Cowboys vs. Commanders: An Old Rivalry With New Stakes

Dallas and Washington have been making each other miserable for more than six decades. On Sunday, two teams already searching for answers add another chapter.

By Theo Marsh | The Doomsday Legacy

Some rivalries have to be manufactured. Cowboys-Washington never did.

In fact, the argument started before the Dallas Cowboys had even played a football game. More than six decades later, the uniforms have changed, stadiums have changed, generations of players have come and gone, and Washington even has a different name. But Dallas and Washington still know exactly what the other represents.

Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, one of the NFL's oldest arguments gets another hearing. This time, neither team can afford to treat it like just another chapter in the history book.

Two Teams Already Looking for a Reset

The Cowboys' 2026 season began with a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants, a game that raised uncomfortable questions about a Dallas defense that underwent significant change during the offseason. Washington's opener was closer, but the result was the same: a 24-22 loss at Philadelphia.

That leaves both teams 0-1 overall and 0-1 inside the NFC East. It's only Week 2. Nobody's season is ending Sunday. But 0-2 overall and 0-2 in the division is the sort of hole teams would rather discuss hypothetically than actually occupy.

For Dallas, there's another layer to it. This is the home opener. After an offseason of changes and an opening performance that didn't erase memories of last year's defensive problems, the Cowboys get their first opportunity to show the home crowd that something really is different. And waiting for them is Washington. Of course it is.

A Rivalry That Predates the Cowboys

The history between these franchises is unusual because Washington played a role in the story of how the Cowboys came into existence.

When Clint Murchison Jr. was attempting to bring an NFL franchise to Dallas, Washington owner George Preston Marshall opposed expansion into Texas. Marshall considered much of the South part of Washington's territory and wasn't particularly interested in welcoming a competitor.

Then came one of the strangest negotiating tactics in NFL history. Murchison's interests acquired the rights to Washington's fight song, then known as “Hail to the Redskins.” The basic proposition was wonderfully simple: if Marshall wanted his song back, Dallas wanted his support for expansion. A deal was reached. Dallas got its football team. Washington got its song. Professional football got a rivalry before the Cowboys had even taken the field.

Subtlety was apparently not required in the NFL of 1960.

When This Rivalry Meant Everything

For younger fans, Cowboys-Washington may simply feel like another NFC East matchup. It wasn't always that way. During the 1970s and into the 1980s, this was one of the games that helped define both franchises.

Roger Staubach. Bob Lilly. Drew Pearson. Harvey Martin. Tony Dorsett. On the other side came Sonny Jurgensen, Larry Brown, John Riggins, Joe Theismann and the famous Washington offensive lines of the Joe Gibbs era. The rivalry produced division races, Thanksgiving classics and games carrying considerably more than regular-season bragging rights.

Dallas and Washington have met only twice in the postseason. Both were NFC Championship Games. Washington won both: 26-3 after the 1972 season and 31-17 after the strike-shortened 1982 season, before going on to win Super Bowl XVII.

Those losses remain unusual pieces of Cowboys history: Dallas has controlled much of the overall series, but Washington owns its two postseason meetings.

The Mad Bomber and a Thanksgiving Nobody Forgot

Then there was Thanksgiving 1974. Washington knocked Roger Staubach out of the game with Dallas trailing 16-3. In came rookie quarterback Clint Longley, an unlikely backup who suddenly found himself at the center of the rivalry.

Longley rallied Dallas, eventually connecting with Drew Pearson for the decisive touchdown in a 24-23 Cowboys victory. For one afternoon, an obscure backup quarterback became “The Mad Bomber.” Longley's Cowboys career didn't become the stuff of legend. That afternoon did.

The Day a Funeral Wreath Changed Locker Rooms

Five years later came another episode that sounds almost too perfect to be true. Before the 1979 regular-season finale, a funeral wreath arrived for the Cowboys with a note suggesting Dallas' season was about to die.

Dallas rallied to beat Washington 35-34 on a late Staubach-to-Tony Hill touchdown, eliminating Washington from playoff contention. Cowboys defensive end Harvey Martin hadn't forgotten the wreath. After the game, he carried it toward the Washington locker room and tossed it inside. He later apologized, but the episode became another piece of rivalry folklore.

Dallas Has Owned More of the Series

The rivalry hasn't disappeared, but the balance has shifted. Washington's official Week 2 preview lists the Commanders at 47-81-2 all-time against Dallas and 18-44-2 on the road in the series.

Those numbers tell us something about the modern rivalry. History can make a matchup important. It can't make it even. Washington comes to Arlington trying to change that.

And Then There's Dan Quinn

As though Cowboys-Washington needed another connection, Washington is coached by Dan Quinn. Cowboys fans don't need an introduction. Quinn spent three seasons running the Dallas defense before becoming Washington's head coach. Now he's standing on the other sideline.

Washington also brings Jayden Daniels, whose mobility presents an immediate problem for a Dallas defense that surrendered 165 rushing yards to the Giants in Week 1. Washington's own scouting of the matchup has pointed to opportunities on the perimeter after what New York showed against Dallas.

If Dallas hasn't corrected its problems containing movement and quarterback runs, Daniels is exactly the wrong quarterback to see next.

Dallas' Defense Gets an Immediate Second Test

Christian Parker's debut as Dallas defensive coordinator didn't go according to plan. The Giants scored 28 points, and Dallas now has another complication at the heart of the defense.

DeMarvion Overshown will miss Sunday's game with a hamstring injury. Head coach Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Friday that rookie Jaishawn Barham will start at middle linebacker and wear the green dot, putting him in charge of relaying Parker's defensive calls.

That's a significant responsibility for a rookie in his second NFL game. And the quarterback across from him happens to be one of the league's more dangerous mobile players. Welcome to the NFC East.

Dallas' Offense Has an Opportunity, Too

Washington's defense held its own for stretches against Philadelphia, but explosive plays were costly. That makes CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens an obvious pressure point. Washington's own Week 2 analysis identified limiting those two receivers as one of the defense's primary challenges.

If Dak Prescott can get the ball to Lamb and Pickens downfield, Dallas has a chance to force Washington out of the patient offensive approach it would prefer and make Daniels answer possession for possession.

More Than Nostalgia

Nobody on Sunday's field needs to remember Harvey Martin carrying a funeral wreath through Texas Stadium. Jaishawn Barham wasn't alive for the Triplets. Jayden Daniels wasn't around for RFK Stadium. Many of today's players probably know Clint Longley primarily because someone brings him up every Thanksgiving.

That's fine. Rivalries aren't preserved because today's players recreate yesterday's hatred. They're preserved because the games keep acquiring new meaning.

Sunday already has some. Two teams. Two season-opening losses. Two division losses. A Dallas defense needing to prove Week 1 wasn't a preview of the entire season. A Washington quarterback capable of attacking exactly what gave Dallas trouble against New York. A former Cowboys defensive coordinator returning to AT&T Stadium as Washington's head coach.

The names have changed. The stakes have changed. Even Washington's name has changed. But for more than six decades, whenever Dallas and Washington have met, there has usually been something worth remembering when it was over.

Sunday gets the next chance.

Because Cowboys-Washington doesn't need anyone to manufacture history. It already has plenty.