Sturm: Decoding Schotty - Dak & CeeDee Were Clinical

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Decoding Schotty - Dak & CeeDee Were Clinical​

The Cowboys know the way to win right now – score and score and then score some more.​

Bob Sturm
Sep 22, 2026



Every week for almost two decades, we spend an entire day evaluating the Cowboys offense in this space. We have called it “Decoding” over the many years and then the name behind the decoding is the man with the play-sheet. This is where we try to figure out the tactical and strategic plot-lines of the game and get a feel for how well it worked out for that side of the ball. For those of you new here, two things: 1) ask questions of anything you don’t quite understand and 2) I don’t claim to have all the answers, but willing to seek them. We also have many coaches in our audience who help make us all smarter.

Here we go. Our objectives for today:

• Overall Offensive Evaluation vs Washington.
• The Offense Pace Setting Is Imperative.
• A Huge Career Accomplishment for Dak Prescott.
• What the heck is wrong with this run game so far?
• Look at plenty of All-22 film and see what we can see.

Let’s dive in and check out the first win of 2026:

OVERALL OFFENSIVE EVALUATION​

Let’s start at the start for this evaluation of this side of the football. If this offense plays remotely close to this well in any game this season, odds are very good that they will win a ton of football games, make the playoffs, and have a real chance at making a run. And it might not matter how much the defense improves to make this all happen.

In other words, there is a line that we draw at a certain point, and it looks something like this:

If the Cowboys can score 30 points and not turn the ball over, they will win a huge majority of their games. In fact, allow me to prove it.

In the history of this franchise, there have been 67 games in which the offense has scored 30 or more and had zero takeaways. The record is 63-3-1. I assume we all enjoy 94% win percentages, right? Ninety-four percent over a season puts you at 16-1, so I am almost positive that 16-1 would be an acceptable outcome.

Here are the four times in Cowboys history that they did not win a 30/0 game:

• 11/26/98 - Lost 46-36 to Minnesota on Thanksgiving in the Randy Moss game (163 yards, 3 TDs).
• 10/27/13 - Lost 31-30 at Detroit in the Megatron game (329 yards, TD).
• 11/25/21 - Lost 36-33 to the Raiders on Thanksgiving in OT.
• 9/28/25 - Tied Green Bay, 40-40, in the Micah Parsons return game.

The other 63 times — 29 times with Dak Prescott — the Cowboys won all of these games. So, no, it isn’t a perfect recipe, and it would be nice to see your defense do something, but if your highly compensated offensive stars are going to perform as you might hope they would, you will win the football game.

Ninety-four percent win rates are something to consider. And so is the recipe right now and until we are more convinced this defense is ready to pull its weight. We would state it thusly:

The Cowboys offense must attack with intent offensively to generate points at a very high level. They must be aggressive and set the pace and the tone for the entire team. They must.

In Week 2, we saw that.



So, many good things above. Thirty-seven points is wonderful, of course. Zero giveaways and four explosive plays (20+) are ideal. The 8.1 yards per passing attempt is outstanding. Huge success rate passing the ball, and then incredible at the key moments, with 64% on third down and 75% in the red zone.

This, my friends, is why we can argue that all of Washington’s missed chances might have made the score closer, but there is zero indication that Dallas was going to fail on offense. Because of that, if they needed 50, they could have gone and gotten 50. This offense won the game with little resistance from the new and improved Washington defense.

Dallas was nearly unstoppable.

The Offense Pace Setting Is Imperative​

The offense has to know what is at stake when every game begins. This is why I continue to ponder the idea of punting the ball away to open the game against the Giants when facing a 4th-and-inches. Scoring on the first drive is not mandatory, but we can argue that having an early lead will change everything all season about how the defense can operate.

We see it clearly in how the Cowboys face dealing with the run in New York without any mercy, but against Washington, the Commanders could not do much of that at all in the second half because they were chasing the score. Same with rushing the passer. Score determines a lot in this sport, so the offense can actually make the life of a growing defense so much easier if it hands it a proper setting.

But we talk about getting points every quarter, and it was nearly symmetrically perfect against Washington.



10 points in the 1st, 7 in the 2nd, 10 in the 3rd Quarter, and 10 in the 4th Quarter. This makes the opponent quite uncomfortable in knowing two important and game-changing things:

1. Washington knew they were playing from behind all night.
2. Washington knew they had to score every drive to keep up.

Those two game factors tilt everything on both sides of the ball. Now, the important thing to remember is that the other team is not always going to comply. Washington is not as good as Baltimore or Houston, for instance. And then Jayden Daniels injury played a huge role. But, again, the offense gets the opening kickoff and sets the pace and everything else is so much better. In Week 1, the Cowboys took several drives to find their pace and that will not work.

A Huge Career Accomplishment for Dak Prescott.​

The Cowboys postgame press notes offered this:

Dak Prescott has won 20 straight home games against NFC East opponents, tied with Tom Brady for the longest home win-streak by a starting quarterback against divisional opponents since the 1970 merger.

And this:

Dak Prescott completed 26-of-31 passes (83.9%) for 279 yards and four touchdowns in today’s win. With his 24-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb, Prescott became the Cowboys all-time leader in passing touchdowns with 249.

I realize that it is 2026 and there are still Cowboys fans who are not quite sure if Dak is an outstanding QB, but Sunday offered another reel of plays where he did very difficult things and made it look very normal.

He is now the career leader in nearly every category for regular-season accomplishment. Allow me to stop you and say that it won’t mean as much if he never figures out the playoffs, and I agree. But I do think it’s weird that some people cannot enjoy his ability at this point in some of these outstanding games. This might be the only position in sports where someone has an amazing night in the regular season and, instead of enjoying it, they want to offer a tutorial on QBs from 30–50 years ago to confirm that they did more.

We agree! But enjoy the journey and his relentless efforts to climb the mountain eventually. I think he knows what he hasn’t done. It is still OK to enjoy a Luka Doncic or Cooper Flagg 53-point game without reminding them they have not won it all.

Anyway…

Dak Prescott Next Gen Throw Chart​

This was extraordinary. Everything he tried seemed to work. And he kept throwing to CeeDee Lamb because why would you stop?



Please notice the 158.3 passer rating to Lamb. That is the maximum available.

As per usual, the personnel shows us that Dallas is really good at 11 personnel, but they want to get 12 and 21 personnel to be more of a weapon as we go. I bet we see plenty more in Brazil.

What the heck is wrong with this run game so far?​

Through two weeks - it is early – Dallas has no running game. Well, they are 30th (shout out to Cleveland and Green Bay who are worse), but 67.7 yards per game and only 3.46 yards per carry is brutal.

So, we put a reel together of these bad runs. If we take out Dak Prescott’s scrambles, the actual running game was 17 runs for 40 yards. It provided almost nothing in this game and wasn’t a whole lot better in New York.


When I look at that reel, I see a lot of things that are not great. It looks like Cooper Beebe had a tough go of things, but as we go through it, it seems the entire right side was not what it normally is. Terence Steele and Beebe had rough weeks, in my opinion. The rest of the line was solid. Also, Washington is sending extra backs into the fray and you can see Javonte is dealing with them before he can even get back to the line of scrimmage.

If I was defending the Cowboys, I am not sure I would start by taking the run away and leave CeeDee and George in tasty situations, but that is the conflict and why our bar for this offense is so high. They should be feeding.

OK, let’s carry on and work through the offensive film that stuck out to me. 15 plays here and after I saw some of my film buddies adding slates to their film, our guy Josh Clevenger thought he would add them to ours. Hopefully, they enjoy the sincerest form of flattery.

Let’s dive in.

FILM STUDY​

1Q - 14:26 - 2-2-DAL 42 - J.Williams up the middle to DAL 42 for no gain (L.Chenal; D.Payne).​

The only thing I would say about this play – the first run of the game – is that Washington is sure it is a run and they are not really respecting the cross motion to Flournoy. The more Dallas thinks they are tipping plays or playing tendencies, they need to burn someone who isn’t even worried about deception. Washington knew this was a run and made it into a poor run with ease.

1Q - 12:40 - 1-10-WAS 39 - D.Prescott pass deep middle to C.Lamb to WAS 16 for 23 yards​

We often talk about using Pickens to free up Lamb and Lamb to free up Pickens. This is what that looks like. First, Flournoy with a motion again and the play-action. Then, you put the split-safety into conflict. Pickens is running to the pylon and if Dak wants to take a shot, it looks like he has it. But, he also sees Lamb in front of the safeties with nobody close. This is a much easier chunk play, so let Pickens clear them out and then feather an easy gain right into the teeth. People ask, how do you leave Lamb that wide open? Well, you are making sure that Pickens doesn’t get an easy touchdown. It is making them pick their poison. Wherever the safety goes, Dak picks the other one. Great design.

1Q -11:21 - 2-8-WAS 14 - D.Prescott scrambles right end to WAS 3 for 11 yards (J.Reaves; L.Chenal).​

Here is the one good run all day. Dak scrambles and everyone sits back enough that he goes and gets a 1st down on his own. He wanted the end zone, but this will have to do. This was the 11-yard run and it looks like decent coverage behind it. Mingo might have a chance, but Dak sees an opening and goes for it.

1Q -​

22 personnel and this looks like that run on the goal-line from Week 1, but it is all a set-up for the pass to Lamb once he fakes a block. Love how he slow-plays it and then Dak has to hurry the throw before Lamb gets to the end line. This is chemistry and it is very difficult to stop. Cowboys have their early lead and the entire game changes because you go put the opening drive in the end zone like that.

1Q - 8:05 - 1-10-DAL 36 - D.Prescott pass deep right to C.Lamb ran ob at WAS 26 for 38 yards (N.Cross).​

Love this as the drive starter on the 2nd possession. Play-action and then against a Cover 6 look, they have 9-Turpin and 88-Lamb next to eachother with Turpin running the go-route. His speed terrifies and honestly, he is open. If Dak wants to go for it all here, it is there, but he opts for a wide open Lamb because Turpin draws multiple players. Again, Dak is just playing the percentages. He has a great chance at a home run, but he can just take an absolutely free 38 yard gain because Lamb has been left with nobody around him. Easy money.

2Q - 10:13 - 3-1-WAS 28 - D.Prescott pass short right to G.Pickens to WAS 19 for 9 yards (J.Reaves). PENALTY on WAS-J.Reaves, Unnecessary Roughness​

3rd and short. Dallas is the best 3rd down team in the NFL through two weeks and this is a play-action rollout where we have levels that allow Dak to look at Ferguson, look to run to the marker, or throw back to Pickens. Jeremy Reaves lights him up with a punishing hit and takes the penalty. Reaves is quite a story as he is now a hard-hitting starting safety after years of being a special teams guy who has been with Washington since 2018. He knows his job and he definitely was trying to let people know he was there. Dak’s throw across his body on the run like that was pretty nice.

2Q -​

This is all about your personnel. 13 personnel is 3 TEs and a RB, but then Dallas goes empty out of that and spreads them out. This is a play without Lamb or Pickens on the field, but they have Washington ready to stop the run and then they push out a 5-out passing formation. From there, they see a Cover 4, but with Ferguson vs 54-Chenal, all Dak has to do is let him clear the LB drop and this is another easy seam throw. The Cowboys are just flat-out scheming the pants off the Washington defense. They are making everything easy on Dak on this day.

2Q -​

This one got away. The Cowboys are a little thrown off by the Chenal blitz that happens as Terence Steele is losing his block, too. Once this happens, all heck breaks loose and Dak takes the sack on 1st down. You will notice Jake Ferguson is wide open if Dak gets a little protection, but they will not like this one on the film study. On 1st down, you are more likely to eat a bad play, but it turned into the one drive killer of the entire afternoon.

2nd half:

3Q - 12:42 - 1-10-DAL 36 - J.Williams up the middle to DAL 35 for -1 yards (N.Cross).​

This is the first play of the 2nd half and these bunched formations seem to be inviting run blitzing DBs to blow up conventional runs. Is Dallas too predictable in this situation? 25-Nick Cross is sitting on it and Javonte cannot even take a step. We saw a lot of runs where the backside was on top of Dallas runs and this part needs to be cleaned up before Baltimore and Houston. They have to give Williams a small chance. He has none here.

3Q -​

Big 3rd and 8 here and this is Dak Prescott mastery of the situation. Tyler Booker is trying to pick up a hard-charging Sonny Styles and Dak steps up in the pocket. Now, the Commanders are determined not to allow Lamb to run free, so now Dak just takes the Jake Ferguson option as they high-low the zone corner. Once he fades back to Lamb, you are conceding the shorter throw to Ferguson. Dak’s decision making on this day was nearly perfect.

3Q - 8:04 - 3-3-WAS 22 - D.Prescott sacked at WAS 26 for -4 yards (K.Chaisson).​

This is a really good call by Washington and Daronte Jones as they fooled Dak. Tom Brady called this out, but the motion man shows man coverage, but Washington is in zone. Dak eats the ball when young QBs probably throw a pick right there on 3rd and short and the sack is charged to Terence Steele who loses to K’Lavon Chiasson, but this one is definitely a coverage design that caught Dallas nicely. Good call to the Washington DC. If Dak sees it again, he hits an open Ferguson. But, the protection did not allow him time to see it.

3Q -6:37​

This is not the same as the first touchdown to Ferguson as this time Chenal has a safety behind him. But, this is a bang-bang play that requires both a precision decision, throw, and a TE who knows he is about to take a shot and still holds on to it nicely.

4Q - 7:23 - 1-10-DAL 29 - J.Williams right end to WAS 46 for 25 yards (N.Cross). PENALTY on DAL-G.Pickens, Offensive Holding​

Here we have Spann-Ford at fullback and let me tell you, this guy is awesome. Ryan Flournoy is awesome, too, as we have said a number of times about how he tries to send messages with his blocking. We probably don’t need Dak running down there, to be honest. Yes, Pickens holds here and it is a good call, but there is still plenty to see from this play as the Cowboys try to get their run game cooking.

4Q -​

This was Dak Prescott showing off late as he chased Touchdown 249. This is 989 and the Cowboys love running this over and over again. They don’t always try the turkey hole shot, but Dak was feeling it. Far hash and he has to get the ball there fast, so that the split-zone safety doesn’t jump in there and pick it off. But, Dak has a cannon and like we said, he can do it. This is masterful and do not underestimate how hard that is for most QBs.

4Q - 3:13 - 2-6-WAS 24 - D.Prescott pass deep right to C.Lamb for 24 yards, TOUCHDOWN.​

And now, the record breaker. 989 again and this time it is a trajectory throw to Lamb down the sideline against poor Mike Sainristil who has had a tough day. Throw it up and let CeeDee catch No. 249 and now no QB has ever thrown more touchdowns for the Dallas Cowboys than Dakota Prescott. I bet he gets to 350 before he gets out of here.

Quite a game and such an important win for a team that needed to feel good before they go to South American for what should be a physical war. They will need this offense to build in some cushion.

The defense is tomorrow. Lots to see there.