Tag: 2023 Week 14

Here’s why Dak Prescott deserves MVP more than Jalen Hurts right now

0 to 100 has so many stops along the way… why choose an extreme? Jalen Hurts is a really good, young QB. Thus far this season, Dak Prescott has been appreciably better and the stats prove it. | From @KDDrummondNFL

MVP awards don’t go to Cowboys quarterbacks. They just don’t. Roger Staubach never won an MVP, in all of his campaigns that led Dallas to Super Bowl appearances, win or lose. He finished second in 1971 and had back-to-back fourth finishes in his final two seasons, 1978 and 1979. Troy Aikman captained three teams to Lombardis, but never took home the hardware, his best finish being fifth in 1993.

Tony Romo had one of the better seasons in recent years in 2014, leading the league in completion percentage, touchdown percentage, passer rating and QBR in a year Dallas tied for the league’s best record, but could only finish in third place as Aaron Rodgers took the trophy. Now, Dak Prescott is making his second go at the big award, as he is enjoying an exemplary campaign.

Reddick-Steele among 3 critical matchups that will determine Cowboys-Eagles victor

The Cowboys can expect a significantly better outcome against the Eagles in Week 14 if they win these three critical matchups. | From @ReidDHanson

When the Eagles travel to Texas to take on the Cowboys in Week 14, it will be a battle for first place in the NFC East. With the better overall record and a head-to-head win already on their side, Philadelphia is in the driver’s seat. A win against Dallas on Sunday would essentially seal the deal and banish the Cowboys to a fifth seed according to most projections.

For Dallas to keep pace, they need to win Sunday and also little help down the road since they trail in key tiebreakers. For the Cowboys, this game is extremely critical both for playoff seeding and for their psyche. They haven’t beaten a team of Philadelphia’s caliber this season and need an elite skin on the wall before they can be considered a truly legit contender.

How they perform in a few key matchups will likely dictate their fate on Sunday night. Luckily for everyone there are no shortages of great matchups between these two heavyweights this week.

A great case be made that Philadelphia TE Dallas Goedert will play a significant role on Sunday. He’s expected to return to the lineup for the first time since he broke his arm in the first Cowboys-Eagles meeting back in Week 9. To say he’s extra motivated to bully the Dallas defense is probably an understatement.

Philadelphia struggled at TE without him in recent weeks. He’s by far their best blocker and pass catcher of the bunch and instantly upgrades both phases of the game for the Eagles. But TE matchups are tough because rarely does one defender take on a TE all game. As such, there isn’t a true key matchup  here since it will be a group effort against the tastefully named TE.

It will also likely be a chess match between A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith with Stephon Gilmore and DaRon Bland. Matching up Gilmore with Brown and Bland and Smith in Week 9 seemed to work in Dallas’ favor, but after watching Bland’s struggles against the big-bodied D.K. Metcalf last week, the Eagles will likely try to flip the script in Week 14 and force new matchups. It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out and who ultimately matches up against who.

This might be Cowboys’ key to avoiding another Terence Steele fiasco vs Eagles

In the Cowboys last matchup against the Eagles Terence Steele was abysmal but there’s reason to believe that will not happen again in Week 14, says @ReidDHanson.

In the Cowboys first matchup with the Eagles, Terence Steele had a performance for the ages, and not in a good way. Dallas’ cornerstone RT had arguably the worst game of his young career, giving up four sacks, one hit, seven hurries and 12 pressures to the Philadelphia pass rush.

He offered less resistance than the 1940 French army and routinely opened Dak Prescott to punishment inside the pocket. On a scale of 0-100, Pro Football Focus awarded his pass protecting efforts a grade of 15 for the day. His protection score out of true pass sets was an almost unfathomably low 6.3, challenging the infamous Chaz Green game of 2017.

In a game that was literally determined by inches, Steele made no excuses.

“It’s really just came down to me, my fundamentals,” Steele said after the game. “Just staying true to it. I got a little sloppy there at the end.”

The noise of no one arguing with his self-critique was deafening. It was Dallas’ biggest game of the season and one they were in prime position to win in the final minute. While a handful of plays, penalties, and bad bounces all shared fault, Steele took the lion’s share of blame from fans.

Week 14 Final Injury Report: Cowboys, Eagles entering rematch with obscenely clean bills of health

A look at the final roll call of the walking wounded ahead of Sunday night’s showdown.

There are always two trains of thought when it comes to high profile matchups. On one side, there are fans that could care less who is able to suit up for the opponents. Missing a key piece? Oh well, suck it up; everyone has injuries at some point or another. On the other side of the aisle, are those fans who want their favorite team to face their rivals at their utmost best.

Those fans are in luck in Week 14. The final injury report for both the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles have been released and neither team has ruled out any of their active roster for the contest. In fact, not only is no one ruled out, no one is doubtful and not a single player is ruled questionable.

Now of course each team has players on IR, but as far as the active roster goes, everyone is going to work through their nicks and bruises and give it a go on Sunday night. Here’s a look at the final injury report.

Watch: Dak Prescott suggests defecating on Eagles in new commercial

Pitching a product? If you have a chance to take a shot at your rival in the process, you better take it.

It would be so glorious to provide without comment, but alas, articles must have words. Here, ahead of their Week 14 rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott leans into the not-so-friendly banter that comes his way by fans of the opposition and sometimes his own fanbase.

It’s all with good reason, as the salesman is pitching something very important, colon cancer screening. It’s just done in the absolute best way, suggesting aiming at the stool collection pot by placing something that you really want to besmirch. Take a look at the commercial and enjoy.

Can the Cowboys offense copy the 49ers blueprint to beat the Eagles? Should they?

The Cowboys can learn a lot from the way the 49ers rolled the Eagles defense last week. Which items might Dallas borrow in Week 14? | From @ReidDHanson

When the Cowboys and Eagles last met, Dallas endured a significant drop in their offensive point production. Despite the Eagles struggles on defense this season, they were able to hold the Cowboys to just 23 points; nearly 10 points shy of their season average of 32.3 points per game. It was only the fourth time the Cowboys failed to score at least 30 points this season and something Dallas hopes to correct in their Week 14 matchup on Sunday night.

As the Cowboys strategize their attack for the upcoming showdown, they need only look to last week to see how the Eagles can be beaten. San Francisco had no trouble putting points up against the Eagles, beating them to the tune of 42-19 and laying out a blueprint for attack to anyone who may be interested in dethroning the defending conference champs.

With over 300 yards through the air and nearly 150 yards on the ground, the 49ers seemingly moved the ball at will last week. While their suffocating defense is probably due the lion’s share of the praise, it was the San Francisco offense the Cowboys may be able to best emulate.

The Cowboys have quietly taken some recent cues from Kyle Shanahan already this season.

Since their Week 5 matchup, Dallas has increased their motion usage, used their WRs as running options more often, and emphasized middle of the field passing opportunities. Many of the 49ers’ staples are getting adopted in Dallas and Mike McCarthy’s offense has never looked better.

Are more copycat moves on the horizon?

6 things to know about the Eagles include their night and day defensive units

A QB weapon and a bad secondary are among the things to know about the Dallas Cowboys’ Week 14 opponent, the Philaedelphia Eagles. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys are preparing to face their most hated rival, the Philadelphia Eagles, in a Week 14 showdown that gives the winner the lead in the NFC East. It might be short-lived for the Cowboys, but it’s a big game none the less. This is a rematch of a meeting from earlier in the season where Dallas fell just short, literally inches, on more than one occasion. Now, the Cowboys get their division foes at home, where they’ve won 14 straight games.

Regular season games don’t get much bigger than this, and for the Cowboys a victory would mean shutting up the large group of haters who continue to say they haven’t beaten anybody on their way to nine wins. Beat the Eagles and that complaint goes away to usher in a new excuse to disparage Jerry Jones’ team. Here are six things to know about the Eagles in the Week 14 rematch.

Here’s how the Cowboys fix their most underperforming personnel groupings

It’s time for the Cowboys to lean into their strengths and away from their weakness which means addressing certain personnel groups.

In many ways the roster dictates the success rates of the various personnel groups and whether coaches like it or not, they have to embrace what’s working and ease off what isn’t. 12 games into the 2023, the Cowboys have a pretty good indication where their personnel groups rank on offense.

Overall, the Dallas offense ranks third in the NFL in EPA, fifth in yards, and first in points scored. Despite all that success, they have some personnel groups who aren’t just bringing down the average, but they are producing at negative EPA output. In many ways, these personnel groups are hurting the Cowboys more than helping and should be adjusted or used more sparingly if the Cowboys want to keep the good times rolling through December.

Every team has their own specific strengths and weaknesses. Some are by design. Other by sheer luck of the draw. If a coach who prefers a wide-open spread offense doesn’t have a deep WR room, he may not be able to run 11 (1RB, 1TE, 3WR) or 10 (1RB, 0TE, 4WR) personnel as much as he’d like. If an old school coach who like smash mouth football doesn’t have a very talented TE and/or RB room, he may not be able to play 12 (1RB, 2TE, 2WR or 22 (2RB, 2TE, 1WR) as much as he’d like.

Cowboys 53-man roster, elevation-eligible players vs Eagles in Week 14

A look at the Cowboys’ roster for Week 14, who is on the practice squad and how many call-ups remain, plus an update for guys on IR. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys are starting their preparation for the Philadelphia Eagles, with the first of three practices in Week 14. The rematch will give either the Eagles a firm path to the division title or the Cowboys hope in a miracle finish. Dallas has been working in tight end Peyton Hendershot over recent weeks and have now made a move in the direction of him returning to field, adding him back to the active roster.

With the uneven pace of the last two games being played on Thursday night’s it’s been tough keeping up with the coming and going of the 53-man roster and which practice squaders have remaining elevations. Each of those players is allowed to be brought up to the game-day roster three times in a season without being officially added. Here’s how things look as the week of practice kicks off.

KaVontae Turpin is low-key a high-impact weapon Cowboys must utilize

KaVontae Turpin quietly leads the Cowboys in EPA/target so isn’t it time he takes on a bigger role in the Dallas offense? | From @ReidDHanson

When opponents prepare for the Cowboys, which players does one imagine they focus on? CeeDee Lamb has 90 receptions for 1,182 yards and seven touchdowns. It’s a pretty safe bet teams are preparing for him. Over the last six weeks alone, Jake Ferguson has 25 receptions for 308 yards and four touchdowns. Teams have definitely seen the film on Ferguson. Over the last four weeks, Brandin Cooks has 20 receptions for 332 yards and three touchdowns. Cooks has the deep speed and route-running ability that puts every secondary on notice.

Add in Tony Pollard’s game-breaking ability and Rico Dowdle’s rise as the newest explosive runner in Dallas, and you have a lot of weapons for opponents to worry about on this Cowboys offense. But there’s one player who in some ways stands out above the others. A player who only has 16 targets to his name in 2023 but has made the absolute most of those opportunities. A player who by all accounts is due a bigger role down the stretch,  KaVontae Turpin.

Teams are well aware of Turpin’s impact on football field. The former TCU product earned Pro Bowl honors as a rookie based on his return ability, and here in 2023 he’s widely regarded one of the most feared returners in the game. But on offense he’s played only a bit part.

As WR5, Turpin hasn’t had many offensive opportunities in 2023. With just 19 total touches, he’s been more complementary and gadget than legit offensive staple. Perhaps that’s a mistake. Turpin leads the Cowboys with 0.84 EPA/target this season. He’s making the most of his opportunities and it’s not hard to see how.

Blessed with elite speed and stop-start cutting ability that would make a water bug jealous, Turpin has the level of game-breaking skill to be a threat every time he’s on the field. His impact goes beyond just being a pass-catcher as well. Turpin has frequently been used in motion and as a runner. With eight carries for 79 yards, he’s averaging 9.9 yards/carry and a success rate of 62.5 percent. These two numbers indicate he’s not just getting the chunk yardage, but he’s also winning more opportunities than both Pollard (48.3% success rate) and Dowdle (46.0% SR).

There’s obvious concern Turpin’s 5-foot-9, 153-pound frame isn’t up to the task of a regular role on offense. So even though his efficiency stats show he should be getting WR3 opportunities, the added opportunities could dramatically impact the very efficiency he’s praised for. But a larger role than what he’s had should certainly be a consideration.

Both Gallup and Jalen Tolbert have been somewhat disappointing this season. They’ve peppered in good plays here and there but for the most part have failed to live up to their preseason expectations. Adding Turpin to the mix and dividing the snaps equally amongst all three would get the Cowboys’ most efficient and deadly weapon on the field more without saddling him with a burdensome workload.

Low key, Turpin has been the Cowboys most efficient offensive weapon. He needs to be part of the weekly gameplan and has the ability to take the Dallas offense to the next level. Opponents have enough to worry about when facing this offense. The Cowboys should give them one more.

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