Cowboys vs. Commanders: 3 bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup

Week 3 of the NFL season has begun. After a victory over the New York Giants on Monday night, the Dallas Cowboys face off against the Washington Commanders in their second straight divisional matchup on Sunday.

Before the Cowboys and Commanders square off, here are three bold predictions for Sunday’s matchup.

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1) Commanders’ wide receiver Terry McLaurin goes for over 115 receiving yards and scores a touchdown

The Commanders were abysmal on offense last week. As a team, they totaled just 240 offensive yards and scored just eight points in their blowout loss at home to the Eagles. While the offense as a whole did not play well, star wideout Terry McLaurin still had a nice day.

Almost all of his production did come in the second half and he finished the day with six catches for 102 yards. Three games into the 2022 season, McLaurin is averaging 78.3 Y/G and 19.6 Y/R. The 27-year-old is always a threat to beat you deep down the field, something the Cowboys will need to be alert for on Sunday.

McLaurin has posted mixed results against Dallas in his career. Last season, the wideout was completely eliminated in the team’s two matchups, catching a grand total of three passes for 40 yards. The year before in 2020, McLaurin came up big, hauling in seven receptions in each game and going for 90 and 92 yards and a touchdown.

While the Cowboys have done an outstanding job of preventing big plays this season, they’ve given up the third-fewest yards per completion in the league, McLaurin is going to get past the defense for a big one on Sunday.

Washington finally features him during the first half and it pays off in a big way. McLaurin goes for over 115 receiving yards including a 50+ yard touchdown reception.

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2) Cooper Rush throws a career-high three touchdown passes

Three games into the season, the Commanders defense has been one of the worst individual units in all of football. Washington has allowed the fifth-most points in the league (82) and has made some pretty average quarterbacks look like All-Pros.

In the past two weeks, Jared Goff and Jalen Hurts have combined to go 42 of 69 for 596 yards and seven touchdowns against Washington’s defense. The Commanders also failed to record an interception in either of those games and have just one takeaway, the fewest in the NFL, as a defense this season.

If Goff and Hurts were able to have this kind of success against Washington’s defense, Cooper Rush, with some offensive weapons back, should be able to do the same.

Rush throws for three touchdown passes in a game for the first time in his career as the Commanders defense continues to struggle.

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3) KaVontae Turpin scores his first NFL touchdown on a 60+ yard reception

If you go back and watch last week’s game, the Cowboys had KaVontae Turpin on the field run blocking as a receiver on multiple occasions. While Turpin does bring a lot to the table, at just 5’9 and 153 lbs, stellar pass-blocking is not something he is known for.

So why would the Cowboys have Turpin out there? Well, we’re about to find out why this Sunday. I believe Dallas has been using Turpin more on offense to set up a semi-trick-play, deep shot for him down the field.

This week going up against a Washington defense that has allowed the second-most yards per completion in the NFL this season, it will be the perfect time to unleash the “Turpin package”.

KaVontae Turpin runs by everybody on the Washington defense and hauls in a 60+ yard touchdown reception that turns out to be one of the more pivotal plays in the game.