Tag: 3 Stars of the game

Luminaries: 3 Cowboys who shined brightest in victory over Bucs

The sky was clear on Monday night, allowing the Star’s stars to shine brightly in the wild-card round. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys exercised a lot of demons Monday night in Tampa Bay. They went into the game 1-4 when playing on grass. They were 1-6 wearing the navy blue jerseys in the playoffs. The team had never beaten Tom Brady, and they hadn’t won a road playoff game since Jimmy Johnson yelled, “How bout them Cowboys?’ after a win in San Francisco all the way back in 1992.

The team that had back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time since 1996, cleared all those records off the slate with a dominating performance against the Buccaneers. Dallas had the edge in time of possession, turnovers, and total yards. They had less penalties, allowed less sacks, and beat Tampa in almost every way possible.

Minus four missed extra points and a failed onside kick recovery, the Cowboys played a pretty flawless game, which allows for multiple options for the three stars of the game, but who stepped up the most for a Dallas playoff victory?

3 Stars: Which Cowboys overcame pitchy team performance to belt out win No. 12?

It wasn’t a greatest-hits kind of win, but these three Cowboys did enough to help the team escape Music City singing a victory song. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys were supposed to roll into Nashvegas and play the gimpy Titans like a fiddle. But Mike Vrabel’s band had a different tune lined up. Coming in at 11-4 and with a chance to still compete for the NFC’s top seed,  Dallas found themselves in a nail-biter for most of the night against a quarterback who’d been in town for eight days and a pair of Hall of Fame hopefuls named Julius Chestnut and Racey McMath.

The Dak Prescott turnover conversation will linger on, despite two of the three credited to him not really being his fault. But the signal-caller still found enough rhythm late in the set to engineer a two-touchdown win. (Of course, the Titans shooting themselves in the honky-tonk boots with 10 penalties for 124 yards helped.)

In the end, the Cowboys escaped the Music City with a 27-13 win that won’t go down as one of their greatest hits, but still sounds plenty sweet the morning after. Here are the biggest rockstars of Week 17.

3 Stars: What players most help the Cowboys give the Eagles their second loss on the year?

There were many players who stepped up in a big way, but none moreso than these three Cowboys. | From @cdpiglet

The Cowboys and Eagles went to war in one of the season’s best games.  Philadelphia got ahead early, only to see Dallas comeback, before a back-and-forth, see-saw battle that came down to the last few seconds.

Both teams had excellent performances across the board. The offenses combined for 13 scoring drives. The Eagles’ defense completely shut down Dallas’ run game and even scored themselves on a Pick-6. The Cowboys’ defense overcame a lackluster play-by-play effort with four takeaways. Even special teams on both sides were perfect, going a combined six for six on field goals and not missing a single extra point.

Two of the top teams in the NFC went at it in what could be a preview of great playoff game, but these were the top individual performances who helped Dallas squeak out the victory.

Cowboys loss to Jaguars sucked, but these 3 players did their jobs well

Yes, the Cowboys lost, but that doesn’t mean that 48 players on the game-day roster all had terrible days. Here’s who stood out. | From @CDPiglet

The Week 14 game was a tale of two halves for the Dallas Cowboys. In the first, they went up by 14 points on two different occasions, successful in both rushing and passing. In addition, the defense was strong, holding the Jaguars to seven points and creating a turnover..

Unfortunately, things did an about face in the second half. The Cowboys’ defense allowed 27 points, a last-minute, game-tying drive, and allowed the majority of the whopping 500 total yards gained by Jacksonville. The offense didn’t help matters with their own turnovers and inability to score.

It’s always difficult to find stars in a loss like this. The team blew a 17-point lead to a young, inexperienced opponent with an under .500 record, losing almost any chance at winning the NFC East and the top record in the league. Someone had to help Dallas get up 17 though, and others had to do something right in order for them to take the lead back in the fourth quarter. Here were the top performers of the overtime loss to Jacksonville.

These 3 Cowboys stepped up the most to avoid chaos vs Texans

Who were the three stars according to @cdpiglet in a hard-fought battle for the Governor’s cup that ended with a come from behind victory for the Cowboys.

The Houston Texans thoroughly outperformed expectations against the Dallas Cowboys, and Dallas badly underperformed. A game that had more than a two-touchdown spread in favor of the Cowboys needed a goal-line stand and a 98-yard drive to pull out the victory.

An opening touchdown drive from Dallas, followed by a three and out for the Texans had this game looking like the blowout it was supposed to be early. Then KaVontae Turpin muffed a punt and the momentum turned with a recovery by the Texans.

From there the game became a back-and-forth, poorly-played battle that saw the Cowboys revert to many issues they have had during the Kellen Moore era. The team had a lack of pre-snap motion, Tony Pollard only had ten carries in the run game, and Dalton Schultz and Noah Brown had one less target in the pass game than CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, and Tony Pollard combined.

Dallas didn’t play a very good game, but at the final whistle they escaped with a victory. Here are the three stars that helped the Cowboys win back the Governor’s Cup from their in-state rivals.

A No. 1 WR, vengeful FA and nomad coach walked into the Cowboys’ lives…

The Cowboys 5-star fourth provided many options, but here are the top three celestials from Week 13. | From @cdpiglet

When the Cowboys force opponents to play their brand of football, Dallas is a juggernaut. On Sunday they became the first team in NFL history to both run and throw for 150 yards or more while scoring 25 points in five straight games.

That switch can come quickly, too, as the Indianapolis Colts learned the hard way. With the score 21-19 in the fourth quarter, it seemed liked a game the Colts could steal. They stayed close enough to continue running the ball, they had just put up a touchdown drive that spanned 15 plays for 90 yards and lasted eight minutes. They were rolling and looking for a primetime road game upset and then the Cowboys hit that switch.

Dallas would have a fourth quarter to remember. They rotated touchdowns and turnovers for eight straight possessions. They broke the record for most fourth quarter points scored, going 33-0 in route to a 50 burger and a blowout victory. There were a ton of options for three stars in just the fourth quarter alone, but here were the top three players for the game.

Narrowing down Cowboys’ Week 11 performance to 3 stars is a thankless job

Imagine a world where Dak Prescott, Trevon Diggs and 50×2 plus 60×2 kicker aren’t among the best performances. @cdpiglet loves this world.

What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago, the Minnesota Vikings were living the high life after coming back to beat the Buffalo Bills on the road. The Dallas Cowboys were deflated, losing a 14-point fourth quarter lead, for the first time in franchise history, to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Now the Cowboys are flying high after absolutely mauling the Vikings in their own home in record-setting fashion. The 40-3 victory was the largest point differential in a road win in Dallas history.

Games like this, it’s tough to pick three stars. Could Dak Prescott miss the cut while throwing for 276 yards and two touchdowns on an 88% completion percentage? What about Trevon Diggs, who followed Justin Jefferson all over the field, holding him to three catches and only 33 yards. Maher made every kick, including ones from 53, 50, and 60. . . twice.

Those are three players that could easily make the cut, but they weren’t the top guys this week. Here are the three stars from the Cowboys beat down of the Vikings.

Let’s not act like every Cowboys player had a bad game vs Green Bay

As we close the book on Dallas’ Week 10 loss, it’s important to recognize those who played their part in the contest. @cdpiglet identifies the best three players from the game.

Like a typical boogieman horror movie, the Dallas Cowboys had the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers down for the count multiple times, looking to have the beast finally dead to rights only to have him crawl back to continue to fight again.

Dallas put up the toughest fight they had in the last six attempts against Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay. They had a 100-yard receiver, a 250-yard passer who threw for three touchdowns, a 100-yard rusher, and even were leading by 14 points in the fourth quarter. Rodgers would not allow his Packers to die though, bringing them back to steal a game and save their season.

In games like this, looking past the win and loss results, to see the players that stepped up for their team is difficult. Three players for Dallas played well enough to help their team win, even though it wasn’t enough to kill their personal boogeyman. Here are the three stars of the Cowboys loss to the Green Bay Packers.

3 Stars: Some games stars are made with just one or two big plays

Defensive excellence and big plays on offense, that’s what the now 4-1 Cowboys are made of. @CDpiglet identifies who outshone whom against the defending world champs.

The Dallas Cowboys proved once more that they are nobody’s underdogs. They won another game in which they weren’t favored, and they did it beating the points spread by more than ten points yet again.

The Los Angeles Rams definitely had their stars show up. On offense Matt Stafford threw for over 300 yards, Cooper Kupp had seven receptions for 125 yards, and he scored on a 75-yard touchdown pass. Defensively, Aaron Donald had two sacks and Jalen Ramsey was the top guy in a secondary that held the entire receiving core of Dallas to 10 receptions for 102 yards. The Rams three stars might have been easy to spot, but the Cowboys success was a little more spread out.

The passing game for Dallas might have been nonexistent, but this win was still because of all three phases. The defense clearly dominated the game, holding the Rams without much success beyond two big pass plays. The Cowboys caused three turnovers and even scored on a strip sack. The special team unit set up three points as well with a blocked punt, and Brett Maher hit three field goals in the contest. On offense, Dallas was able to run the ball for almost five yards per carry, helping the defense stay fresh, and also not giving away a single turnover to set the Rams up for easy points.

The three stars of the game came from the three biggest playmakers of the night for the Cowboys, as they were instrumental to knocking off the defending Super Bowl champs.

3 Stars: Cowboys 2020 draft picks seemed heaven sent vs Commanders

Who showed up and showed out in the first ever matchup between the Cowboys and Commanders? @cdpiglet looks at the 3 stars of the game.

Not every win on the season is going to be pretty. With starting quarterback Dak Prescott out, Dallas has needed to rely on great defense and special teams play in order to win games. That allows the offense to make a couple plays here and there and focus on just not losing the game with egregious mistakes.

The Alabama boys, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, made it tough on the Cowboys offense all game long in Week 4, causing havoc throughout. The Washington Commanders defensive linemen combined for 13 tackles, a sack, two pass breakups, and five tackles for loss. They helped force two interceptions as well, but both were called back by penalties. If the Washington Commanders have three stars, they were the top two. But still, they were no match for the celestials Dallas brought to the fight.

The Cowboys’ defense had much more collective success, once again holding their opponent to under 200 yards passing and allowing only one touchdown. Kicker  Brett Maher had an extra point blocked, but went 4-for-4 on field goal tries including a 53-yard attempt. Bryan Anger had his first shanked punt of the season, but overall did a great job flipping field position with two punts inside the 20.

Ugly wins count the exact same as pretty ones do. Dallas needing to grind games out to survive tough battles for wins brings out the rigidity necessary to win in the playoffs and the stars of the game aren’t always flashy, but they found a way to impact another game to lead their team to victory.