DALLAS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders enter their NFC East Thanksgiving Day matchup in vastly different mindsets.
While the Cowboys (7-3) are rolling toward their third straight playoff appearance, the Commanders (4-7) are on track for their seventh consecutive non-winning season.
With speculation flying about a potential pink slip for coach Ron Rivera on Black Friday, especially if Washington lays another egg on national TV in Dallas, there’s one overarching storyline entering the game.
Rivera hit perhaps the nadir of his tenure in Washington on Sunday when the Commanders committed six turnovers in a 31-19 loss at home to the lowly New York Giants.
Peppered with questions about his future and the team’s lack of improvement over his four seasons in D.C., Rivera stuck to his one-game-at-a-time mantra Monday.
“What I try to do is just focus in on what’s important today and that’s really just preparing to get ready for Dallas,” Rivera said.
Throughout this season, Rivera has emphasized the development of second-year quarterback Sam Howell and his role as a long-term building block.
But against the Giants, Howell threw three interceptions, including a fluttering pass that Isaiah Simmons returned 54 yards for the game-clinching touchdown with 16 seconds left.
“It’s not like we got outplayed. We just didn’t take care of the football. We were moving the ball up and down the field,” Howell said. “We literally beat ourselves.”