With just one week left in the 2019 regular season, here are nine things we learned from Week 16’s Sunday.
In the end, firing Jason Garrett is best for all involved.
As far as pure roster talent is concerned, it’s tough to top the Cowboys — especially on offense. Dak Prescott is one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, and when that offense is humming, running back Ezekiel Elliott and receiver Amari Cooper can make the same claims. They do their work behind one of the league’s premier offensive lines, and on defense, there’s enough talent to be above-average.
So, when a team like that stands at 7-8 and loses a key divisional matchup as the Cowboys did to the Eagles on Sunday afternoon… well, maybe it’s time to isolate the coaching. In this 17-9 loss to the Eagles, many were wondering why Elliott and Cooper were on the bench at specific (and important) times in favor of guys like Tavon Austin and Tony Pollard. Per Jane Slater of the NFL Network, Dallas’ coaching staff didn’t bench Cooper per se — they wanted him off the field in specific instances because they felt the Eagles’ defensive backs were struggling more with smaller, quicker receivers. Cooper caught five passes for 106 yards the first time Dallas and Philadelphia met this season, but we digress. Austin finished the day with one catch for five yards, and while Randall Cobb did catch five passes for 73 yards, he was off the field on one crucial fourth-down situation. When the Cowboys went into hurry-up mode, they apparently had issues substituting the receivers they wanted back in.
As to why Dallas only ran the ball 16 times, well, we’ll just leave this here.
Why didn’t the #Cowboys run the ball more? Coach Gary Brown tells me they thought they could take advantage in the passing game. They knew the Eagles were going to stack the box against Zeke. But things happen & they tried to adjust, just didn't work out the way they thought.
— Jane Slater (@SlaterNFL) December 23, 2019
The Cowboys can still make the playoffs if they beat the Redskins and the Eagles lose to the Giants in Week 17, but if not, this will be the fourth time in Jason Garrett’s nine seasons that his team has lost what would be a division-winning game in Weeks 16 or 17. If Dallas doesn’t make the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine that Jerry Jones has a choice but to let Garrett go.