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- 2018-2019
Regular Season: Cowboys Best The Skins To Reach First Place But
Against The Saints They May Have To Up The Pace
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December 1, 2018 At 1:03 AM CST
By Eric M. Scharf-
- “America’s Team” had defied the sports gods against two
consecutive “superior” squads. The Dallas Cowboys were going for
three in a row (an unheard-of theme for this particular team), but
“you know how those NFC East games go.”
The Cowboys seemed ready to (once again) represent in the NFL’s
Thanksgiving Day tradition against a Washington Redskins team in
critically-wounded condition. The odds of Dallas winning their
turkey day tussle exponentially grew some the moment the ‘Skins
(previously) lost their starting quarterback to an injury most
gruesome. Mere "revenge" for the Cowboys’ earlier season “snap
infraction” loss at FedEx Field was no longer a goal so filling with
an opponent suddenly more in need of a mercy killing.
Dallas – nonetheless – appeared set to beat Washington into
submission but (in possibly waiting for their undermanned rival to
wet the bed or simply drop dead) they struggled to demonstrate a
killer instinct disposition. While Dallas allowed the still-scrappy
‘Skins to keep the game uncomfortably close at intermission, some
key Washington miscues (both mental and foe-forced) helped the
Cowboys turn their butter knife beginning into serrated steel for
more than one finishing incision. The Cowboys certainly started slow
and murky, but they would defeat their wrecked rival 31-23 for their
third win in a row (and far more digestible holiday turkey).
Short Shots And Hot Spots
"Linehan's Clan" continued to display their rehabbed reputation as
an offense that can. Dak Prescott ran for one touchdown and threw
for two more on nearly 320 total yards. Ezekiel Elliott would gain
almost 150 all-purpose yards and as usual – as the straw that stirs
the Cowboys’ offense – he held all the cards. Amari Cooper, however,
became the life of the party. With 180 yards on eight catches (with
a long of 90), his performance was hearty. While the Redskins'
defense prevented Allen Hurns and Cole Beasley from getting
Prescott's attention too easily, blocking buddies Blake Jarwin and
Noah Brown removed their receiver shrink wrap for a few quality
scraps.
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- What was regularly referred to in 2016 as the “Dak Attack,” has
since increasingly (and permanently?) become locked into the “YAC
Track.” The Cowboys (midway through the third quarter) would
continue feeding Zeke and mixing in some Cooper when Redskins'
cornerback Quinton Dunbar suddenly slipped and Amari turned Dak's
3-yard pass into a 38-yard touchdown so super. Late in the fourth
quarter, Prescott threw a 23-yard pass over the middle to Cooper,
who hard-pivoted out of a ‘Skins tackle and bolted for 67 more and a
fine touchdown score.
Dak would absorb four more sacks in part because Tyron Smith was
(understandably) living a tough guy myth. Sitting the Cowboys’ star
left tackle was absolutely the right rest-and-recovery call to help
Dallas avoid a (potential and key) future game fall. Time will tell
if backup Cameron Fleming (along with successful left guard stand-in
Xavier Su’a-Filo) will maintain well enough or leave the offensive
line inconsistently brimming. Dak continues to hold the football a
bit too long, allowing various defensive fronts to appear
unrealistically strong.
The Redskins had their moments, nearly sacking Prescott in the end
zone in the second quarter. Dak was able to make it back to the
Cowboys’ one before the 'Skins were able to have any "Safety Dance"
fun. Colt McCoy (following his team’s defensive stop) almost
immediately found a prime dime to drop to still-speedy Vernon Davis
(who shot diagonally across the field from just inside the slot) for
the touchdown. He was isolated on Cowboys' linebacker Damien Wilson
who would too slow to interrupt, and Jeff Heath reacted too late to
keep up.
Dak (with less than two minutes remaining in the half) played keeper
on a designed run to the Redskins four with the Cowboys seemingly
ready to punch in another score. Dak (on the very next play) would
backpedal, luring multiple 'Skins away from the end zone, but
needlessly underthrew a wide-open Noah Brown to prevent the Cowboys
from having their touchdown way. That backpedal was telling, because
it was a well-chased sack (on the very next play) the 'Skins were
successfully smelling. The Cowboys suddenly found themselves in full
reverse and much closer to the 'Skins 20. Dallas was forced to
settle for a field goal by a kicker who had recently been proving
not so easy money. Passing touch (for future reference) can-and-will
allow more moments so clutch.
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- The Cowboys would open the second half with a flat offensive
stint, leading to a special teams effort that allowed the Redskins
a(n unnecessarily long) punt return sprint. The 'Skins Trey Quinn
made it to the Dallas 25 before Chris "The PUNTisher" Jones had to
stop him with a selfless crash dive.
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- While “Marinelli’s Men” delivered plenty of turkey day pressure
(resulting in three more sacks to treasure), they also displayed a
real nose for the ball, with Anthony Brown, DeMarcus Lawrence, and
Xavier Woods reeling in quite a haul. had a nose for the ball. A
late first half open-field interception by Anthony Brown was ironic,
as he (besides Byron Jones) would normally be the last Cowboys’
corner to drink the “keep one eye on the football and one eye on the
receiver” tonic. DeMarcus Lawrence (late in the third quarter)
turned a Colt McCoy toss into an interception loss (sweet as honey)
and returned that timely turnover inside the Redskins' 20. With less
than five minutes to play in the game and the 'Skins driving within
the Dallas 35-yard line, Xavier Woods would effectively seal the
game-winning deal by converting a Chidobe Awuzie tip of a Colt McCoy
pass into a timely pick to complete Dallas' interception hat trick.
Will They Or Won’t They?
America’s Team comes off their bountiful Thanksgiving feast to host
the New Orleans Saints, the NFC’s (current and) most well-rounded
beast.
The Dallas Cowboys face a massive challenge, and their success
practically requires an airtight plan. Denial of this fact would
(typically) come from only the most myopic fan (still recovering
from a turkey day overdose of tryptophan).
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- The year is 2018 – not 2009 – and (like the injured Tyron Smith)
the Cowboys need to show (even more of) some serious spine.
The 2009 Cowboys had pre-bad-back, make-your-teammates-better,
raging risk taker, willing reward maker Tony Romo to dodge many a
sack and connect on practically ANY short, intermediate, or deep
throw to an equally “healthy” Miles Austin who could go, Go, GO. They had the ultimate tight end and security
blanket – in Jason Witten – to regularly and reliably snag it. They
had “Mad” Marc Colombo protecting Romo’s right side and (save for
injury) rarely allowing poor execution to slide. They had the
generational defensive talent of DeMarcus Ware against whom opposing
offenses would rarely dare. They had the 60-minute motor of Jay
Ratliff to (often) help Ware push those opponents right off the
cliff. They had a poor man's Deion Sanders in Terence Newman, who
could both follow his receiver AND fearlessly glance at the opposing
quarterback in true man-to-man. They had Mike Jenkins aggressively
manning the opposite side of the field, regularly gumming up
receivers for a lower production yield. While the Cowboys' backs
were (somewhat) similarly against the wall in 2009, their modern-day
goals still align.
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- The 2018 Cowboys have a healthy Dak Prescott who religiously honors
a vanilla offensive system that literally puts out only what a (more
than “just” executing) player puts in . . . which has become quite
the productivity sin. Prescott’s (coached or increasingly preferred)
modus operandi has been to allow (or force?) some very capable
receivers (in Amari Cooper, Cole Beasley, and Michael Gallup) to regularly
use YAC ways to make (far) more of shorter-yardage plays. The jury
is still (way) out on whether Dallas’ tight-end-by-committee (Geoff
Swaim, Blake Jarwin, Dalton Schultz, and Rico Gathers) can reliably
achieve anything that regularly and significantly matters. Then,
again, Dak’s continued lack of more aerially-asserted efforts (such as “leading
the receiver” or “throwing the receiver open” through “anticipation”
of where that receiver could or should be at the end of a given
route) may only make victories harder against a team more equipped
to halt Linehan’s “Do It Yourself” scheme. But before The Tortured
Cowboys Fan doth further digress into Dallas’ potential passing
mess, they also have the excellent (and, thus far, durable) Ezekiel
Elliott who – as long as he is being “fed” – gobbles up yardage like
starving ducks chasing bread. And this year’s Cowboys would quite
literally be nothing if not for Marinelli’s Men who (with rare
exceptions) simply ain’t bluffing.
Speaking of serious defenses, the Saints have been displaying a
capable squad of their own. Will Linehan’s Clan (if forced into a
faster-pace chase) be capable AND willing to enter an entirely new
productivity zone? The Saints have a solid pass rush, but will
Prescott, Cooper, Gallup, and Beasley – if necessary – be able to
turn their secondary into mush?
Will DeMarcus Lawrence channel his inner DeMarcus Ware to help
Marinelli’s Men taint the near-perfect Saints? Will Randy “Righteous
(?) Recovery” Gregory continue his upward development as more than a
bookend to possibly put Drew Brees and Co. in a blender?
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- "We've been talked up as being the difference. They're going to
have to match our intensity, (expletive), for 60 minutes straight.
If you hit a (expletive) in the mouth and then they ain't doing what
they're regularly doing, putting up 50 points, they start to get a
little distressed. Now, you got them where you want them at, and
then you (expletive) choke they ass out." – DeMarcus Lawrence.
Will America’s Team be able to fill their tallest order yet, or will
the Saints remain an extremely safe bet?
We shall see. We always do.
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