Tag: 2023 season Week 9

Prescott is dealing once again, giving Cowboys hope despite loss

Prescott was dealing for the second game in a row, showing he and the coordinated offense might be hitting their stride at the right time. | From @TimLettiero

Divisional games are always a different beast and the lead-up to this midseason clash had the league on alert. Coming off three decisive victories and their bye week, the Dallas Cowboys came in riding high. Philaelphia, however, was riding higher as they sat 7-1 atop not just the NFC East but the entire league.

Despite a rough opening drive, Mike McCarthy and company righted the ship, but couldn’t quite eek out the win, dropping Dallas to 5-3. Doing everything he could to pull his team through, quarterback Dak Prescott had a sensational game despite facing a mountain of pressure all game.

Prescott finished the game with 374 passing yards on 29 completions with three scores, boasting a +6 CPOE. While not his most surgical performance, Prescott was still the backbone of a successful offensive outing.

Down 7-0, Prescott returned the favor with an emphatic drive capped off by a fourth-down conversion to WR CeeDee Lamb and a touchdown to TE Jake Ferguson

Still 7-7 early in the second, Dallas found themselves in enemy territory looking to take the lead. On 3rd-and-14, Prescott steps up and scrambles right away from pressure and finds Lamb for a crucial conversion.

Later on the same drive, Dallas faces another third down, this time on the goal line. Prescott drops back at the five-yard line and fires a bullet into the arms of WR KaVontae Turpin for the score.

Following the Turpin touchdown, the Dallas offense saw the ball only twice before the fourth quarter. This allowed Philadelphia to take a 28-17 lead before Dallas started their comeback. Marching downfield, Prescott looked to take matters into his own hands as he nearly supermanned his way into the endzone.

On the very next play, Prescott found rookie TE Luke Schoonmaker on what was initially thought to be a score before he was found to be just inches short, turning the ball over on downs.

The Cowboy’s defense managed to get some clutch stops which gave the offense another chance to keep the game close. Prescott found the second-year man WR Jalen Tolbert for his first career touchdown to make it a one-score game.

Dallas was unable to seal the deal given multiple opportunities but Prescott is still white hot going into their second meeting with the New York Giants.

Gallup’s drop, missing Ferguson on 4th among Cowboys loss-defining plays

From @ToddBrock24f7: Beyond the plays everyone is talking about, don’t forget about Jake Ferguson wide open and Michael Gallup’s dropped pass in key moments.

When picking the plays that defined the Cowboys’ 28-23 loss to Philadelphia in Week 9, there are the obvious choices. Luke Schoonmaker not getting into the end zone on his 1-yard catch. Dak Prescott stepping out of bounds on his 2-point conversion. The final play in which no one was following CeeDee Lamb toward the end zone to receive a last-gasp lateral.

But a final score in the NFL almost always comes down to more than just a handful of larger-than-life plays. It’s all the countless little things, tiny details, seemingly inconsequential moments along the way that lead up to those gotta-have-it highlights.

For this edition of 4 Downs, we’ll bypass the no-brainers on which the game very visibly shifted and instead dive into four lesser plays that just as importantly swung the momentum in what ended up being a rollercoaster clash of NFC East rivals.

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‘He’s a warrior’: Cowboys teammates come to Dak Prescott’s defense after gutsy performance in loss

From @ToddBrock24f7: Prescott had his most passing yards in nearly two seasons, but his teammates don’t blame him for the team coming up short in Sunday’s loss.

There are plenty of reasons why the Cowboys fell in Sunday’s 28-23 loss to the NFC-leading Eagles, but despite one popular narrative playing out with a certain segment of football fans, no one actually wearing the star believes their quarterback is one of those reasons.

Dak Prescott passed for 374 yards in the Week 9 clash, his most through the air since 2021’s Thanksgiving Day overtime meeting with the Raiders, and a total that ranks within the top 15 games of his pro career.

But that was of little solace to Prescott as he spoke with reporters at Lincoln Financial Field after his three-touchdown effort was in vain.

“It sucks,” Prescott said plainly. “You want to come into this game, everybody in that locker room believed. And we still do, don’t get me wrong. We were inches away, on three different plays, from this being a different game or being a different outcome near the end.”

Two of those plays were Prescott passes that came up just short. One was the apparent touchdown to rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker, called back only after a video replay review determined his knee was down before the ball crossed the plane of the goal line.

That play happened immediately after Prescott tried to punch it in himself and was dramatically flipped head over heels to land inside the 2.

The Cowboys also came up just shy on the game’s final play, when CeeDee Lamb was tackled on the 4-yard-line as time expired.

The third play was Prescott’s late two-point attempt that saw him race Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham to the goal line and get forced out of bounds just before getting the ball across. A successful conversion there would have put the Cowboys down by just a field goal with over six minutes still to play.

“Really just mad at myself for not just attacking the pylon earlier with two hands, diving,” Prescott said. “I was just going for the pylon and played it too close. Obviously, we get that, those last two possessions are completely different. So, it sucks.”

But Prescott’s teammates and coaches had nothing but praise for No. 4 for an overall heroic performance.

“I thought Dak Prescott played extremely well under the circumstances. This is a tough place to play,” head coach McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference. “He made plays with his feet, hung in there in the pocket, took hits. I thought he played his ass off.”

“He’s just so reliable. What a leader,” Schoonmaker agreed. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. The confidence is just through the roof.”

“Dak was awesome tonight,” guard Zack Martin said. “Using his legs, throwing the ball down the field. He was lights out.”

“He’s a champion. He has a champion mindset,” explained guard Tyler Smith, who had a critical false start penalty on the final drive that pushed the offense back five yards. “I’ve got to be better for him.”

Thanks to a running game that never really materialized, Prescott had to put the entire offense on his right shoulder, attempting a season-high 44 throws while using his legs to evade an Eagles pass rush that still got home for five sacks and hit him another ten times.

That made an impression on the Cowboys’ own defensive star, watching from the sideline.

“Dak’s a freaking warrior,” linebacker Micah Parsons said at his locker. “There was multiple times where I was like, ‘That’s Dak [expletive] Prescott, bro.’ He’s a dog. He’s a warrior. I’ve got an unbelievable amount of confidence in him. I thought he had a great game. I think more people need to put more respect on him; he outplayed everyone today.”

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And still, Sunday’s clash came down to the smallest of margins. A few inches on Schoonmaker’s catch. A few inches on Prescott’s two-point run. A couple yards on the final throw to Lamb.

There’s not much comfort in that for Prescott.

“There’s no moral victories in this, I can promise you that. Not by any means,” he explained.

But there are lessons to take moving forward.

“We got close. We got close,” Prescott repeated. “We’re doing things the right way. We’ve just got to- an inch here, an inch there- make that difference, and we’ll find a way to gain that.”

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Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys’ aggressiveness approach vs Eagles for naught

From @ToddBrock24f7: Dak Prescott’s mobility and aggressiveness on 4th were good. Relying on young players in huge moments and the officiating? Not so much.

The Cowboys’ Week 9 visit to Philadelphia was billed as one of the biggest games of the season. It lived up to the hype, with the Cowboys coming within literal inches of upsetting the Eagles before a capacity crowd of Philadelphia faithful.

The game truly had everything, including plentiful helpings of good, bad, and ugly. The good for the Cowboys will obviously be overshadowed by coming out on the short end of the 28-23 final score, but it’s there. Another strong outing from Dak Prescott, a big night from CeeDee Lamb as he continues to boost his stock among the league’s receivers, and a record-breaking effort from kicker Brandon Aubrey, were, to note, a few positives.

As in any disappointing loss, though, the bad and the ugly seem to make for longer lists. Much will be made of the lack of a Cowboys run game, the preponderance of questionable penalties, the porosity of the Dallas defense in the red zone and on fourth downs, and why several Cowboys stars seemed to disappear completely in this massive game with huge implications.

But all that’s just scratching the surface. Here’s our weekly look at the goodest, the baddest, and the ugliest from the Week 9 loss.

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Final Week 9 injury report upgrades Tyron Smith, Chuma Edoga for Cowboys vs Eagles

From @ToddBrock24f7: Smith was a limited participant in Friday’s walkthrough; he’s a 50/50 decision for Sunday in Philly. Same goes for backup Chuma Edoga.

The Cowboys will head to Philadelphia for their biggest game yet, and they’ll do it at nearly full strength. Offensive lineman Tyron Smith was upgraded to limited participation during Friday’s walkthrough and carries a questionable status for Sunday’s kickoff. His primary backup at the left tackle spot, Chuma Edoga, has been limited all week and is also considered 50/50 to go.

The Eagles have ruled four of their players- tight end Grant Calcaterra, guard Cam Jurgens, cornerback Bradley Roby, and running back Boston Scott- out for the Week 9 divisional battle, but the rest of the roster is without a gameday designation and therefore ready to roll.

Here’s who’s on the final injury report of the week for both clubs.

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Cowboys’ Turpin doesn’t expect Eagles to punt to him: ‘Teams are still scared of me’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The speedy returner had an 87-yard TD called back by penalty last week; Eagles punter Braden Mann has allowed just three returns in 6 games.

On the 39th punt return of his pro career, KaVontae Turpin thought he had finally broken one off.

The Cowboys speedster had first shown off his formidable skills in 2022’s preseason with two returns (one punt, one kickoff) for scores in an August outing against the Chargers. In that one exhibition performance, the USFL phenom solidified his spot on the Cowboys roster, but he also effectively alerted every other team in the league that kicking the ball to him at all is playing with fire.

And so after a season and a half of returning punts, the presumptive most dangerous return man in the game has just a 9.4-yard average… and zero touchdowns.

Thanks only to a penalty flag late in Sunday’s blowout win over the Rams.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SwyVemrckH8?feature=share

Turpin’s electrifying end-zone dash was brought back on Nahshon Wright’s hold. The 87-yard house call instead went in the books as a harmless six-yard return.

And Turpin believes it may have just reminded upcoming Cowboys opponents- like the division-leading Eagles in Week 9- not to even crack the door open for him.

“Teams are still scared of me, so I don’t think I’ll get any more chances, to be real with you,” Turpin told reporters this week at The Star.

He may be right, at least this week.

A quick look at the Eagles’ season stats show a potential weakness in their punt coverage game. They’ve given up 14.7 punt return yards per game, fourth-highest in the NFL.

Arryn Siposs was Philadelphia’s punter for the first two weeks of the season. Five of his punts were returned for 40 total yards. But then Philadelphia made a quick change and brought in Braden Mann starting in Week 3. In the six games that followed, Mann has punted 10 times; only three were returned.

But those three returns all went for double-digit yards.

Granted, the Eagles famously don’t let Mann stray too far or too often from the sideline Gatorade table, what with all of their tush-pushing on fourth-and-short (or simply not getting themselves to fourth down in the first place).

When he does come on to boot it away, Mann tends to keep it away. But when there’s a return, there’s the potential for fireworks. If Turpin can get his hands on a punt with enough space to get even a couple steps, he could be racing all the way to the Rocky steps at some point Sunday.

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As long as the other 10 Cowboys special teamers can keep Lincoln Financial’s field a laundry-free zone.

“It’s frustrating because I don’t get too many chances in the return game,” Turpin admitted. “So when I do get a chance, I don’t want to see any flags, especially when I take it all the way.

“At the same time, I tell my guys to go out there and block as hard as they can. But that just comes with football. We’re going to get another chance sooner or later.”

The Cowboys are hoping for sooner.

We’ll see if Mann and the Eagles play ball.

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Cowboys still hopeful for Tyron Smith; Thursday injury report encouraging

From @ToddBrock24f7: The left tackle sat out a second straight day, but Mike McCarthy says if he practices on Saturday, he could play vs the Eagles in Sunday.

Thursday means it’s back to work for the Cowboys veterans who got to go easy on Wednesday. That alone slashes the injury report from ten names to four. And two of those players were also back at practice, too. Wideout Michael Gallup shook off the bug that kept him out a day, and safety Jayron Kearse’s toe seems to be an non-issue. Both participated in full.

Tyron Smith was held out once again as the club keeps a careful watch on his neck stinger. He has participated in walkthroughs, though, and head coach Mike McCarthy said that if he can participate in Saturday’s practice session, he’ll have a chance to play Week 9. Chuma Edoga was limited for the second straight day, but his listing now includes a knee designation as well as an ankle.

As for the Eagles, no major changes over the last 24 hours. Guard Sua Opeta was able to practice in full after being limited on Wednesday.

Here’s how both teams are shaping up ahead of Sunday’s showdown.

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Cowboys re-sign O-lineman to practice squad, lose 2 newcomers

From @ToddBrock24f7: Dakoda Shepley spent 2022 with Dallas before being poached by the Colts. TE Eric Saubert and G Chris Glaser move to the AFC with new teams.

The Cowboys stood pat at Tuesday’s trade deadline, but there is nevertheless some roster churn this week heading into a huge divisional matchup Sunday against the 7-1 Eagles.

Dallas lost two recently-signed members of the practice squad in tight end Eric Saubert and guard Chris Glaser. They then brought back a former practice squad offensive lineman for insurance depth.

Guard Dakoda Shepley returns after being with the Cowboys in 2022. An early-season practice squad add then, he did see in the field in each of his three gameday elevations and was brought aboard the active roster late in the season. He was waived just prior to the start of the postseason with an eye toward re-signing him to the practice squad, but the Colts snatched him up during his 24 requisite hours on the waiver wire.

Indianapolis released Shepley in mid-October. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 317 pounds, the once-promising CFL star had also been with the Jets, 49ers, and Seahawks.

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As for the departures, Saubert had just signed with Dallas during the bye week. A former fifth-round draft pick of Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons, the big tight end was elevated to the Cowboys’ 53-man roster just four days after his arrival at The Star and played 14 special-teams snaps versus the Rams. He’ll now join the Houston Texans’ active roster.

Glaser heads back to New York to suit up for the Jets- for a second time after his own one-week stint with the Cowboys; the versatile lineman can play every spot on the O-line.

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