Both the Commanders and the Cowboys are looking to bounce back after disappointing Week One losses to NFC East rivals. During the four o’clock hour, Washington failed to mount a comeback and fell to the Philadelphia Eagles. Later, the Cowboys came up short on Sunday Night Football against the New York Giants. Now, both squads come into this matchup hoping to avoid a 0-2 start.

Following the Cowboys' 28-20 road loss at the hands of the Giants, Dallas head coach Brian Schottenheimer didn’t pull any punches when providing an evaluation of his group’s performance.

"I thought overall, as a football team, we were pretty poor," Schottenheimer said to open his postgame press conference. "That's certainly not our standard. It's certainly not how we see our identity playing."

The new-look Cowboys defense failed to meet expectations in their first regular-season outing. Dallas gave up 394 total yards to the G-Men, including 165 on the ground.

"(The Giants) were the more physical team tonight," Schottenheimer explained. "They shoved us around in the running game... Situationally, they were outstanding. [They] did a really good job of keeping the ball away from us in the second half. I think they had the ball for 36:40. This is a humbling business. We got humbled tonight."

With a porous run defense and a secondary that allowed Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart to throw three touchdowns, there are already concerns that the Cowboys will be as weak as they were last year defensively. Yet, Brian Schottenheimer is not ready to admit defeat on that side of the ball, or offensively for that matter either.

"Every day we went against them in practice. The defense that we saw in practice was not what we saw tonight," he said. "The offense wasn't the offense that we saw in practice. We just didn't perform very well... There's certainly not a lot of positives, but again, I'm not going to push the panic button. I know we're better than that. I know the type of men that we have in that room, and they will respond."

Meanwhile, the Commanders were dealing with their own issues last Sunday. Washington was defeated by the Eagles in Philadelphia, 24-22. But Commanders head coach Dan Quinn is framing that loss as a learning experience.

"As far as division game and a loss, that stinks, man. It does a lot," he said. "The miscues I thought hurt us in this game. And those are the margins right there, division games or otherwise. Those are the lessons I want to make sure that we apply moving forward into Week Two."

Facing a two-point deficit, the Commanders could have tied the game with 1:01 to go in the fourth quarter with a two-point conversion attempt after they scored a touchdown. However, the shovel pass play was snuffed out at the line of scrimmage, which allowed the Eagles to hold on for the 24-22 win.

"We just didn't execute," Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels said. "It's the right call. Anything (David) Blough calls, I'm with him... We had the look that we wanted; we just didn't execute it."

"I thought it was a good play. It was one that we had practiced," Dan Quinn told reporters on Monday. "I thought their player also made a good play, spinning out of the block with Nick (Allegretti) to kind of stuff the play to go... It's an effective two-point play. It's an effective low red zone play. I don't want to just base it purely on the outcome. The execution is definitely a part of that. And also give credit to Philadelphia. Their defensive tackle made a good play."

On the plus side, Dan Quinn feels like his team played well. Though the Commanders lost the game, the head coach is encouraged by what he saw and how this will better prepare Washington to take on Dallas.

"I expected us to play really hard, and I thought that was there," Quinn clarified. "Our ceiling will have everything to do with our execution, our details to get that part right. I'm certain we have the right men to do that. That's usually how it goes through the first couple of weeks, of getting the details, the execution down... I love the toughness that our team showed, but we've got plenty to work on and improve upon."

With elite offensive playmakers on both teams and this being "America's Game of the Week," this is bound to be a good matchup. Plus, both squads are looking for their first win of the season, which adds even more importance to this divisional game between hated rivals.

"We're excited [to] get another division opponent," Brian Schottenheimer said on Wednesday. "It should be a great way of opening the season at home."

Prediction for Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys (-4.5)

It doesn't seem to matter who the starting quarterback is; the Cowboys have had the Commanders' number with eight wins in their last 10 matchups. And though Jayden Daniels was fantastic in the lone game he started and finished against the Cowboys (349 total yards of offense and three TDs), Dallas still defeated Washington, 34-26. Even if Jayden Daniels has an amazing performance, that still doesn't guarantee a Commanders victory. Expect the Cowboys to lean heavily on the ground game since they have averaged 151.3 rushing yards per game in their last three wins over Washington. Not to mention, the Commanders gave up 5.4 yards per carry last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. Clearly, Washington has some issues defending the run. We do have to give the Commanders some credit. I think they have a really good rushing attack that will help them to control the clock if they want to. However, I'm not sold on Washington's defense just yet, especially after allowing Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to post a 122.7 passer rating. Considering how much better the Cowboys' pass catchers are compared to Philly's, it would be foolish to pick Washington on the road, even if I believe they will cover the spread.

Prediction: Cowboys 28 - 27 Commanders

How to watch Washington Commanders @ Dallas Cowboys (-4.5)

Commanders vs. Cowboys starts at 4:25 p.m. EDT at AT&T Stadium. You can watch it on FOX or stream it on the FOX One app.

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