Tag: 2023 season Week 14

3 major takeaways as Cowboys pass the quarter pole of the 2023 season

After Dallas took out the Eagles, there are major takeaways to how the first 3/4 of the season have played out. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys are continuing to answer questions, eliminating excuses and narratives. Prior to the midpoint of the 2023 season, many said the defense is excellent but the offense can’t win games if they had to. Now, the offense might be their best unit. Could they execute in close games, or do they just win in blowouts? The Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks were both close victories. They asked what would happen when they played teams with a winning record. The Philadelphia Eagles had the best record and were beaten.

So what’s next?

With every week that has passed, Dallas has continued to win and win big in the majority of their games. There isn’t any doubt the 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles were a good team, sporting the best record in the league going into the contest. The Cowboys beat them like they beat most every other team at AT&T Stadium.

The offense is one of the best in the league. The defense held Philadelphia to six points and forced three turnovers. They have the best kicker in football for times when the offense stalls, making all of his kicks no matter how long distance. The team is on fire, and acknowledging the reasons why are the big takeaways as the season enters its final four games.

Ferguson’s rumble, Gilmore’s dip into fountain of youth define Cowboys’ win

From @ToddBrock24f7: Stephon Gilmore personally showed the Eagles he still has it, and Jake Ferguson’s key catch-and-run helped seal Week 14’s 33-13 victory.

It takes a village, as the saying goes. In the NFL, though, it takes a team, and the Cowboys demonstrated that Sunday night. While it’s always satisfying to see the marquee superstars shine brightly on the primetime stage, Week 14’s massive divisional win over Philadelphia wasn’t the result of Dak Prescott or CeeDee Lamb or Micah Parsons putting the entire roster on his back. No, this most recent victory came as the result of true complementary football and multiple players in all three phases making a single play here or there (or two plays, in one veteran’s case) when it mattered most.

The entire 33-13 dismantling of the Eagles is worth a re-watch, even if only for pure enjoyment purposes, but take a moment to stop and zero in on these four plays that proved especially momentous. Each represents the kind of effort that will be needed- from every player wearing the star- to finish the regular season strong and take the Cowboys on a deep playoff run.

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Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys’ fast start, timely takeaways sullied by drops, gaffes

From @ToddBrock24f7: Even in a 20-point win over the East leader, there’s room to improve. We look at a dropped TD, a costly fumble, and a special-teams snafu.

It’s hard to find too much to complain about in a 20-point smackdown over your most hated rival on primetime TV to move into a first-place tie atop the division standings. Week 14’s 33-13 win over Philadelphia was perhaps the best and most complete game against a top-tier opponent the Cowboys have played in several seasons.

But as with any performance in the NFL, there are things that can be improved upon as the Cowboys continue their churn into toughest part of their regular-season schedule. While Dak Prescott played another good game that likely keeps him in the MVP conversation and the defense kept the star-studded Eagles offense out of the end zone entirely, Dallas coaches will still have plenty of learning opportunities for the Cowboys players in this week’s film study.

From the moments where focus was lost to the ever-present specter of injury, and then- of course- just a few of the things that went exceptionally well, here’s our weekly look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from this weekend’s game.

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Report: Cowboys DT Johnathan Hankins suffered ‘mild’ high-ankle sprain in Week 14 win

From @ToddBrock24f7: The veteran run-stuffer returned to the sideline in uniform Sunday night. Early reports he’ll be ready for the playoffs if not sooner.

Johnathan Hankins didn’t show up on the stat sheet in Sunday night’s win over the Philadelphia Eagles, but his early departure was definitely noticed.

The veteran defensive tackle sustained an ankle injury just a few snaps into the third quarter and was eventually carted to the locker room. He did not return to the contest. And while the team fared just fine in the decisive 33-13 victory, the 320-pounder’s prognosis quickly became a source of concern for Cowboys fans as the team looks ahead to important late-season matchups against three of the league’s top-10 rushing teams.

Reports indicate that Hankins suffered a high-ankle sprain, but it’s believed to be on the mild side. He is expected to get an MRI to further evaluate the injury.

That’s all positive news that suggests Hankins won’t miss extended time. NFL insider Ian Rapoport tweeted that the 2013 second-round draft pick “should be back for the playoffs, if not sooner.”

That would be welcome news indeed for the Dallas defense. The team faces Buffalo, Miami, and Detroit over the next 20 days; those teams currently rank eighth, first, and fourth respectively in average yards per carry. In 13 games this season- all with Hankins- the Cowboys have not allowed a 100-yard rusher; only three opposing players have topped 60 yards on the ground.

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The 31-year-old appeared to have been rolled up on from behind on a third-down run play shortly after the second-half kickoff. Rookie Mazi Smith replaced Hankins for the remainder of the game.

Hankins did return to the Cowboys sideline Sunday night under his own power and still in uniform. After the game, he was seen leaving the locker room without a crutches, a walking boot, or even a pronounced limp.

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Brandon Aubrey’s assault on NFL kicking hierarchy takes center stage in Week 14

Brandon Aubrey continues his fantastic rookie campaign with his best game of the season. | From @TimLettiero

If Dallas wanted to keep their hopes for an NFC East championship alive they needed a win against the first-place Philadelphia Eagles. They delivered.

Unlike last week, Dallas didn’t allow the opponent endless paths to the end zone. In fact, they kept the opposing offense out of it entirely. The Cowboys  offense wasn’t firing like they have in past week, but luckily they have the hottest kicker in the league. Rookie Brandon Aubrey showed his season-long consistency as he outscored the opponent all by himself in the Cowboys’ 33-13 win.

Already up 7-0 with under a minute remaining in the first, Aubrey nailed a career long 60-yard kick with absolute ease.

Midway through the third, Aubrey makes a nearly identical kick to put Dallas up 14.

He’d go on to make two more of 45  and 50 yards, respectively, while going 3-3 on extra points to secure the Cowboys victory. His streak of perfection is still on as Dallas looks to face the elements of Buffalo next week.

Micah Parsons battling flu; Cowboys expect him to play vs Eagles

From @ToddBrock24f7: The two-time All-Pro was added to the injury report early Sunday, but the Cowboys don’t believe his playing time vs Philly will be affected.

Cue up the Michael Jordan memes and maybe get an IV bag ready, just in case. Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons has come down with an illness but is expected to play Sunday night when the division-leading Eagles pay a visit to AT&T Stadium.

The team added Parsons to their injury report just prior to the kickoff of Week 14’s early-afternoon slate. As per Ed Werder of ESPN, a virus has been working its way through the Cowboys locker room; it apparently hit quarterback Dak Prescott last week.

Parsons is dealing with flu-like symptoms, and although the Cowboys do not expect his playing time to be affected Sunday night, it will be a situation worth watching in what is expected to be a fiercely-contested matchup of longtime rivals.

Parsons is currently leading the Cowboys defense in sacks this season, with 11.5 through 12 games, and he is a viable candidate to win Defensive Player of the Year.

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The two-time All-Pro won’t be the only one suiting up for Dallas tonight in less-than-ideal physical condition; head coach Mike McCarthy had his appendix removed in emergency surgery on Wednesday but says he will handle all his usual sideline and play-calling duties for Sunday night’s NFC East showdown.

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Ejected Eagles security man won’t be allowed on sidelines vs Cowboys

From @ToddBrock24f7: Dom DiSandro will not be allowed on the AT&T Stadium sideline following his physical altercation with a 49ers player last week.

Friday’s final injury report showed both the Cowboys and Eagles at nearly full strength heading into a Sunday night showdown that will help decide the NFC East.

But Philadelphia will nevertheless be a man down, at least as far as their usual sideline staff goes.

Dom DiSandro, the Eagles head of security who was involved last week in a confrontation that got physical with 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw, has been barred from Philadelphia’s sideline when the team visits AT&T Stadium in Week 14, per NFL insider Adam Schefter, citing sources.

DiSandro is being allowed to travel with the Eagles team and perform all of his other duties during their trip to Dallas, but he will not be allowed to be on the sideline during the game.

Greenlaw got into a shouting match with several Eagles players on their sideline after making a tackle that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. DiSandro positioned himself among the players and tried to push Greenlaw away. Greenlaw’s hand then appeared to make contact with DiSandro’s face while making pointing gestures.

Greenlaw was disqualified from the game for the contact; DiSandro was booted from the Philadelphia sideline for “contributing to the escalation” of the argument.

The NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams this week with a reminder to “please ensure that all members of your game-day staff understand that their role does not extend to being involved with game day altercations and that they must refrain from such involvement.”

Greenlaw and DiSandro reportedly exchanged formal apologies through respective team channels, but the league is said to still be considering further discipline. Both men could face fines for their actions.

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The league was expected to take further action past even the game-day ejections and memo; there was some concern that teams could begin instigating such incidents intentionally, using a low-tier staffer to bait an opponent’s star player into an altercation in an effort to get that player disqualified.

“It won’t be [a strategy]. It can’t be, and that’s why they probably did make a big deal out of [it],” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said earlier in the week. “It can’t be a strategy. They’ll put an end to that, which I think they already have.”

Things were already sure to be plenty tense on both sidelines this Sunday night, as the longtime rivals square off for the 130th time and with the late-season division lead on the line. The absence of one Eagles staffer likely won’t completely prevent tempers from flaring at some point, but DiSandro’s presence after last week’s scuffle with a star player would only have made an ugly incident more likely.

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Cowboys fans looking for pro-Eagles bias in Week 14 ref are offside

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Eagles have never lost a game in which John Hussey was the head referee, but that’s not what the Cowboys should be worried about Sunday.

Thanks to the numerous measures the NFL has taken to maintain parity among its 32 teams, any one contest between any two teams generally comes down to a handful of details, a few key moments that typically steer the outcome one way or the other.

Any given Sunday, as they say.

But when the NFL released Week 14 assignments for its officiating crews, many Cowboys fans immediately sensed the universe somehow placing its thumb on the scale in favor of the Eagles, based solely on who will be wearing the white hat at AT&T Stadium come kickoff.

John Hussey, a veteran NFL official with 348 games under his belt and a head referee since 2015, will be leading the crew for Sunday night’s NFC East showdown.

A dive into his all-time record suggested- to some, anyway- that Hussey has some sort of nefarious allegiance to the Eagles.

True, the Eagles have never lost a game in which Hussey was the head referee. And yes, that is statistically anomalous, considering no other team in the NFL is either winless or undefeated with him leading the officiating crew.

But a +7 swing in Philly’s favor does not necessarily a closet Eagles fan make. The Titans, for example, are also +7 in Hussey-called games, having won nine and lost two. The Saints are 8-2. On the flip side, the Panthers are 1-6. The Raiders are just 1-7 with Hussey calling the fouls.

And all the rest of the teams, predictably, fall somewhere in the middle. (Dallas is 4-4 in games he’s called.) That’s not a conspiracy, that’s the law of averages.

In fact, if Cowboys Nation is looking for a reason to pay attention to officiating, the more telling stat may be that Hussey seems to lean toward the home squad. He’s thrown 68 flags on home teams this season, as opposed to 82 on the visitors. That ratio is well off the leaguewide numbers this season (1,148 home penalties versus 1,208).

And Hussey’s calls have skewed heavily toward the home team in other years, too: 72-to-89 last season, 86-to-120 in 2019, 89-to-104 in 2018.

But then again, in 2021 and 2020, his home and away flags were almost equal- a difference of one single penalty in back-to-back years.

You can drive yourself crazy looking for some pattern that tells you how Hussey (or any official) will call his next game, but the most logical answer is that there’s just no there there. Plain and simple, Hussey isn’t secretly making sure that the Eagles (or anyone else) win the one or two games a year in which he’s on the field with them.

And even though Cowboys fans can recall several games in recent memory that were inundated with flags from overzealous crews or perhaps even tainted with questionable calls, Sunday’s clash isn’t already somehow decided because of who drew the referee whistle.

What may be worth looking at, though- especially for the Cowboys, the second-most penalized team in the NFL- is which penalties Hussey’s current crew tends to call more often than other crews.

Hussey’s squad leads the league in thrown flags per game (16.18) as well as accepted penalties per game (13.64) over 11 contests. And just as with most other crews, false start, offensive holding, and defensive pass interference are among his most-called infractions. As expected.

But Hussey does stand out in a few penalty categories. He’s tied for the league lead in defensive offside flags, something Dallas defenders seem to have trouble with every week. The Cowboys have been called for it 14 times this season; six more than the next closest team.

He’s also tied for the lead in face mask calls. Dallas is tied for the league lead in that infraction, too, with five so far in 2023.

Hussey has thrown more intentional grounding calls than any ref, and he’s one of two officials who’s called unsportsmanlike conduct a surprising five times this season. That penalty has been assessed just 21 times across all games for the whole league; Hussey’s crew threw the flag on nearly a quarter of them. And while the Cowboys haven’t committed either penalty yet this season, it’s worth remembering that this crew is particularly quick to call both.

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Leave it to second-year Cowboys offensive lineman Tyler Smith to ultimately be the voice of reason for the team.

“Discipline is always at a premium,” Smith said this week at The Star. “That’s every week. That’s something Coach McCarthy harps on week in and week out, just being disciplined. I feel like a lot of these tight games are won in the details- not only in between the snaps but before the snap as well. So just being disciplined with our keys, disciplined with our technique, disciplined with our emotions as well is going to be a huge one.”

Indeed. Just like Dallas’s approach to stopping Philadelphia’s tush push is to not get into 4th-and-short situations, the easiest way to make sure the stripes don’t decide the game is by making sure they keep their hankies in their pockets to begin with.

No matter who the head ref is.

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Mike McCarthy back home, working remotely to prep Cowboys for massive Eagles rematch

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 60-year-old coach plans to handle all his normal duties this Sunday night after undergoing an emergency appendectomy Wednesday.

Mike McCarthy is back at home after an emergency appendectomy on Wednesday. And while the Cowboys head coach isn’t fully up and around quite yet, just 24 hours after the procedure, he is still planning on manning the sideline Sunday night when his team takes the field against the division-leading Eagles.

“Full steam ahead,” said offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer on Thursday at the pre-practice press conference normally handled by McCarthy. Schottenheimer confirmed that McCarthy has already gotten back to work, doing what he can remotely on refining the Philadelphia game plans that were put in place earlier in the week and with an eye toward resuming normal playcalling duties for the Week 14 clash.

“We don’t anticipate anything different,” Schottenheimer explained. “Again, he’s involved in all the things. We’ll have a long conversation again this afternoon. He’s watching the practices and yeah, full steam ahead.”

McCarthy, 60, wasted no time in reconnecting with his staff after Wednesday’s surgery; Schottenheimer told reporters that he and McCarthy spoke by phone Wednesday night and again multiple times on Thursday, with the coach giving notes on the week’s game prep.

“He’s been very involved. He’s in good spirits,” Schottenheimer said. “It’s always good when he has a lot of suggestions when you talk to him on the phone: ‘Well, what do you think of this?’ That’s when I know he’s feeling good.”

McCarthy was not feeling so good Wednesday morning. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said that he saw McCarthy at the facility early and that his boss “just didn’t look good” while complaining of abdominal pain. After consulting with the team’s medical staff, McCarthy went to a hospital for further evaluation, where a diagnosis of acute appendicitis was given.

The players didn’t even find out what was happening until McCarthy wasn’t at the team’s midweek walkthrough; Quinn and special teams coordinator John Fassel led the day’s practice on next to no notice.

“There wasn’t much warning. It was like, ‘Here you go. You’ve got it.’ [Practice] was already scripted,” Fassel said, per the team website. “We just followed along with the plan that was already in motion, and we’ve got good bodies that can pick it up and keep it going.”

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The Cowboys staff quickly fell back on lessons learned during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, when any player, coach, or staffer was just a nasal swab away from being sent home.

“You always have to have a contingency plan. Mike’s great about that; he does,” Quinn explained. “I think we all learned a lot a few years back in COVID: when a coach is down or a player is down, how does that go? He’s done a fantastic job of mapping- not just him or me or anybody else- who could then in that same spot say, ‘Hey, this is the next step and this is how we go.’ So we’re super organized and ready for that.”

Adjustments were made on the fly, and the business of football has continued in Frisco. The Cowboys don’t seem to have missed a beat in prepping for the biggest game of the year, even without their recuperating head coach. And all indications are they won’t be missing McCarthy, either, when kickoff finally rolls around.

Joked Quinn: “Do you think that tough Irishman is going to miss this game?”

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Cowboys’ Quinn on defending Eagles’ 3rd, 4th downs: ‘We’ve got to go make those stops’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Dallas DC believes the way to stop the “tush push” is to prevent 4th down at all. But Philly’s been awfully good on 3rd down, too.

Every team that’s faced the Eagles this season has had their own tactic to defending the “tush push.” Some have tried to go up over the top of the Philadelphia linemen, some have attempted to dive underneath to the bottom of the pile for leverage, some have sent a defender shooting around the scrum in hopes of pulling Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts from behind before he can squeeze past the line to gain.

But Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn maintains that a more effective strategy would be to not let the Philly offense get into a fourth-and-short-yardage scenario to begin with.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the only way,” Quinn said this week at The Star, “but it is one thousand percent the best way.”

Delivering Wednesday’s pre-practice press conference in place of Mike McCarthy as the head coach dealt with an emergency appendectomy, Quinn acknowledged that his unit didn’t fare too well against the Eagles on late downs when the rival clubs met in Week 9.

Philadelphia converted seven of their 14 third-down attempts and both fourth-downs that they tried in their 28-23 win.

Quinn believes his troops will have to do much better than that to knock off the division leaders in this critical Week 14 rematch, but he knows it won’t be easy.

“One of the things Philadelphia does really well, amongst many,” he offered, “is third downs.”

The Eagles are currently moving the sticks on 47.85% of their third downs, a mark that places them third in the league.

Dallas’s defense, on the other hand, is coming off a couple games in which their third-down success rate was less than stellar. The Seahawks went 9-of-14 on third-down tries in Week 13. Washington converted nearly 50%, 7-of-15, on Thanksgiving Day.

Prior to those two games- both of which were tightly-contested affairs going into the fourth quarter- whenever the Cowboys defense allowed its opponent to convert third downs at a rate of .500 or better? The team’s three losses.

“To me, that’s where some of the secret sauce in this game is going to live,” predicted Quinn of this Sunday’s showdown, “because some of their third downs can turn into fourth downs where they go [for it].”

And when they do go for it, tush push or otherwise, the Eagles are converting at a 73.68% rate.

“That’s one of the games within the game, to say on our third and fourth downs, that’s a really big deal,” Quinn told reporters. “We’ve got to go make those stops in that space.”

When looking at the season as a whole, the Cowboys have actually done that reasonably well. Over 13 full games played this season, Dallas’s opponents have converted just 36.94% of their third downs (10th-best) and 48.15% of fourth-down tries (14th-best).

Holding Philadelphia to those levels or below would ostensibly go a long way toward a Cowboys win on Sunday night.

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