Thursday Night – Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys

It’s Week 13 and it’s time for those playoff races to really start heating up. So, naturally, we kick the week off with the division that’s been the most competitive recently: the NFC East. There are 3 legitimate contenders for the division crown with the Eagles being the only team that would surprise people if they won. This time out we’ve got the Redskins flying south to Dallas for the final game in November and it should be a good one.

Keys to the Game

Redskins

As usual, this game is going to come down to defense when playing the Cowboys. Washington will need to find a way to contain Zeke Elliott. You won’t have a shot to win if he’s running for 200 yards and 3 scores while eating up the clock. Slowing him down is the key to staying in this game down in Dallas. Josh Norman will have Dez Bryant on lockdown, so there’s not much to worry about there. If Kirk Cousins can generate some offense via the pass, the Redskins will be sitting pretty with a road win at Jerry World.

Cowboys

Dallas is going to need to focus on getting Kirk Cousins out of rhythm. Washington’s passing game is their only true offensive weapon and if the Cowboys can disrupt it, they’ll have an easy Thursday night. If Washington is struggling to score, Dallas can march down the field on Zeke’s back and burn the clock while adding to their lead. That’s the beauty of having a workhorse back like Zeke. Getting some solid play out of Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley will only open things up even more for Zeke on the ground.