Cowboys-Commanders ending, explained: Special teams chaos leads to improbable win for the Cowboys

Teddy Ricketson

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Cowboys-Commanders ending, explained: Special teams chaos leads to improbable win for the Cowboys image

The Commanders came into a Week 12 divisional game against the Cowboys with a 7-4 record. Dallas was down its starting quarterback and was 3-7, so it seemed like a game in which Washington would take care of business.

It was anything but. 

The game was relatively low-scoring early. Washington had a field goal in the first quarter, Dallas responded with a field goal in the second to force a 3-3 score at halftime. Both teams scored a touchdown in the third quarter, but Washington's kicker, Austin Seibert, missed the extra point. When the fourth quarter began, the Cowboys were up 10-9. 

When the game ended, Dallas won 34-26. Here's what happened in a crazy fourth quarter.

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Cowboys-Commanders ending, explained

The fourth quarter continued the back-and-forth gameplay we had seen all day. Dallas finally broke through, and Brandon Aubrey nailed a 48-yard kick with 8:11 left, pushing the Cowboys' lead to four points. After a Washington fumble on the next drive, Dallas scored another touchdown. Cooper Rush found backup tight end Luke Schoonmaker for a 22-yard score. 

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The Schoonmaker touchdown apparently broke the seal on the game. Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels led a 69-yard scoring drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz. Daniels ran in the two-point conversion, and Washington was down three with three minutes left. 

Washington built some momentum on that scoring drive, right? Dallas speedster and return man KaVontae Turpin said no. After initially botching the ensuing kick off, Turpin picked up the ball, gauged the defense and ran for a 99-yard score. 

But the game wasn't over there. Daniels was able to drive down the field, but the Commanders' offense stalled on the Dallas 33. The rookie spiked the ball to stop the clock with 1:40 left. Seibert came on and nailed a 51-yard field goal to cut the lead to seven. Dallas went three and out on its next drive. Washington was forced to burn all its timeouts to get the ball back, however. 

That left the Commanders with 40 seconds left to score. Daniels found Terry McLaurin on a pass, and the wideout weaved through would-be tackles for an 86-yard score. All of a sudden with 21 seconds left it was a one-point game, with an extra point to tie it. 

Seibert had not missed an extra point all season ... until now. After a bad snap, the kick was shanked to the left. Washington remained down one point, and declared that they would go for an onside kick. Not only did the Commanders not recover the kick, but Juanyeh Thomas returned it for a 43-yard score.

Thomas could have gone down at any point on his way to the endzone, and it would have ended the game. Instead, he scored and gave Washington one more chance. The Commanders already had one win this season from a last second Hail Mary to beat the Bears. This time, though, the pass fell short of the goal line and it was intercepted by the Dallas defense.  

Despite multiple late comeback attempts, Washington lost the contest 34-26.

Teddy Ricketson

Teddy Ricketson Photo

Teddy Ricketson is a Digital Content Producer at The Sporting News. He joined the team in 2024 after spending the last three years writing for Vox Media as part of its DK Nation/Network team. Teddy does his best to support the South Carolina Gamecocks and Carolina Panthers, but tends to have more fun cheering on the Atlanta Braves. In his free time, he loves spending time with his wife, Brooke, and their two dogs, Bo and Hootie.