The Dallas Cowboys have earned their sixth victory of the season, and they did it once again on the throwing arm of quarterback Dak Prescott. Dallas’ coaching staff came under fire for their run-first, run-often game plan against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 10, and they finally turned the page in their Week 11 matchup with the Detroit Lions.
Detroit fields one of the league’s worst secondaries and Prescott took full advantage, loading up for 444 passing yards on the day using both short, intermediate and deep passing to launch haymakers at the Lions defense. In the end, Dallas escaped a competitive effort led by backup QB Jeff Driskel and outpaced the Lions, final score 35-27.
It was Prescott’s third, 400-yard passing game of the season, leading the league. He also now has four games where he’s thrown for at least 375 yards with 2+ touchdowns, the second-most in league history.
Peyton Manning’s six in 2013 is the record.
For the second-consecutive game, Dallas had two receivers going over 100 receiving yards. Michael Gallup hauled in a career-high 9 receptions for 148 yards, while Randall Cobb had his second-straight 100-yard day, catching four for 115 and a score. Running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard both caught touchdown passes while Elliott also punched one in on the ground.
Prescott was the story of the game, as he continues to assault the record books. He came into the game third, but now sits second in passing yards per game with 322.1. He also sits atop several advanced passing categories, making his case as one of the NFL’s tops at the position.
Dallas did not escape unscathed though, as their defense was not very impressive, allowing the Lions to march up and down the field on the strength of Driskel’s scrambling ability. Dallas fell behind early, but surged ahead after waking up earlier than they had in many of their previous slow starts.
Still though, the defense was not good in their tackling efforts, and then matters got worse with injuries popping up. On back-to-back plays, Dallas lost DeMarcus Ware, Xavier Woods and Anthony Brown to injuries, though Woods returned the next series. Before that happened though, Prescott and right tackle La’el Collins collided, with Collins having to be helped off the field with a left knee injury.
Punt returner Tavon Austin also left the game with an arm injury after breaking up a would-be interception, and WR Amari Cooper was in and out of the game after not practicing much throughout the week. Jeff Heath missed the contest at strong safety with shoulder injuries.
With the New England Patriots on the horizon, this would be bad timing for the injury front.
All in all though, Dallas has to be ecstatic to earn the victory and move on to the back stretch of the season.