Mac Engel: Cowboys desperately need Dan Snyder to buy back the Commanders

FRISCO, Texas — An offseason in which the Washington Commanders hired former Cowboys assistant Dan Quinn to be their head coach, coupled with the arrival of an elite quarterback, means one of Jerry Jones’ favorite places to sit is now a sofa of spikes.

For the first time since the early 1990s, when Jack Kent Cooke was the team owner and Joe Gibbs was his head coach, the Commanders are something more than offensively bad.

“They’re way better than they were last year,” Cowboys returner/receiver KaVontae Turpin said in the team’s locker room on Wednesday. “They’ve got a purpose, and are basically enjoying it.”

No NFL team will miss former Commanders owner Dan Snyder more than Jerry and his Cowboys, a team that was 32-14 against Washington in Danny’s tenure of terror.

Snyder’s legacy on the Cowboys

The disgraced owner of the Washington football team did far more damage to that once proud franchise than Jerry has done to his toy. As inept as you think Jerry is, Snyder was a cruel cocktail of Bengals’ owner Mike Brown, former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling, L.A. Angels owner Arte Moreno and Oakland A’s owner Josh Fisher.

Danny was a five-tool tool of an owner. He could do it all.

Since Snyder bought the then Washington Redskins, in the summer of 1999, few franchises were worse. With limited exception, no matter how bad they have been, the Cowboys never had to much worry about the Washington Team Football (WTF), because Snyder’s team was consistently awful.

The Redskins/Commanders under Snyder made the Cowboys under Jerry in that same time frame look like the New England Patriots under Brady/Belichick. Snyder’s team won two playoff games in his run, and the franchise has not reached an NFC title game since the 1991 season, the last time it won a Super Bowl.

From their crumbling old stadium to the team itself, Washington’s NFL franchise under Snyder was the joke that eventually was no longer funny. After a slew of negative headlines, allegations and NFL investigations, Snyder was effectively forced to sell the Commanders in July of last year.

While this was a necessary development for the NFL, people associated with the Cowboys knew their annual D.C. party was ending when new Commanders owner Josh Harris took over. Fun while it lasted.

A new era of Washington vs. the Cowboys

The Cowboys are 78-46-2 against Washington, and the numbers inside the numbers look like Auburn vs. Alabama; a rivalry in name only.

The Cowboys are 35-31 as the road team this series, and their 11 wins against Washington at AT&T Stadium are the most against one opponent. They are 14-6 against Washington since 2014. The Cowboys swept the Commanders last season, and this is where the party train runs into the Potomac.

The Cowboys are 10-point underdogs against the Commanders for their game on Sunday in Maryland. With Quinn, and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels playing like a 5-year Pro Bowler, the Commanders finally look like a real NFL team that knows what its doing.

“They’ve got a great leader in (Dan Quinn), no question,” Cowboys receiver Brandin Cooks said Wednesday. “And they’ve got a quarterback that’s playing at a high level and play makers on the ball. From a defensive side, they’re just playing together as a team.

“It’s definitely a different feel out there when you put them on the film. And I think that starts with DQ and his leadership.”

It actually starts above Quinn. It always starts with the owner. Snyder hired plenty of competent coaches, but they were all impaired by his management structure.

Before Quinn was scapegoated as a reason the Cowboys were crushed by the Packers in the wildcard game in January, he was a former head coach who had repaired his image as the defensive coordinator under Mike McCarthy. The team made the playoffs in all three of Quinn’s seasons with the Cowboys.

His exit to D.C. has been part of a slow “brain/talent” exodus from The Star over the past few offseasons that is currently killing this team, and partly explains their 3-7 record.

After Quinn was hired, Washington signed in free agency Cowboys defensive end Dorance Armstrong, center Tyler Biadasz, receiver Noah Brown, and hired assistant coach Joe Whitt Jr. The Cowboys desperately could use a player like Armstrong, and Brown, a player they elected not to re-sign after the 2022 season.

The Cowboys are the underdog on Sunday for a plethora of pitiful reasons, and for the first time in more than 20 years they can no longer assume that Washington is a W.

Dan Snyder may be reviled in D.C. but he should always be beloved in Dallas.