Tag: 2021 Week 8

Adaptation is sincerest form of flattening offense’s pulse for Cowboys’ Dan Quinn

The Dallas Cowboys defense is changing, not just from earlier in the year, but within games. @DailyGoonerRaf breaks down how Quinn adjusted to Vikings’ attack in Week 8.

Speed Kills.

It’s a time honored football maxim. In today’s game, speed of adaptation kills. Those clubs whose coordinators can quickly decipher what their opposition is doing to nullify their own game plan, then make changes, often wins.

We’ve analyzed the speed with which Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore can act, game to game and even series to series.  Today, we’re going to look at a small change that defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and his line coach Aden Durde made in the second half of Sunday Night’s win against the Vikings, and how it collared a Vikings offense that was threatening to pull away from the Cooper Rush-led Dallas attack.

It’s like deja vu all over again for 2021 Cowboys as Ezekiel Elliott invokes Emmitt Smith memories

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The era and game have shifted, but Cowboys RBs making incredible, clutch plays? Same. @DailyGoonerRaf breaks down Sunday’s big play and harks back to yesteryear.

Strange things are afoot at the Cowboys Circle K. Some eerie and cheery resemblances between the 2021 Cowboys incarnation and that last Dallas championship bunch from nearly 30 years ago are emerging. It’s easy to wave them off as coincidence, but sometimes those coincidences have too many matching parts to ignore.

Like this one from Sunday night’s game-winning drive.

The situation: 3rd-and-11 for the Cowboys at the Minnesota 20. Dallas has just been gifted five yards after a defensive delay of game penalty, making a 3rd-and-16 far more manageable. The Cowboys trail 16-13 with 1:04 to play and face a game-tying field goal attempt if they do not convert.

4 Takeaways: Cowboys flip script and prove they are more than just Prescott’s greatness

The Cowboys stole an unlikely win against the Vikings, changing the narrative on a franchise that has fallen into traps in recent years. | From @CDBurnett7

Odds didn’t favor the Dallas Cowboys with backup Cooper Rush making his first career start on the road against the Minnesota Vikings. Dallas didn’t care, stealing the game, 20-16, in U.S. Bank Stadium.

Rush, in relief for Dak Prescott who was ruled out prior to the game, totaled an impressive 325 passing yards and two touchdowns while turning the ball over twice with a fumble and interception. Thankfully, the Cowboys’ defense also rose to the occasion, forcing three-and-outs on short notice after the turnovers.

This was a game Dallas would’ve lost in the past, but there’s something to be said about the work head coach Mike McCarthy is doing, leading the Cowboys to a 6-1 start.

Dallas looked helpless in 2020 without Prescott, but they brushed it off on Sunday night. Perhaps, the Cowboys are brewing something special in 2021. Here are four takeaways from the unlikely win in Minnesota.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Penalties, early pass defense can’t mar Cowboys’ gutshot straight

The Cowboys were betting on a gutshot straight draw with key pieces missing from their normal path to victory, but a win was in the cards after all. Here’s the GBU from the Week 8 victory. | From @BenGrimaldi

The deck was stacked against the Dallas Cowboys, who went into U.S. Bank Stadium short-handed to play the Minnesota Vikings without starting quarterback Dak Prescott. There wasn’t any flinch in these Cowboys though, as they walked away with an exhilarating 20-16 win with backup quarterback Cooper Rush pulling a couple of aces out from his sleeve in the second half.

It wasn’t a perfect game, but when a team wins without their MVP candidate, on the road, it certainly can feel like, borrowing a poker term, hitting a gutshot straight on the river. With no franchise QB, losing their franchise left tackle and a banged up wide receiver, the implied odds weren’t the best. Didn’t matter. Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly for the Cowboys in their last-minute victory over the Vikings in Week 8.

Trevon Diggs, Tyron Smith suffer Week 8 injuries in Cowboys win over Vikings

The Cowboys played without their franchise quarterback and lost their left tackle, top wideout and corner at various points of the game. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys escaped their trip to Minnesota with a sixth-straight win, but they did not escape unscathed.  During the second quarter of the contest they lost left tackle Tyron Smith for the remainder of the contest to an ankle injury. Smith was listed on the practice report as limited throughout the week with the ankle, and he was unable to finish the first half.

Then, on the game’s final drive, cornerback Trevon Diggs had his leg crashed into, injuring his ankle as well.

The worse injury news appears to be related to fourth-round rookie linebacker Jabril Cox. Cox was injured on special teams and it appears his season may be over due to an ACL tear.

The game’s hero, WR Amari Cooper, was in and out of the lineup on the game-winning drive. While catching two big targets to get Dallas into scoring position, including one off the defender’s chest, he continued to go to the sideline and work with a hamstring massager to try and get the troublesome muscle to respond. At one point, he laid on the ground rolling over a neon softball to try and work out the kinks.

Suffering from a myriad of injuries, as usual, Cooper returned to the field to catch the game-winning score, a five-yard fade into the back-left corner of the end zone with 0:55 left in the game.

Of course, the Cowboys played the game without starting quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott tried out his sore calf, injured on the game-winning play in New England in Week 6, but returned to the locker room and was ruled inactive a few hours before the game started.

It is expected Prescott will be available to face off against the Broncos in a week, but the status of Smith and Diggs will require further evaluation.

Diggs was replaced by second-round rookie Kelvin Joseph, who made his pro debut on Sunday night after missing the first six games with a groin injury suffered in the final preseason game.

Smith was replaced by veteran Ty Nsekhe, who had a couple very shaky moments but settled down in time for the winning drive. La’el Collins returned from suspension but was not put into the game when Smith went out.

 

No Dak, no problem as Cooper Rush, defense leads Cowboys to 20-16 win over Vikings

The Cowboys overcame a halftime deficit to win their sixth game in a row, and did so without their franchise quarterback. A look at how.

The Dallas Cowboys gambled and won on Sunday Night Football. All week long, the biggest question on every fan and reporter’s mind was whether or not franchise QB Dak Prescott was going to be able to play. A calf injury sustained on the game-winning throw against New England in Week 6 would’ve definitely kept him out if there was a game in Week 7. A bye week made things interesting as he rehabbed throughout practice, ramping up as the week went along.

While he worked with trainer Britt Brown, backup QB Cooper Rush was taking all of the first-string snaps. The words were coy, but it appeared Dallas’ coaching staff was prepared for the inevitable while trying to leave some intrigue to keep the Minnesota Vikings guessing. Then Prescott worked out for the pre-game and by most accounts looked capable of playing. But he didn’t. And then all Rush did in his first career start was go out and throw a game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter to lead the Cowboys to their sixth straight win, 20-16.

Rush passed for 325 yards on the game, tossing two scores against one interception and a lost fumble. Unlike the previous six games this year and last four of 2020, the defense didn’t force two turnovers ending a streak. They didn’t force a single one, but had perhaps their most impressive performance of the season, locking down Kirk Cousins and the Vikings offense after an opening drive put the Cowboys in a 7-0 hole.

Dallas shut down the run game of the Vikings and limited Cousins, despite only sacking him once, to just 184 passing yards. When the Cowboys held the Vikings to a field goal despite several questionable penalties escorted them down the field late in the game, Rush was able to answer by igniting his connection with WR Amari Cooper. The pair connected three times on the drive, including a fade to the back left corner of the end zone with under a minute remaining.

The Cowboys’ defense stopped Minnesota on their last 12 third-down attempts, finishing 1-for-13 on the evening. They got that 12th stop and then followed with their first fourth-down stop of the game as time expired to move their record to 6-1 on the season.

Top Passer: Rush 24-40, 325 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 INT, 92.2 rating
Top Rusher: Ezekiel Elliott 16 rushes, 50 yards, 4 receptions, 23 yards
Top Receiver: Cooper 8 receptions 122 yards, 1 touchdown
Top Defender: Micah Parsons, 10 solo tackles, 1 assist, 1 QB Hit, 4 TFLs

Next Game: November 7, vs Denver Broncos, Noon CT

WATCH: Cooper to Cooper connection gives Cowboys late lead

With their backs against the wall, Cooper Rush and Amari Cooper combined on the late drive for the go-ahead touchdown.

The Cowboys’ defense saw the yellow laundry on three personal fouls late in the fourth quarter, two being on defensive end Randy Gregory and the other on defensive end Tarell Basham. The questionable penalties helped the Vikings make it within the Dallas 5-yard line but the defense got stingy, forcing them to make a field goal for a 16-13 lead with under three minutes left.

On the second play of the ensuing Cowboys drive, wide receiver Amari Cooper juggled a pass off of Minnesota defenders for a 33-yard catch before ripping off an 18-yard gain on the next play to get Dallas into opposing territory.

The Cowboys’ biggest drive of the game was frozen at the Vikings 20-yard line for a long third down. That was before running back Ezekiel Elliott barreled through defenders for a first down. The next play?

Quarterback Cooper Rush’s best throw of the night was also the biggest one, giving Dallas a 20-13 lead with 51 seconds remaining.

Cowboys rookie LB Jabril Cox exits game with knee injury

Rookie linebacker Jabril Cox is out for the rest of the game after injuring his right knee on a Vikings punt in the third quarter. | From @CDBurnett7

The Dallas Cowboys are slugging it out with the Vikings and linebacker Jabril Cox injured his ankle during a Minnesota punt. The rookie from LSU has been a special teams piece in his young career, a unit that has been much improved from the 2020 blunders.

Since the release of Jaylon Smith, Cox has seen a jump in snaps. The rookie made his presence felt with a huge hit on Daniel Jones at the goal line in Week 5 and has trended upward for Dallas.

Cox’s status is another blow for a Cowboys’ defense that has seen its fair share of injuries in 2021.

WATCH: Cowboys’ Rush finds Wilson, WR puts safety in spin cycle for TD

Following a sluggish first half, Cooper Rush and Cedrick Wilson broke it open with a 73-yard touchdown to start the second half.

The Cowboys’ offense looked all but dead in the first half. Quarterback Cooper Rush was thrust into a big moment as the starter in primetime and had a tough miss on an interception in a first half where he totaled just 110 passing yards.

The first drive of the second half was all offensive coordinator Kellen Moore could ask for. 73 yards and a score for wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, whose legend continues to build as a clutch performer in Dallas. Wilson put Vikings safety in a spin cycle after the catch, on his way to a game-tying score.

Rush and Wilson are familiar with each other as they spent plenty of time together on the scout team for the Cowboys and they were perfectly in sync on the score. Dallas has tied the game up at 10-10 and it’s back to square one in Minnesota.

Cowbys LT Tyron Smith leaves game with injury

Dealing with a shorthanded offense already, Tyron Smith went to trainers and has been replaced by Ty Nsekhe at left tackle.

The Dallas Cowboys came into the night shorthanded and things are getting worse. Starting left tackle Tyron Smith has dealt with his fair share of injuries during his career, mainly with neck issues. After the field goal drive, Smith went to the trainers.

Smith came into the game with a nagging ankle injury, which could play into the current absence. On the first drive after the injury, backup swing tackle Ty Nsekhe took over in his place.

Down 10-3 late in the first half with a backup quarterback, Smith’s status is imperative. We will update the story when the injury is specified.