, totaling 74 yards and a score on the ground, and showed up in typical fashion when the game was on the line with two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Can we blame Kliff for many of his early inconsistencies – probably.

• Terry McLaurin’s 86-yard run that should have set up overtime was beautiful. What wasn’t pretty was the disappearing act he performed for the better part of four quarters.
• I had Mike Sainristil on the stallion list, but I decided to remove him. I think he had a good game despite allowing a TD. The child continues to show that he can really play!

• Many fans will question Quinn’s choice to go for the extra point instead of the 2-point conversion, but I question the decision to bring Seibert back this week when he didn’t appear to be 100%.
• Noah Brown makes some great catches, but he drops too many passes for my liking.

• Daron Payne played well today. He was especially impressive on the punt rush, where he burst through the line and opened a lane for Mathis to block the kick.

• Quan Martin had a nice tackle for a loss and a huge field goal block. I think the touchdown against Schoonmaker was Chinn’s fault, but we may never know.

• Why does this staff keep playing Michael Davis?

• Every game, Benjamin St-Juste does something incredibly stupid, and it usually comes at an important moment in the game. How do you let a receiver run right in front of you on a double move with seconds left to play before halftime???

• Mathis doesn’t really fill up the defense’s stat sheet, but he had a big blocked kick.

• Why wasn’t Lucas used at right tackle when Wylie went out? Trent Scott is terrible!

• WHY don’t Sinnott and McCaffrey get more targets? Luke has one reception on one target and Ben was not the target.
• Washington was penalized EIGHT times for 78 yards!
• This is NOT a good football team.