The Cowboys were six for six on fourth down against the Commanders, but why so many attempts?
The Dallas Cowboys managed to escape Northwest Stadium with a 30-23 win over the Washington Commanders to move to 7-8-1 on Christmas Day.
The Cowboys' offense rolled in the first half, scoring 24 points, before once again being shut down in the second, scoring just six.
That is now becoming a troubled area for the Cowboys, but against Washington, one part of their game was perfect. Yes, perfect.
The Cowboys were 6-for-6 on fourth downs as Brian Schottenheimer's offense had its way with Washington's defense, keeping it on the field for a whopping 87 plays.
The Cowboys' six fourth-down conversion, by the way, is tied for the most conversions in an NFL game since 1991.
But why so aggressive on fourth down? Why the "frenzy''
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"That was kind of the plan going in," Schottenheimer said. "The plan is you got to play yourself into those situations, and we weren't being cavalier, weren't being reckless. We were getting ourselves into a fourth down and two or three, and we trust our guys to make plays. I think it was six for six."
This could be looked at in a couple of ways.
The first is through Schottenheimer's eyes.
It was the plan if Dallas was in range to go for it. So, they did.
The other is given how easily Josh Johnson and the Commanders' offense sliced through Matt Eberflus' defense, so they didn't trust the unit to make a stop.
The Cowboys had possessions of 16, 22, 6, and 17 plays in the first half, going touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and field goal.
In the second half, Dallas had drives of eight, 13, eight, 16, and 12 plays, but scored just six points.
But the fourth-down attempts were a little eyebrow-raising.
Was it really part of the plan?
Or was it a subtle attempt to shield Eberflus' defense and yet another horrific showing?
Likely plenty of both ... with the strategy producing plenty of first downs.