Tag: 2023 Week 13

Studs and duds in Cowboys’ 41-35 Week 13 win over Seahawks

Dak Prescott was clutch throughout and the defense when it needed to be, but Dan Quinn’s unit has things to clean up. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys were finally tested at home against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 13, and they came away with a 41-35 win. It wasn’t as easy as expected, but the Cowboys pushed their current win streak to three games, extended their home winning streak to 14, and kept the pressure on the Philadelphia Eagles to win to keep their two-game lead in the division.

It was a grind for the Cowboys in this one as their defense had a bad night and the penalties piled up giving the struggling Seahawks a chance to come away with the upset. However, behind another stellar performance from their MVP candidate quarterback Dak Prescott, the team was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Here are the studs and duds for the Cowboys in a narrow win in Week 13.

Jake Ferguson’s adding extremely important elements to Cowboys’ identity

The Cowboys are loaded with playmakers and star power, but Jake Ferguson adds a layer of grit and crazy the Dallas offense sorely needs. | From @ReidDHanson

For the better part of the 2023 season, Jake Ferguson has been the No. 2 option in Dallas. He trails only CeeDee Lamb in targets and receptions and with five games yet to play, he’s already nearly tripled his output from 2022.

Even though he’s been a key cog in the Cowboys machine throughout the year, it took a big day on the Thursday Night Football stage to truly elevate him into the hearts and minds of the nation. Tony Gonzalez, a former NFL tight end and current TNF analyst, gushed over his six reception, 77-yard and one-touchdown performance, prompting many to call this Ferguson’s “coming out party.”

Those close to the team know better. The former fourth-rounder from Wisconsin has been that guy in Dallas all season long. And it didn’t take a couple flashy plays in primetime football to make it official.

As a blocker, Ferguson has quietly established himself in the NFL’s top tier. Of those with at least 300 snaps, Ferguson ranks sixth in run blocking and fifth in pass protection. With the same snap minimum, Pro Football Focus grades him seventh overall this season, making him the second-youngest TE in their top-10.

But while the pure blocking and receiving numbers are great, it’s the intangibles that seem to set him apart.

“He’s a baller,” Dak Prescott said. “His mentality is why he is the guy that he is. He expects to do what he did in tonight’s game and he’s no different than me.”

It wasn’t just what Ferguson did on Thursday, but how and to whom he did it. Jawing with All-Pro Jamal Adams early, Ferguson essentially went after the biggest bully in the yard. It was a beef only made beefier when Ferguson pulled in the go-ahead touchdown in the face of Adams in the endzone.

“He’s got a lot of swag, a little bit of craziness,” described Prescott. “You want a guy who can definitely get dirty but have some swag, be able to catch some passes, go get more, finish runs. He’s talented. A young guy – a bright, bright future ahead of him.”

While the swag is nice, it’s the grit that accompanies the swag that sets him apart from other playmakers on the team. Ferguson’s “tough guy” demeanor is the grit the Cowboys offense needs. It’s not only inspiring to others, but it’s arguably what’s been lacking in recent postseason campaigns.

San Francisco, the unofficial boogeyman of the Cowboys, has out gritted Dallas in consecutive postseasons. The Cowboys offense has repeatedly bogged down against ultra-physical teams like the 49ers and need players like Ferguson to not only step up in the playmaker department but also as a team leader and inspirational tough guy.

If something woke up on Thursday night against Seattle, it wasn’t Ferguson the playmaker, it was Ferguson the tough guy. It’s a personality trait the Cowboys have been missing in many ways, and something that could pay major dividends in the postseason.

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Has the Dan Quinn defense been exposed or are the Cowboys just exhausted?

The Cowboys defense played poorly against Seattle in Week 13, are the issues explainable or is this a sign of more bad things to come? | From @ReidDHanson

In what was possibly the most entertaining Thursday Night Football matchup of the season, the Cowboys successful dispatched their second winning team, beating Seattle 41-35 and moving to 9-3 on the season. It kept Dallas fresh on the heels of the NFC East leading Eagles and pushed Dak Prescott front and center into the MVP conversation.

While the high-scoring and puntless affair was a rousing success for TNF and truly fun to watch by most entertainment standards, entertaining football isn’t always good football. From the perspective of the Dallas defense, the Week 13 shootout with the Seahawks was anything but.

Passing for 334 yards with an EPA/play of +0.50, Geno Smith not only played his best game of the season, but arguably of his career. He carved up the Cowboys defense with relative ease and did so without the benefit of a running game.

Opponents with a winning record are now averaging over 35 points against Dallas in 2023. For perspective, Washington, the NFL’s worst defense in 2023, is averaging 29.2 points against them this season. The Cowboys are essentially playing like one of the worst defenses in the league when they match up against a winning team.

Cowboys News: Prescott’s MVP credentials, Ferguson’s grit on display

The rise of Dak Prescott’s MVP race, defensive struggles from Micah Parsons’ view and Emmitt Smith stacking up Dallas with the Eagles. | From @cdburnett7

The Dallas Cowboys quieted the narratives about being bottom feeders and also sparked an agenda of their own. Quarterback Dak Prescott is in another stratosphere with no one playing the position better in recent weeks.

Twitter finally opened their eyes to it, and the MVP talks have reached the national stage. Beyond Prescott’s excellence, the offense’s confidence is high as it’s a racing engine through 13 weeks.

On the defensive side, it was often ugly against the Seahawks, and linebacker Micah Parsons detailed how Geno Smith and Seattle caused Dan Quinn’s unit trouble. The good news is he shut the game down on the Seahawks’ final play, one where he was unblocked oddly enough.

Thoughts from Emmitt Smith on the Cowboys’ season, Mike McCarthy valuing these close games and more from the win to move to 9-3 in the latest News and Notes.

Prescott backpacks defense, carries Cowboys to 41-35 shootout win over Seahawks

Dak Prescott haters are going to move the goalposts, as he once again played a tremendous game, willing his team to a fourth-quarter comeback win. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dak Prescott detractors are quickly running out of things to say. Dallas’ quarterback is having a remarkable 2023 season, working his way into the top-5 odds for MVP.  However he hasn’t convinced everyone of his worthiness despite him dominating the position in advanced statistics. Two of the most common so-called complaints centered around the Cowboys’ lack of wins over competitive teams and the fact the Dallas defense is so strong, it makes Prescott’s job easy.

Check both of those off. On a night when Dan Quinn’s defense was absolutely atrocious for much of the night, Prescott continuously led the offense downfield and into the end zone. Despite his receivers dropping two would-be touchdowns and a rushing TD negated by a holding call, Prescott finished with 299 passing yards, a 115.8 passer rating and three passing scores. The final one put Dallas ahead late in the fourth quarter in what was eventually a 41-35 victory.

The win moves Dallas to 9-3 on the season and maintains a perfect 6-0 record at AT&T Stadium. The team has now won four games in a row as they now get 10 days to prepare for their rematch against the NFC East leading Philadelphia Eagles.

Prescott spread the ball all around, with TD tosses to both Brandin Cooks and Jake Ferguson, but once again wideout CeeDee Lamb was his most frequent target. Lamb caught 12 of 17 targets for 116 yards and his own score, while also rushing for another 30 yards on two carries.

His final carry put the Cowboys in control around the two minute warning, but after being carved up by Geno Smith all evening, the defense had to prove their worth down the stretch.

They did that, in fact stopping the Seahawks on downs on their final three drives of the game to preserve the victory. There’s a lot to clean up as the defense looked confused and uncoordinated. They gave up 21 points in the first half after not allowing 20 points in a single home game all season.

But all that washes away with the win as they move forward to the next goal of Week 14.

Week 13 Inactives: Samesies, right? Seahawks without Walker, Cowboys without Vaughn

The Cowboys are a full-go while the Seahawks will miss Kenneth Walker III, a key producer in the run game for Thursday Night Football. | From @cdburnett7

This is the gauntlet of the Dallas Cowboys 2023 schedule in multiple ways. Coming into their third game in 11 days, injury was avoided over the span and it’s a clean slate heading into Thursday Night Football. Meanwhile, this kicks off the toughest stretch of games.

Dallas had the opportunity to play tight end Peyton Hendershot for the first time of the season, but he wasn’t elevated as the end of his 21-day practice window nears a close. Other than Hendershot, the Cowboys are a full-go in AT&T Stadium.

The Seahawks aren’t so lucky, and it’ll be without leading rusher Kenneth Walker III, who’s up to 613 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. That’s the main casualty as defensive end Leonard Williams is active after a questionable designation during the week.

Here’s a full look at the inactives ahead of Cowboys-Seahawks on TNF at 7:15 p.m., streamed on Prime Video.

How to watch, stream Cowboys-Seahawks in Week 13, plus 10 top prop bets

Seattle has won 4 of the last 5 in the series and Dak Prescott has only defeated the Seahawks once in his career. Here’s how to watch Dallas turn the tide. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys return to the field on Thursday night, seeking their 14th consecutive home victory. The opponent, a pseudo-rival from yesteryear, the Seattle Seahawks. The two teams are currently both in the playoff picture, hoping they haven’t fallen too far behind their division leaders with only six games remaining on the schedule.

Thursday night will feature a ton of firepower and two defenses which currently appear on opposite sides of the spectrum. The Cowboys have already put themselves behind the eightball and cannot afford to lose to a third NFC West team. Here’s how to catch all of the action, which won’t be the normal viewing process as this game is only available online for most of the country.

Cowboys finally get a chance to silence critics with upcoming schedule, will they?

The Cowboys have been criticized for not beating good teams, but their upcoming schedule gives them the chance to change that reputation. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys, and many of their fans, came out of their first Philadelphia contest feeling pretty good about themselves. Despite the loss, Dallas appeared to be the better team that day. It took a handful of bad bounces and questionable calls to lose that game and they still fought back and had a chance to overcome it all in the end.

While the loss hardly constituted a moral victory, it was enough to show the cluster-fudge that happened in San Francisco a few weeks prior was well behind them, and that Dallas was a legit force to be reckoned with.

Still, the national media and many outside the fanbase only recognized the final result. The Cowboys had again lost to a good team and were continuing to live up to their reputation as a team that can only beat up bad teams.

Even though the Cowboys have roughly a 100-point advantage over Philadelphia in scoring margin amongst common opponents, they trail in wins. Fair or not, it’s the reality of the situation and something Dallas has to accept.

As things stand today, the Cowboys don’t play a team with a losing record again until Week 18 in Washington. And by then, Dallas may be resting players for the postseason.

Beating teams with a winning record is the only way to re-write the narrative and show the Cowboys really do belong on that top tier in the NFC. And it all starts with Seattle on Thursday.

The Seahawks, 6-5, may not be a juggernaut but they’re a winning team and in the playoff picture. Beating them is a step in the right direction.

After Seattle, the Cowboys host the Eagles for a much-anticipated revenge match. If Dallas has any hope of changing anyone’s perspective, they need to win this. Otherwise, the criticism will be relentless and frankly, deserved.

Arguably the scariest game left on the schedule is traveling to Buffalo to take on the Bills in mid-December. The Bills are fighting for their playoff lives and adverse weather isn’t just a possibility, it’s a likelihood.

Before ending in Washington, the Cowboys face 8-3 Miami and 8-3 Detroit. Both teams are forces of nature and will offer significant challenges to Dallas.

Current odds say the NFC East crown is likely out of their reach, so Dallas isn’t necessarily required to run the table down the stretch. But in order to reset any narratives and instill faith in their postseason viability, they need beat the Eagles and look strong throughout this upcoming stretch of games.

While daunting, it’s an opportunity they should embrace and something fans should welcome.

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Here’s how the Cowboys earn their second win vs. a plus-.500 team

The Cowboys can continue their hot streak at home if they accomplish some specific tasks against the Seahawks. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys have become a juggernaut at AT&T Stadium under head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Dak Prescott. This year, they have won their five home games by a combined score of 205 to 60, have never scored under 30 points, have three games scoring over 40, and have never allowed more than 17. Prescott hasn’t even attempted 20 fourth-quarter passes total in those five contests.

Dallas utilized the bye week well, switching the offensive game plan to feature pre-snap motion and shifts. They were at the bottom of the league before the bye week and have been in the middle of the pack since. They used shift or motion on a season-high 76% of their snaps versus the Washington Commanders.

Prescott has thrown for 312 yards per game in his last six outings while completing over 70% of his passes. He has 18 touchdown passes to only two interceptions and a passer rating of 122.6. He has now thrown 16 touchdowns on vertical routes, and 14 of those have been since Week 8. There isn’t a quarterback playing at that level besides him.

The Seattle Seahawks will be the first team since the 1-0 New York Jets in the Cowboys home opener to come in with an above-.500 record, at 6-5. This game will test Dallas’ home dominance more than any this season. The Cowboys will need to accomplish these specific tasks to keep the Seahawks from pulling off a significant upset at AT&T Stadium.

Gilmore vs Metcalf could be key matchup in Cowboys-Seahawks tilt

Of all the matchups between the Cowboys and Seahawks in Week 13, the most intriguing is when Stephon Gillmore and D.K. Metcalf line up. | From @ReidDHanson

The Week 13 battle between the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks features a number of storylins. Both teams are in second place within their respective divisions and both have hopes a late-season surge can lead to  division crowns.

The Cowboys’ offensive line has finally take shape. LT Tyron Smith is regaining a form not seen in years. He’s currently ranked No. 2 by PFF and could be in store for his first Pro Bowl season since 2021.

Opposite him at RT is Terence Steele, who up until recently has struggled to bounce back from a season-ending injury suffered last December. Steele has posted two strong games in a row and could be on an equally as impressive upswing.

Both men will be put to the test by Seattle’s Boye Mafe. Mafe, an EDGE who has played 275 snaps on the left and 177 snaps on the right, can rush from either side. When he sees a matchup that favors him, he’ll attack it. Expect him to test both OTs.

Another key battle to watch will be between the Cowboys’ safeties and Geno Smith. The Seahawks are loaded with downfield weapons and keeping their big plays down to a minimum will be of high priority. Seattle should expect more 2-high looks than normal from Dallas as the Cowboys try to keep things under wraps and caged in.

But the key matchup to watch on Thursday has to be between Stephon Gillmore and D.K. Metcalf. Dallas isn’t married to the idea of shadowing WRs with a specific CB in most games. In fact, they rarely do it this season and haven’t since Week 4, but matchups like this seem like the perfect opportunity.

Metcalf, 6-foot-3, 229-pounds, is an enormous task for anyone. But Gilmore’s long arms and veteran savvy make him the ideal candidate to limit his damage. If there was ever a reason to have him travel, this seems like the time.

Only a few weeks ago Dallas pushed Gillmore into A.J. Brown’s direction. Against Gillmore, Brown caught all four passes he was thrown, but he was kept to just 42 yards on the day. Gillmore was smart enough to reduce the damage and stay between his WR and the endzone. He will be asked to do the same against Metcalf, a player who has the speed to break off a long run from anywhere.

While Metcalf is fast and powerful, he doesn’t have the agility or move with the same suddenness as the other Seattle WRs. It makes Gillmore the ideal matchup for Metcalf and DaRon Bland best used elsewhere.

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