While defensive tackle Jer'Zhan 'Johnny' Newton had a career day, the Washington Commanders saw bad news on both sides of the trenches in Thursday's 30-23 loss vs. Dallas Cowboys
While running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt had the signature plays after accounting for both of the Washington Commanders’ touchdowns in Thursday’s loss, there was both good and bad to see on both sides of the trenches.
The bad news? The offensive line suffered another injury after center Tyler Biadasz went down in the first half before being ruled out with a knee injury for the rest of the second half, moving Nick Allegretti into the lineup in his absence after initially rotating with Andrew Wylie at guard. Biadasz’s status for next week is now very much up in the air he was spotted in a walking boot on his right leg and knee wrap postgame, per Ben Standig, while head coach Dan Quinn said he was evaluated for both a knee and ankle injury.
“Tyler had both a knee and ankle so hopefully sprains on both and we’ll get a better sense for - gets an MRI, imaging and that [Friday] but that’s where we’re at on him.”
With a unit already without Laremy Tunsil for at least this week and Sam Cosmi for the final two games, it makes the latest hiccup for a unit struggling with consistency in 2025. Brandon Coleman also went down in the second half before returning one play later.
The good news? The defensive line…sort of.
Washington recorded six sacks with Jer’Zhan ‘Johnny’ Newton anchoring efforts with three sacks against the Cowboys, bringing his total to five in 2025. His second sack of the day, teaming up with Preston Smith, helped force a field goal attempt to close the first half as his three sacks marked the most by a Commander defender in a single game since 2015 - when Preston Smith achieved the feat.
“I was in my zone. Whenever I catch fire, it’s hard to cool me off,” Newton said following the performance.
“The football knowledge, I kind of questioned him on that too. What did you see? Most often when I see a player have a good game, I say I want you to write some things down tonight that you saw, especially when it’s a division game because there will be some things that could repeat and you don’t want to have to wait until next year,” head coach Dan Quinn said of the second-year defensive tackle. “When you have anticipation of plays, that’s when you can really be at your best. There might be a set of a guard or a certain formation or something that could trigger you to say ‘I know what to do here, I know how to go make one’. And so that part of the football knowledge, I thought instinctually, those are big things. I felt that from him.”
The increased role came for Newton with Daron Payne sidelined, a chance that Newton admitted he was “always happy for.”
“I was talking to Chosen Anderson, he was like ‘just always be grateful of every opportunity you get, even in the meetings.’ I feel like that stuck with me since last night. I got a brother who would kill to be in this position. That stuck with me all day, all night.”
But it wasn’t all good after Washington allowed 211 rushing yards, the second consecutive week the Commanders have allowed over 200 yards on the ground and third time since the start of November. That includes allowing Cowboys running back Malik Davis to post his first career 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 103 yards on 20 attempts as Washington allowed 480 yards of offense, the second-most in 2025.