Tag: 2023 Week 10

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott named FedEx Air Player of Week 10

The Cowboys signal caller has been nominated for three straight weeks, finally getting the top spot. | From @ArmyChiefW3

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was named Air FedEx Player of the Week for his Week 10 performance after going 26 of 35 for 404 yards and four touchdown passes in a 49-17 victory over the New York Giants. Prescott also rushed for a score late in the second quarter.

Prescott posted a season high QBR of 138.3 to go along with his first 400-plus yard passing game of the season. He also did not take a sack for only the second time this year.

This is the eighth time in his career Prescott has won the award, last taking home the honors late in the 2022 season. Prescott earned more than 33,000 votes, easily claiming victory over two NFC opponents, both of whom the Cowboys will facae off with later on this year.

Prescott has thrown for 2,415 yards this season, with 17 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. His 70.7 completion percentage is tops in the entire league.

After failing to throw for 300 yards through any of their first six games, Prescott has not thrown for under that mark since.

Motion kills, emotions build among Cowboys lessons learned vs Giants

Lost in the fire and rubble of the Cowboys blowout win over New York are a few important situations that need to be recognized.

At face value, it may not seem like a 49-17 thrashing of an overmatched Giants team would offer much insight to the Cowboys. Here’s Dallas, a loaded roster in the thick of the playoff hunt, playing their best ball of the season. And here’s New York, a battered and bruised cellar-dweller, just hoping to survive the game, and probably, the season.

The Cowboys already had the reputation for beating up on the little guys. They were great when faced with a mismatch, it’s their ability to perform against their equals that was under constant question. But Week 10 against the Giants was not their standard drubbing of an inferior opponent. It was more than that. It was a departure from the norm on both a micro and macro level.

It’s these items that deserve extra attention this week as the Cowboys progress into their most logistically difficult part of the schedule.

With three games in 12 days, Dallas faces a tough task in schedule alone. It’s a time when the Cowboys traditionally struggle and given the circumstances this season, it’s a section they absolutely need to win if they want to catch the division-leading Eagles in the standings.

What was learned?

Cowboys-Giants Week 10 Gallery showcases joy from lopsided rivalry

Right-click-save-as. A look at the game through the lens of talented photographers who captured all of the action in the blowout victory. | From @KDDrummondNFL

Don’t let the glorious memories from Sunday’s absolute dismantling of a division rival fade away. After the Dallas Cowboys failed to score on their opening drive, going 0-for-4 near the goal line, and then went three-and-out on the subsequent possession, things improved mightily. Dallas scored seven touchdowns, the most on offense since 2021, in romping the New York Giants 49-17.

The constant barrage of success led to a ton of celebratory moments, as Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks and Michael Gallup wowed through the air, Rico Dowdle impressed on the ground. On the opposite side, the defensive front harassed rookie QB Tommy Devito all afternoon, and DaRon Bland did what DaRon Bland does. Here’s all of the action, captured by the great photogs from USA Today Sports and Getty Images.

Twitter reacts to Dak Prescott, Cowboys record-setting win vs Giants

Top reactions to the Cowboys bludgeoning the Giants for the second time in 2023, straight from social media. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys stomped a mudhole through yet another inferior opponent on Sunday. Their Week 10 victory over the lowly New York Giants, 49-17, was the club’s second 40-burger in the last three weeks and third overall. Dallas has now had the largest margin of victory in a given week across the NFL a whopping four times (Week’s 1, 4, 8 and 10), proving their worth.

But they haven’t defeated a good-to-great team yet, so questions still remain about exactly what this team is. Blowing out the opposition is crucial, but not as important as actually beating other good teams. Regardless, the performance was epic, with quarterback Dak Prescott, WR CeeDee Lamb and the club as a whole setting NFL records, or doing things that hadn’t been accomplished in decades.

Twitter (his mama named him Clay, I’m a call him Clay vibes here) is the perfect place to capture all the glory and discussion from fans to media. Here’s a large sample of reactions, stats and funny memes centered around the Week 10 dismanting.

Enjoy.

Studs and duds in Cowboys’ 49-17 thrashing of Giants in Week 10

The Cowboys and Dak Prescott had an offensive explosion in the Week 10 blowout win over the New York Giants. | From @BenGrimaldi

Death, taxes, along Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys beating up on the New York Giants. Nothing is for certain in this world except for these three things, apparently. Unfortunately for the Giants, it happens twice a year thanks to the NFL’s disdain for geography allowing the Cowboys to be a part of the NFC East.

It’s been an especially rough year for the Giants, who have now been torched by the Cowboys in both games, outscored by a score of 89-17. In the Week 10 drubbing, Prescott and the Cowboys cooked up their second 40-burger against their rivals in 2023. Despite failing on a fourth-and-goal early in another frustrating red zone trip, little else went wrong in the dominating win for Dallas. Here are the studs and duds from another laugher for the Cowboys.

The Rise of Brandin: Cowboys’ offense Cooks with key ingredient

The Cowboys have waited a while for Brandin Cooks to break out on offense; here’s how his emergence means big things for the Dallas offense. | From @ReidDHanson

It made no sense. Brandin Cooks didn’t just survive in every offense he’s ever been in, he’s thrived in them. The nomadic WR out of Oregon State has played for four teams since joining the NFL nine years ago. He’s posted thousand-yard seasons in all of them before joining Dallas.

In seasons in which Cooks has played at least 15 games, he’s posted thousand-yard seasons every single one of them. Yet since joining the Cowboys via trade this offseason, he’s largely been a non-factor. Until Week 10, that is.

Prior to Sunday’s showdown against the Giants, Cooks was on pace for just 36 receptions and a shade over 350 yards for the season. But after erupting for nine receptions and 173 yards, Cooks is now on a more familiar trajectory. He’s not going to get 173 yards every week, but he only needs to average 83 yards to cross the thousand-yard threshold.

Why the Cowboys offense struggled to get Cooks involved for so long is anyone’s guess. Cooks found a way to produce in every system he’s been in. In Dallas, he had Dak Prescott’s arm and Mike McCarthy’s system working in his favor.

It’s not as if McCarthy and Prescott were failing to meet expectations. McCarthy was running a highly efficient offense and Prescott has been performing at an MVP-level pace as of late.

The film showed Cooks hadn’t lost a step. He was still getting in and out of breaks with ease and he appeared to still have the speed that made him special.

Interestingly enough, despite Cooks’ paltry numbers through the first eight games, the Cowboys 11 personnel group was producing the second best they have since Prescott joined the team in 2016. Nothing really made sense this season. Why was Cooks struggling?

Maybe there were too many cooks in the kitchen (shameless, I know). Maybe it’s CeeDee Lambs’ success that was impacting Cooks’ opportunities. Because when the lamb is so delicious, why cook anything else?

I promise, that’s the last one.

In what seemed like a conscious effort to get Cooks involved, the Cowboys offense is finally cooking here in Week 10 (I regret nothing).

If the Cowboys can get Cooks established as a viable threat this season, they would do wonders for their offense. Cooks has the kind of speed players like Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert and Lamb can only dream of. He pushes back the safeties and creates space inside for operators to operate.

Cooks offers a special level of fear to defenses. He can take any ball he touches home for six. Teams know they have to play him carefully. With Lamb’s level of dominance in recent weeks, defenses have had reason to devote extra resources to stop the Cowboys’ top threat. But the ramifications of allowing Cooks the ball in space is too great to hyperfocus on No. 88. Cooks’ emergence helps everyone.

Cooks appears to finally be a viable threat for Dallas and that means good things for the offense moving forward. Because when the Cowboys cook, everyone eats.

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Instant Analysis: Dak dominant in Cowboys’ 49-17 destruction of doomed Giants

The Cowboys continued to exert their dominance over the Giants, blowing out the division rival for the second time this season.

The Dallas Cowboys entered the game feeling good despite coming off a loss in their last contest. Over the last several weeks, the Mike McCarthy offense had started to come into their own. After starting the season with a ton of yards but an inability to score once they got into the red zone, the club had slowly started to improve. McCarthy took over play calling from Kellen Moore over the offseason, and with that, some growing pains were experienced in making some changes to how the offense flowed.

But over the last two weeks, even in the Week 9 loss to Philadelphia, the offense had shown signs of their prior dominance. QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb were playing at All-Pro levels. Second-year TE Jake Ferguson was morphing into a threat, as well. On Sunday, they were joined by free-agent acquisition Brandin Cooks and for the first time all year they truly unlocked their potential.

The result? An absolute demolition of the depleted New York Giants by the score of 49-17. The win improves the Cowboys to 6-3 on the season.

 

Look: Cowboys TE Jake Ferguson scores TD in 3rd-straight game

The Cowboys TE keeps making big plays, increasing his profile as Dak Prescott’s security blanket.

The Cowboys are taking what some may consider their own sweet time in putting a bowtie on the Giants, but the methodical approach is working. Dallas whiffed on their opening possession, driving the length of the field but failing to score on four opportunities from goal-to-go. They then went three and out but soon righted the ship.

A touchdown by CeeDee Lamb was followed by an interception off the arm of Dak Prescott, but the defense held the Giants on four plays from the 12-yard line. The offense went back to work and soon TE Jake Ferguson was getting his chance.

Dallas drove 96 yards down the field on the scoring drive, with the final play a one-yard touchdown pass on second down to Ferguson in the back of the end zone.

It’s the second-year tight end’s third-straight game with a score and his fourth on the young season. He’s become a true weapon for teh Dallas offense.

Watch: CeeDee Lamb gets Cowboys on board with his legs

CeeDee Lamb followed up his acrobatic catch with a scoring run to open things up for Dallas. Watch both.

CeeDee Lamb has been balling as a receiver over the last several weeks. His back-to-back 150-plus yard games have skyrocketed him up the leaderboard in the NFL. Dallas has answered his call to get him more involved in the offense over the last three weeks and they continued to do so on Sunday.

And while his receiving prowess is certainly on display in the Week 10 game against the New York Giants, the Cowboys got on the board thanks to Lamb harping back to his eight-grade running back days.

Greg Olsen called the play a tornado reverse, thanks to the distraction made on the end around that went to the right side for the score.

Earlier in the game, Lamb made an incredible one-handed catch while being interfered with.

Cowboys-Giants inactives: Turpin out, return of Deuce Vaughn

The Dallas Cowboys are without wide receiver Kavontae Turpin vs. the Giants while New York is missing multiple starters.

The Dallas Cowboys come in as massive favorites over the New York Giants, and the advantage grows in AT&T Stadium has nearly their whole arsenal active for a chance to sweep.

Dallas dominated the first matchup in MetLife Stadium with 40-point shutout to open the season. Now, New York is without their starting quarterback and will miss two key starters against the Cowboys in Week 10.

Right tackle Evan Neal is inactive, as well as cornerback Adoree’ Jackson for the already shorthanded Giants. On the flipside, Dallas’ main absence is wide receiver KaVontae Turpin, who is dealing with a shoulder injury.

A pair of rookies are in the lineup for the Cowboys with running back Deuce Vaughn and wide receiver Jalen Brooks active. Vaughn has been on the bench for several weeks after being rather ineffective as a ball carrier. Take a look at the inactives ahead of Cowboys-Giants, kicking off at 3:25 p.m., televised on FOX.