Having the number one offense but last ranked defense created the setting for a wild game on Sunday night.
Last night, the Dallas Cowboys went blow for blow with the Green Bay Packers without CeeDee Lamb or Tyler Booker in a game that nobody gave them a chance to win.
I totally understood why that was the case, but through four weeks, the Cowboys have the No. 1 offense in the NFL entering Monday Night Football at 404.3 yards per game.
They have the WORST defense, sitting at No. 32 defense at 420.5 yards given up per game.
Something Has To Give
Let’s be honest with ourselves here, this was probably the best game Dak Prescott has ever played.
They needed everything they got from him, and he went blow for blow with the team everyone had as Super Bowl champs after three weeks. A defense that was second in scoring coming into this game.
Dak lit them up and that is what he is going to have to do every single game if this team wants a chance.
Jones defends common offseason target; Cowboys not ‘moving on’ from Diggs after benching – Todd Brock, The Cowboys Wire
Trevon Diggs coming on and off the field all night was an interesting new wrinkle for Matt Eberflus’ defense.
For just the third time in his career, the two-time Pro Bowler did not get the start in Week 4. And although he did come on and contribute heavily in Dallas’s 40-40 tie with Green Bay, the 27-year-old himself was at a bit of loss as to why he wasn’t on the field for the first couple defensive stands.
Asked if he was surprised by the lineup move, Diggs was brief in his answer.
“Yeah, maybe,” he said at his locker, trying to keep things light. “A little bit. Little bit. Little bit. Little bit.”
Diggs ended up playing 64% of the team’s defensive snaps, the same as fellow corner (and starter) DaRon Bland, two snaps less than Reddy Steward, and just seven fewer snaps than Kaiir Elam, the other starting corner.
Over the course of the 70-minute game, Diggs logged four tackles and a key tackle for loss on Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden late in the overtime period. He also had a second-quarter interception wiped out by a Cowboys penalty for too many men on the field. His PFF grade of 83.3 was the second-highest of any Dallas defender.
Pickens earning trust of Dak, Cowboys with ability, attitude – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys wish it came in a win, but seeing George Pickens dominate in the WR1 role without CeeDee Lamb was a big deal for the offense.
Tie games stink, and everyone except the league’s front office knows it.
OK, having now stated the obvious, it’s also true that the Cowboys leave with nothing short of a blowout loss if not for what Prescott and Pickens were able to do — the latter headlining a round of great play from the receiving group as a whole.
“Yeah, I’d probably say just more [opportunities], definitely, for everybody,” said Pickens. “[Tolbert], Turp — I feel like we all executed well, too.”
Pickens ended the night with 134 receiving yards, the second-highest mark of his career, along with two touchdowns in the most critical junctures of the contest, to end the first half and to take a 37-34 lead with less than one minute remaining in the second half.
And then there’s the insanity and outright trust required for Prescott to drop back and throw a dot deep down the left sideline to Pickens in double coverage, confident he’d make the catch, and he did, because of course.
“The guy, that’s what he’s done,” Prescott said of Pickens. “When I say look at his film and look at his resume — whether it’s just been in the months that he’s been here or the time he’s had in Pittsburgh — that’s what he does, that’s who he is, and that’s what allows that chemistry to grow, is when I get a guy who I’ve seen on film make play after play, and then he shows up here … Yeah, I mean no surprises, honestly. Super proud of him.
“He played just as I expected him to play, and what I was most impressed about is just the way that he was focused and locked in on the game, the whole game, and not only just locked in, but doing everything that he needed to do, and doing it right.”
Cowboys defense has become an all-time handicap – Jess Haynie, Blogging The Boys
Whether it was penalties, breakdowns in zone, or ineffectiveness in man coverage, the Cowboys defense couldn’t come up with the one stop they needed in the second half vs. the Packers.
There is still hope for things to change, at least enough to get to a point of solvency. When Trevon Diggs got benched last night, it was a positive sign that the team isn’t going to just let veteran status dictate starts and playing time. That’s good news for the likes of James Houston, Shemar James, Juanyeh Thomas, and other backups who are seemingly more deserving of snaps right now than those above them on the depth chart. At the very least, it hopefully indicates that Matt Eberflus will continue to try new combinations until he finds what works best.
We also have better days coming on the injury front, at least in the secondary. That was only DaRon Bland’s first game back after missing the last two with a bad foot. Caelen Carson, Shavon Revel Jr., and Josh Butler are all still waiting to debut. And of course, at linebacker, there’s DeMarvion Overshown. If Dallas is still in the hunt come November, Overshown may be able to provide a huge boost to the speed and playmaking ability in the front seven, which would naturally help the corners and safeties.
Even if the defense remains a handicap, the offense also has room for improvement. CeeDee Lamb, Cooper Beebe, and Tyler Booker were all out last night. Jaydon Blue still hasn’t debuted, but may have to now that Miles Sanders picked up an injury. If the Cowboys are going to have to win shootouts all year, at least they’ve got more weapons and assets at their disposal than we even saw in last night’s forty-burger.
It’s an uncomfortable position to be in, for sure. But the next two games against the Jets and Panthers, at a combined 1-6, offer some cushion for continuing to work through injuries and schematic adjustments. If the Cowboys can figure out how to better maximize their strengths and mitigate weaknesses, some of which won’t be fixed until at least another offseason, they can start pumping up that win column.
This offense, and particularly Dak Prescott right now, is good enough to carry the load.
Dak Prescott played at a MVP level the last time he was healthy, and he’s doing it again this season with the team needing him to carry more on his shoulders than ever before.
“If there’s a quarterback playing better right now than Dak Prescott in the league, I’d love to see him,” Schottenheimer told reporters postgame.
Schottenheimer saying that is refreshing. In this league, oftentimes, putting something like that out there is considered outrageous, given the likes of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and others. But the Cowboys coach is on to something, and it’s great to see him not be afraid to say it.
Dak Prescott’s game proves he’s one of the NFL’s best right now
Prescott’s numbers speak for themselves. He completed 31-of-40 attempts (78%) for 319 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and added another rushing touchdown. Heck, they even fall short because the numbers don’t tell you the rest of the story: Prescott didn’t have All-Pro wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, nor did he have his starting center or right guard. It was still a remarkable outing.
Late in the game, he was even down starting left tackle Tyler Guyton, who entered the concussion protocol toward the end of the game.
Prescott connected with George Pickens for 138 yards, the latter’s second-most of his career. He made clutch plays with Jake Ferguson, KaVontae Turpin, and Jalen Tolbert. He made checks at the line of scrimmage that avoided trouble for the Cowboys’ offense. It was truly one of his best games ever in the NFL.
When Schottenheimer says he’s the best quarterback of the season so far, there’s evidence to back it up.
How to think about a tie as a fan is difficult, especially for Cowboys fans seeing their team do something that was good enough for 300 previous teams to win.
Next Gen Stats Insight for Packers-Cowboys (via NFL Pro): Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was pressured 10 times (24.4% pressure rate), with seven of those pressures coming from ex-teammate Micah Parsons. Kenny Clark, who was acquired by Dallas in the Parsons trade, had a team-best four QB pressures.
NFL Research: The Packers-Cowboys 40-40 tie is the second-highest-scoring tie in NFL history, trailing only a 43-43 stalemate between the Oakland Raiders and Boston Patriots in Week 6, 1964. With the end result for the host Cowboys, teams with 40 or more points and no turnovers at home, including the playoffs, are now 300-0-1 all time in the Super Bowl era.
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