Tag: 2022 Week 3

Cowboys 3 Stars: The redeemed, the restructured and the red head

The stars really came out to shine on Monday night for the Dallas Cowboys. @cdpiglet checks in with who hovered above MetLife Stadium in the win.

For three and a half quarters the New York Giants were playing the type of game they’ve won the previous two weeks. Keep the score low, run the ball effectively, limit Daniel Jones’ impact, keep the defense fresh, and win game late.

With 5:31 left in the third quarter it was a struggle to find two stars for Dallas, let alone three. The Giants went up 13-6 on a Saquon Barkley, 36-yard breakaway touchdown on a defense that seemed to be wearing down. Barkley had over 70 yards on the ground and the only TD of the game to that point, but that is when the game changed, and the Cowboys took it over.

Dallas scored 17 points on their next three drives, and the defense held New York to seven plays, 22 yards, and two punts. Even KaVontae Turpin had an excellent punt return to set up a field goal. The whole team took over the game and got a lead the defense was unlikely to give up to Daniel Jones.

The Cowboys were propelled to victory by multiple strong performances, but only three people can be the stars of the game.

Best Twitter reactions to a thrilling 23-16 win for the Cowboys over the Giants

“Tank to Andrew Thomas re: Evan Neal: ‘Teach ya man how to squabble!'” The Dallas pass rush was phenomenal and reactions were just as good. From @ProfessorO_NFL

The Dallas Cowboys travelled to the northeast to face the New York Giants on Monday Night Football and handed them their first loss of the season. The defense generated constant pressure on quarterback Daniel Jones with Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstong and Co. consistently getting in the backfield.

The offense was able to run effectively and had a few explosive runs from Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott.  The passing attack was efficient but lacked the explosive plays that they’ve become accustomed to the last few seasons. The team fought hard and did enough to earn the win and Twitter reacted to all of it, the good and the bad.

 

90+ of the best pics from Cowboys road trip to Gotham

It was a dark night Monday and while cape crusader imposters gather in Philly, Dallas provided true heroism. Enjoy the graphic novel. | From @KDDrummondNFL

It was a dark night, and while the cape crusader faux variants seem to have spawned in Philadelphia for the time being, the Dallas Cowboys had no problem being the imported heroes that protect New York from the evils they have grown accustomed to. The Cowboys jumped on a plane, landed, then went to work keeping the general public from having to endure a 3-0 start by the Giants and all that would have come with the facade in the national media.

Instead, the Cowboys scored 17 straight points to answer a seven-point deficit and then came up with a late-game interception to seal the 23-16 victory. In true graphic novel form, nothing tells the story better than epic depictions. Here’s a look at over 90 great pics taken from the talented photogs at the game.

Links to Week 3 Game Coverage

Cowboys’ Quinn should prepare for a presidential run, not a head coach opening

The defensive mastermind is in his bag already, and the season is just getting started. | From @KDDrummondNFL

If he keeps this up, a head coaching position might not be enough. Perhaps Dan Quinn should have bigger goals, stick around in Dallas for next season too and then just start a write-in campaign for the US presidency. The Cowboys’ defensive mastermind is having a great start to his second season at the helm.

After taking over for the footnote that was Mike Nolan’s tenure as defensive coordinator, Quinn has shaken things up in Big D. Normally averse to creating turnovers, Dallas led the league in 2021 and by a wide margin. Finishing with 34 takeaways, everyone rightly predicted there would be regression in the second season, and there has been. Dallas has just two takeaways through three games. But everything else? Mama Mia, this is as impressive a defense Dallas has seen in several years. They lead the NFL in sacks with 13 in three games.

This is the first time since the Cowboys have held their opposition to less than 20 points in three straight contests since 2017. They accomplished the feat twice that season and one more time the year prior in 2016. Before that, it hadn’t happened since 2009. But there’s a major difference between this team and those iterations; those clubs had offenses that forced opponents to be one dimensional. This team isn’t doing that, scoring just four touchdowns of their own so far.

The three streaks prior single-season streaks (there was a fourth that bookended the end of 2017 and the 2018 opener) saw Dallas score 88, 101 and 113 points themselves, respectively. The 2022 Cowboys have scored just 46 points.

That puts an enormous amount of pressure on the defense to do its job on every drive, and Quinn’s guys have responded.

More to the point, those other streaks were midseason feats. The 2022 Cowboys are doing this right out the gate.

Their 13 sacks in three games took the NFL lead back from the Philadelphia Eagles. The 3-0 birds were pedestrian in pressure before Sunday when they took down Carson Wentz a mind-boggling nine times.

Quinn and his guys get their shot at the hold-it-too-long thrower this coming Sunday. Dallas’ Micah Parsons is on a ridiculous pace for 22.5 sacks. Late to the party, DeMarcus Lawrence is fresh off a three-sack night which puts him on a 17-sack pace, as is his counter at RDE Dorance Armstrong.

During the broadcast last week, former Cowboys QB Tony Romo mentioned how Quinn is likely the best head coaching candidate this offseason will be Quinn. Over the past two years combined, the only team with a better defensive DVOA has been the Buffalo Bills. The way Dallas is great against the pass is different though, getting to the quarterback at ridiculous rates.

After he was fired midseason as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Quinn took the rest of the 2020 season to reinvent himself and the way he planned to call defense in his next stop. There will certainly be tougher offenses on the schedule to come, with five games against teams in the top-10 of offensive DVOA right now (Philly x 2, Jacksonville, Detroit, Green Bay). But the schedule isn’t daunting; there’s more meat on the bone this season.

Cowboys fans are praying to the football gods there’s some way he’ll marinate in Texas for at least one additional year. He has the time if he just sets his sights high enough. Hey, there have been four prior presidents to emerge from the Lone Star.

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Cooper Rush joins Roger Staubach in elite Cowboys history in win over Giants

It’s hard to be the first to do anything in a franchise as storied as the Cowboys. But being the second behind a Hall of Famer ain’t bad. | From @KDDrummondNFL

There’s been a grand total of 92 players who have thrown a pass in a Cowboys uniform since Dallas was awarded a franchise in 1960. 48 of them have been quarterbacks with 44 of them starting a game in their career. Of those 44 signal callers, 29 have started at least three games in their career for the organization.

Until Monday night, only one quarterback who began his career with Dallas had started, finished and won three consecutive contests with a star on the side of his helmet; Roger Staubach. That is until Cooper Rush happened.

With Monday night’s emphatic come-from-behind, 23-16 victory over the New York Giants, the Cowboys won their 10th game in 11 tries against the Gotham Knights. Rush performed admirably in his second consecutive start in place of franchise quarterback Dak Prescott. Nursing a broken thumb, Prescott cheered Rush and his teammates on from the sideline, watching them take down the team that bookended Prescott’s own 11-game winning streak in 2016. The Cowboys lost to the Giants in the opener, then again in Week 13. Those were the last times he lost to New York, going 10-0 since.

But this night was about Rush.

Finishing 21-for-31 for 210 yards and one touchdown, the stats don’t come close to telling the entire story. There were only a handful of misguided passes, the rest being on target, leading receivers into open spaces and away from danger. There were a handful of dropped passes and completely egregious missed defensive penalties that took away at least five completions and two more touchdowns. He was, dare we say it, surgical.

And the performance put him in great company.

Jason Garrett and Steve Beurlein had also won their first three decisions with the Cowboys, along with the legendary Staubach and man-of-the-hour Rush. However Garrett’s streak is tainted as in his first start, he went just 2-for-5 passing before Bernie Kosar took over and did the brunt of the work in leading to a 20-15 win over the then Phoenix Cardinals.

Beurlein actually won his only 4 regular season starts with the Cowboys, but by 1991 had already started 15 games over his first two seasons with the Raiders before heading to Dallas to backup Troy Aikman. He even started and won a playoff game that year, moving to 5-0 at the time. Then the calendar turned to January and he started the debacle against the Lions in the divisional round when Aikman tried to return but to no avail.

So that just leaves Staubach and Rush alone as the only Cowboys QBs to start their first three games as Cowboys and leave the field as the guy getting all the glory.

On Sunday, Rush will likely take on the Washington Commanders with a chance to stand alone in Cowboys history in one aspect. He’ll look to be the first homegrown QB to win his first career starts, while trying to repeat what Beurlein did in his relief of Aikman.

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Lawrence notches 3 sacks to pace Cowboys defense, take Player of Game honors

The Cowboys hadn’t seen much pass rush from DeMarcus Lawrence before Monday night. He made up for it quickly and repeatedly. | From @TimLettiero

Week 3 is now in the books and for the third week in a row the Dallas defense showed out, proving why they are one of the most dominant units in the league. The New York Giants, off to a hot 2-0 start to their season, hosted the Cowboys on Monday night. New York had been carried on the back of the new and improved coaching staff as well as the return of RB Saquon Barkley, both of which have proved to be tough to slow down. Dan Quinn’s defense found a way.

LB Micah Parsons has been the star of the show thus far this season but veteran DE Demarcus Lawrence took the reins from the young star tonight, leading the charge for a defense that collected five sacks on the evening to increase their league-leading total to 13. Lawrence had three of them, his first three of the season.

Four plays into the Giants first offensive drive, Lawrence beats rookie RT Evan Neal and brings QB Daniels Jones down for the sack. He followed this up with another sack with just over a minute left in the second quarter and quickly followed this up with his third sack of the night 40 seconds into the third quarter.

Shortly after he injured his foot and headed for the medical tent. He wasn’t there long however as he grabbed his helmet and joined his teammates on the sideline. Lawrence would not see the field much after that until playing the entire last drive as New York tried to march down the field which ultimately ended in a Trevon Diggs interception to ice the game.

The Cowboys saw a fair few performances that helped propel them to a hard-fought win. However, without Lawrence and potentially the best game of his career, this game turns out differently. Just imagine what he would’ve done to New York if he played the whole game…

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WATCH: Trevon Diggs closes door on New York with first 2022 INT

On the final New York drive, Trevon Diggs snagged his first interception of 2022 to seal the Cowboys’ road victory.

Through two games and three quarters, Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs has been inches from interceptions over and over again. Against New York, Diggs came close on multiple occasions, including one that went right through his hands.

With just under two minutes left, Daniel Jones and the Giants had a final drive to tie or take the lead in a seven-point game. After a single first down, Jones went over the middle and Diggs finally found his first interception of the 2022 season.

Diggs’ takeaway sealed the game for Dallas and he added three pass breakups in the game to boot. The Cowboys seal the victory in MetLife Stadium and move to 2-1 on the season thanks to a stifling performance from their defense.

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Instant Analysis: Cowboys’ defense assaults Giants, Rush clutch in 23-16 win

Breaking down how the Cowboys won their second in a row, giving out game balls and the one key stat from the contest. | From @KDDrummondNFL

My how quickly things change. Nine days ago Cowboys Nation was, as a whole, throwing in the towel on their season. After failing to score a touchdown in the season opener and losing their franchise quarterback, the malaise of the offseason was quick to turn into frustration and fury for the fanbase. But then Cooper Rush came out and led two touchdown drives to start the game against Cincinnati, and then a game winner to even the club’s record.

Now, following a great second-half response to falling behind for the first time since Week 1, the Cowboys sit at 2-1 on the year. They overcame drops, horrendous officiating and a rowdy road crowd for the first time in 2022. Rush was precise, calm cool and collected and Dan Quinn’s defense once again terrorized an opposing QB. The final result, a 23-16 victory that saw Dallas run for 176 yards and collect five sacks.

WATCH: Lamb gets redemption on takeover drive and one-handed TD

The Cowboys top receiver turned early frustration into a dominant drive in the clutch, capped off with a one-handed touchdown grab.

The first half was a forgettable one for the Dallas offense but they showed up just on time in MetLife Stadium. Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb was wide open for what may have been a touchdown in the first half, dropped the easy catch and showed frustration afterwards.

In the second half, the Cowboys had their first touchdown drive to tie the game at 13 then the defense delivered with another stop. On the first fourth quarter drive for Dallas, Lamb went full redemption mode.

The new Cowboys WR1 totaled 47 yards on the drive, including a clutch catch in traffic on a gutsy fourth down attempt at the Giants 41-yard line. Two plays later, Lamb broke loose for a 26-yard gain where he barreled through a New York defender to release some of his anger.

A yard from the goal line, quarterback Cooper Rush went right back to Lamb for a goal-line fade, and Lamb made a one-handed grab look easy to take the lead.

After making the easy catches look difficult, Lamb was surgical on the biggest drive of the game to give Dallas a 20-13 lead over the 2-0 Giants.

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WATCH: Ezekiel Elliott caps off tying touchdown drive for Cowboys

Holding a seven-point deficit, the Cowboys put together a 75-yard drive with Ezekiel Elliott barreling into the endzone to tie the game.

The Cowboys offense was bipolar throughout the first half in New York, mixing drops and untimely penalties or missed ones to derail scoring chances. After the missed chances, Giants running back Saquon Barkley finally broke loose for a 36-yard score.

With the pressure against Dallas, quarterback Cooper Rush led his best drive of the game. Going to wide receivers CeeDee Lamb and Noah Brown, Rush moved down the field before finding the latter for a gain down to the 1-yard line. Running back Ezekiel Elliott took the field for the goal-to-go situation, and bounced off a New York defender before reaching the endzone to tie the game.

The best drive for the Cowboys came when they needed it most. Nine plays for 75 yards, Dallas tied the game up at 13 in MetLife Stadium as the fourth quarter nears.