Washington Fires Former Cowboy Del Rio After Brutal Loss

WASHINGTON, D.C.— After getting embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys on National television, the Washington Commanders have fired their coach who is actually a former Cowboys player.

On Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys squared off against the Commanders and were beat down to the tune of 45-10, Washington has fired their defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio. The Commanders defense, which recently lost two valuable edge defenders in Montez Sweat and Chase Young, gave up 431 total yards, 331 passing yards, and 100 rushing yards to the Cowboys.

Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, who should be involved in MVP discussions, went 22/32 for 331 yards and four touchdowns. On the ground, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard had 13 attempts for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Prescott targeted 10 different players in Brandin Cooks (4-72-1), CeeDee Lamb (4-53-1), Jalen Tolbert (2-49), Jake Ferguson (1-35), KaVontae Turpin (1-34-1), Pollard (6-24), Jalen Brooks (1-24), Rico Dowdle (1-15), Michael Gallup (1-13), and Luke Schoonmaker (1-12).

While Del Rio received his walking papers, the Washington offense only put up 10 points. Commander quarterback Sam Howell was 28/44 for 300 yards and one interception, that Dallas cornerback Daron Bland returned for a touchdown and breaking a historic NFL record. He also only had two rushing attempts for 13 yards but added the lone Washington touchdown.

Also, the Cowboys defense who had not allowed a single 100-yard receiver all season finally let one slip by in Washington’s Curtis Samuel, who had exactly 100 yards.

Through Week 11, the Commanders had the 29th ranked defense and have allowed 377 yards per game and 39 total touchdowns all year. The Commanders have spent considerable resources on their defense over the past drafts. Going back to the 2017 NFL Draft, the Commanders picked Alabama defenders Jonathan Allen and Ryan Anderson. Allen on the interior of the defensive line has been a handful.

The next year, Washington drafted Daron Payne who, like Allen, has been great for the Commanders. In 2019 and 2020, they added Sweat and Young, who they just traded away to the Bears and the 49ers respectively. In 2021, they took Kentucky linebacker Jamin Davis and in 2023, they drafted Emmanuel Forbes.

All those players were drafted in the first round with the exception of Anderson who was taken in the second.

At the end of the day, Washington has spent a lot of capital on their defense and they haven't gotten the return they thought they'd get.

Back to Del Rio, he was actually a Dallas Cowboy from 1989 until 1991 and had a pretty good career from 1985 – 1996. After his time as a player, he moved onto coaching, starting with the team that drafted him, the New Orleans Saints.

Del Rio was an assistant strength coach and became a position coach, linebackers, with the Saints in 1998. After his time with the Saints, he became Balitmore’s linebackers coach and was with the Ravens when they won the Super Bowl in 2001.

In 2002, Del Rio became the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator for a season then was the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach from 2003 until 2011. He was fired in the middle of the 2011 season and took the Denver Bronco’s defensive coordinator job and was eventually named interim head coach after John Fox was fired.

From Denver, Del Rio went on to become the head coach of the Oakland Raiders. After that, he went on to be the Commander’s defensive coordinator from 2020 until 2023.

Del Rio wasn't the only coach fired as Commander's defensive backs coach, Brent Vieselmeyer, was let go as well.