Tag: dallas cowboys vs. miami dolphins

Cowboys’ Brandin Cooks having successful season despite near-career-low stats

From @ToddBrock24f7: At his current rate, Cooks will max out at around 50 catches and 700 yards. He’s making an impact when the ball is thrown to him, though.

Brandin Cooks was supposed to be the key to fully unlocking a Cowboys passing attack in 2023.

And while quarterback Dak Prescott is having a year worthy of legitimate MVP talk, and fellow receiver CeeDee Lamb has already set personal bests and is within reach of single-season franchise records, the veteran has not seen the same kind of statistical success.

Even with two games to go, Cooks is on track for one of his worst seasons in terms of targets, receptions, and yards. He’s racked up 1,000-yard receiving seasons for four previous teams, but in his first year as a Cowboy, Cooks will be hard-pressed to crack 700. And after notching four previous campaigns of 80 or more catches, his current pace may not get him to 50.

And yet, the 30-year-old has come through in the clutch more often than not. He ranks second on the team in receiving touchdowns- six- and is a constant scoring threat, as he showed last Sunday with a brilliant go-ahead end zone grab in the fourth quarter in Miami.

“You practice it so much, right?” Cooks said afterward of the throw and catch. “You trust one another. Dak was doing his thing, and then trusted me on that throw. And I just wanted to be able to be there and make a play for my team.”

By and large, Cooks has done that all season long. Pro Football Reference tracks something called “Receiving Success Rate,” which defines a successful catch as one which gains at least 40% of the yards required on first down, 60% of the yards required on second down, and converts third and fourth downs.

Using that metric, Cooks has a 58.5% success rate. That’s less than three percentage points off his career best and currently within the league’s top 30. It’s higher than Puka Nacua, Sam LaPorta, A.J. Brown, Mike Evans, Christian McCaffrey, DeVonta Smith, DK Metcalf, Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, and Amari Cooper- some of the most reliable chain-movers in today’s NFL.

None of this is to say that Cooks should be stealing targets from Lamb. Lamb is unequivocally having a monster season, and he just happens to rank 16th among all qualified players in Receiving Success Rate.

Cooks is, however, doing exactly what was hired to do when the ball is thrown to him. It could be argued the ball should be thrown to him more. He’s too good- still- to become the offense’s forgotten man.

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But the journeyman has preached patience ever since arriving in Dallas. That’s how he approaches his entire game, not to mention the inevitable lulls in production when the game plan moves away from him.

So the answers he gave this week regarding the Cowboys’ current two-game skid could just as easily stand in as a mantra for now personally weathering a new role in a high-powered offense that is leaving him on the short end of his usual stats.

“You stomach it by learning from it, right? You look deep in, you look at yourself, you look at what you can do better individually, as a group. And you’re not shy about it: you go to practice, and you go to work, and you fix those things. That’s how you stomach it, by learning from it.”

Doing so will put Dallas back in the win column. Hopefully it also adds to the numbers of a veteran and locker room leader who deserves more praise than his modest stats might suggest.

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Cowboys’ Tony Pollard: ‘I take blame’ for failed opening drive vs Miami

From @ToddBrock24f7: Pollard admitted if he had put the ball in the end zone on his 1st-quarter run, Hunter Luepke’s game-changing fumble wouldn’t have happened.

Tony Pollard feels like he’s been there before. So after Cowboys rookie fullback Hunter Luepke botched a handoff exchange from Dak Prescott on the doorstep of an opening-drive touchdown in Week 16 versus Miami, the fifth-year back explained that he was able to offer some words of encouragement.

“Just telling him to be positive, don’t let it hang in his head too long, don’t get down on it or anything like that,” Pollard explained to reporters this week at The Star.

The same could be said for the entire Cowboys squad after the last-second loss to the Dolphins, their second defeat in a row and their last chance before the playoffs to silence the skeptics who believe the team is incapable of beating a contender on the road.

Now Dallas is suddenly desperate just to get back in the win column and avoid a three-game skid.

“This is important just to get the momentum going back in the right direction,” according to Pollard, “get on track, and get things going right how we want to go.”

Luepke’s turnover indeed changed the complexion of the game but Pollard knows things could have gone much differently in more ways than one.

“Personally, I didn’t feel like he was to blame at all,” he said. “I feel like I should have gotten in the play before. That situation never would have happened. So I take blame for that.”

Pollard did appear to have an easy two-yard jog to the end zone, but he inexplicably tried to cut inside rather than test Miami safety DeShon Elliott with a race to the pylon. Elliott reached out and grabbed Pollard, tight end Jake Ferguson got in the way, and Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Seiler finished off the tackle, bringing Pollard to the grass.

Pollard’s body from the waist down landed in the end zone, but his upper half- the half holding the ball- never crossed the goal line.

The Cowboys lined up again, Luepke lost the handle, and Miami took over.

“I could have just kept running to the outside,” Pollard reflected. “I was trying to get to the end zone as soon as possible. I didn’t want to waste time stretching it out. Then I ended up bumping into my own guy and got spinned around. You live and you learn.”

That last part is something Pollard himself had to figure out during his own first year as a pro.

“I think it was my rookie year against the Eagles,” he said. “I had a fumble; it was a big-time game for us.”

Dallas also lost that Week 16 game, by a 17-9 score, with Philadelphia preventing the Cowboys from claiming the 2019 NFC East crown that day. The Cowboys would go on to finish 8-8 and miss the playoffs; head coach Jason Garrett would be cleaning out his office within days.

“I was mad, but that comes with it, you know?” Pollard recalled of that costly miscue. “That’s just part of football. You live, you learn, go to the next play.”

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Now, almost four years later to the day, Pollard, Luepke, and the entire Cowboys roster will look to, once again, do just that.

“It’s tough, mentally, to get over, but you just have to do a good job going to the next play and just moving on.”

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4 Downs: Cowboys beaten by personal fouls, brutal fumble, offense’s ‘dead spot’

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys shot themselves in the foot over and over on Sunday in a game they nevertheless almost won. These four plays decided the matter.

For all the doom and gloom that’s beset Cowboys Nation over the past two weeks, the team nearly won Sunday’s matchup with Miami. It may not have felt like it, but Dallas truly was one or two plays from escaping South Beach with a win that would have dramatically changed the narrative surrounding the Cowboys heading into the playoffs.

But if you want to pick out four plays that decided the 22-20 loss, you have to point at the mistakes that ultimately doomed Dallas. And there were plenty to choose from. Had the Cowboys come out on top, the four biggest plays would be highlights like CeeDee Lamb’s long scoring catch-and-run, Dak Prescott’s contortionist throw to Michael Gallup as he avoided a sack late, the defense’s stoning the Dolphins on a 4th down in the second quarter, a clutch catch by Jalen Tolbert in the third, or a fourth-down completion to Jake Ferguson that helped set an encouraging tone early.

Instead, it was costly penalties and a devastating turnover that ultimately proved to be the difference. Here are the four plays that best sum up Week 16’s heartbreaker at Hard Rock.

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Gifts and Coal: Lamb, Luepke opposite sides of Cowboys’ studs, duds

CeeDee Lamb’s record and Hunter Luepke’s fumble are among the impact events in the Cowboys’ Week 16 loss. | From @BenGrimaldi

Santa Claus wasn’t kind to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16 as they fell to the Miami Dolphins, 22-20, on a last-second field goal. The Cowboys spent most of the afternoon trying to crawl their way back into it after being down for much of the contest, but couldn’t hold the lead once they earned it.

This wasn’t the same old story for Mike McCarthy’s team on the road. They had plenty of fight in the Christmas Eve matchup of 10-4 teams. However, they couldn’t get the one thing they wanted for the holiday, a W in the win column.

In defeat, the Cowboys have their first losing streak since 2021 and now they’ve fallen behind in the NFC East race with two weeks remaining. Here’s the Christmas edition of the studs (gifts) and duds (coal) in Dallas’ Week 16 loss.

‘He said I could have done something’: Cowboys’ Parsons bewildered over roughing penalty

From @ToddBrock24f7: Micah Parsons had plenty to say about officiating after he was flagged for what he feels was a clean hit on Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa.

In Micah Parsons’s mind, he did all the right things, but it still wasn’t enough.

That could actually be the story of the Cowboys defense as a whole on Sunday. As a unit, they held the explosive Dolphins to just one play of over 22 yards. No Miami player rushed for more than 46 yards on the day. Dallas allowed just one touchdown to the league’s top scoring offense.

But it was the little things that doomed the Cowboys. Like five Jason Sanders field goals. And penalties- some big-ticket calls at key moments, some ignored calls that could have gone Dallas’s way, and one head-scratcher against Parsons that he couldn’t adequately explain afterward.

“I don’t know what a roughing the passer is anymore,” Parsons told reporters after the 22-20 loss on Sunday. “[The official] said I could have done something in some manner to avoid him.”

Parsons delivered a hard shot to the back of Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa late in the second quarter that drew the flag. Already deep in Cowboys territory, the flag moved the Fins just five yards closer, and Miami scored on the next play to secure a halftime lead.

While the Dolphins’ lone touchdown could have just as easily come from the nine-yard-line as it did the four, the roughing call got into the head of Parsons, who’s been desperate the get officials’ attention on the numerous plays this season where he’s held by opposing linemen.

“I can’t get a call, but I get things called on me,” he said. “So obviously, they’re looking. They just don’t care what they call… as long as it’s just not with us.”

That last quip could earn Parsons a fine from the league, but the fact remains that he hasn’t drawn a penalty of any kind since Week 9’s win over the Chargers. That’s over two months where the most dominant pass rusher in the league hasn’t been held a single time? Cowboys fans watching the games know otherwise.

So does Parsons.

“It’s mind-blowing, the things that are getting called and the positions we get put in,” he said. “The thing is, we’ve just got to learn how to fight the adversity. A lot of it’s BS, and we’re like, ‘It’s just football plays,’ but it’s the world we live in. We’ve got the star on the helmet.”

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Parsons’s roughing penalty wasn’t a game-changer, as were some of the other flags called against Dallas on the day. But this one haunted the young pass rusher who prides himself on being able to beat anyone in the league without resorting to rule-breaking.

“I won so quick. How am I supposed to know he got the ball out? It’s within a second,” Parsons explained at his locker.

“He said my intent was to punish the quarterback. But how am I trying to punish him if I’m just trying to sack him? It’s not like it’s a late hit. It’s not like I’m leaving my feet. I didn’t lead with my head. I don’t know how you make that call.”

But they did. And Parsons believes they’ll continue to do so.

And that’s something he and his Cowboys teammates will simply have to overcome.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “we’ve just got to win these type of games.”

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Good, Bad, Ugly: Lamb’s disappearing act, Prescott under pressure contribute to Miami meltdown

From @ToddBrock24f7: The Cowboys’ 22-20 loss in Miami saw the defense suffer death by a thousand cuts and was helped by officials mostly ignoring Micah Parsons.

Christmas Eve brought the Cowboys a big fat lump of coal as the Dolphins played Grinch to any hope Dallas had of racking up a road win over a truly good team before the postseason tournament. The 22-20 loss wasn’t as humiliating as the previous Sunday’s defeat in Buffalo, but it was far more frustrating because this time, the Cowboys were in a position to win.

The offense started strong and even overcame an early miscue before disappearing almost entirely for two whole quarters and then surging back late, while the defense was so concerned with preventing the big play that they forgot to defend the little ones and let the Dolphins kill them with a thousand cuts.

Self-inflicted wounds continue to haunt the team against quality opponents, and a troubling trend with one Cowboys player in particular has gotten way beyond ridiculous.

Dallas can still match its 12-win total of the past two seasons if they win out, but if they’re going to go deeper than last year’s playoff run, it sure looks like it’ll take a belated Christmas miracle.

Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from Sunday’s meltdown in Miami.

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Scrooged: Cowboys fall to last-minute Dolphins FG, 22-20

The Cowboys were able to stymy the Dolphins’ high-powered offense, but not on the most important drive.

The Cowboys came into Miami with plenty to prove. Following their loss to the Bills in Week 15, Dallas faced questions about their toughness, their ability to stop the run and whether or not they could perform on the road against a quality opponent.

They responded to a couple of those challenges, except the most important one. Dallas’ offense made a hideous mistake to start the game and then the defense was unable to close things out at the end of it. An early fumble took what looked like a certain scoring chance off the board. Dallas battled back and took the lead late, but couldn’t stop Miami’s final drive that led to their fifth field goal of the game. Dallas fell, 22-20.

The loss dropped Dallas to 10-5 on the season, with two games left to go. They will return home for a Saturday game against the Detroit Lions in Week 17 before finishing their season Week 18 in Washington.

Dallas now has a 3-4 record against teams above .500; falling to San Francisco, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Miami – the last two over the last two weeks. They have wins over the Eagles, Los Angeles Rams and Seattle, with Detroit their final above-.500 opponent remaining.

Twitter erupts as refs call insanely bad penalty on Cowboys’ Micah Parsons

The refs continue to interject their way into the game, under the guise of safety. This one had Cowboys fans apoplectic.

Micah Parsons has had enough. It’s been 30-plus quarters since the NFL’s preeminent pass rusher has seen a holding call made against an opponent trying to block him. Things haven’t changed in their Week 16 game against the Miami Dolphins.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, now he’s getting hit with roughing the passer penalties when he clearly is within the rules with his hit late in the second quarter on Tua Taglovailoa. The Cowboys’ star came in from the blindside and hit the Dolphins QB in the back a split second after it was released. Pass rushers are given two steps towards the quarterback as long as they don’t strike them in the head or take them to the ground in an egregious fashion.

Parsons erupted at the call, the frustration of the one-sided nature of their calls clearly reaching the boiling point. He had to be backed off the referee by teammate DeMarcus Lawrence.

The call, on third down with under a minute remaining, gave the Dolphins a new set of downs and they scored a touchdown a few plays later to take the lead. Cowboys and national Twitter were besides themselves at the call.

Earlier in the game, the Cowboys were the benefactors to a questionable roughing call on Dolphins DT Christian Wilkins, but that was in the shadow of their own goal line and clearly wouldn’t have the same impact as this call did on the scoring.

Warning, some tweets contain NSFW language. 

Twitter reacts to CeeDee Lamb’s 8th TD in 7 games as Cowboys take lead

The Cowboys retook the lead in the first quarter with a sensational catch and run the star runner.

The Dak Prescott to CeeDee Lamb connection is alive and kicking. Early on in the important Week 16 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, the QB-WR combo is lighting up the opposing secondary. Still in the first half, Lamb already has topped 100 yards from scrimmage, with the last 43 coming on a beautiful touchdown run.

Dallas was trailing 3-0 after rookie FB Hunter Luepke fumbled at the goal line and the defense finally stopped the responding Miami drive and forced a long field goal. It took just three plays to respond. Prescott found Lamb for catch No. 3 outside the right hash for 22 yards. A Tony Pollard run later, the two connected again. Lamb took the catch and weaved through the Dolphins secondary for a 43-yard score. It was Lamb’s eight TD in the last seven games (six receptions, two rushes). Twitter reacted accordingly.

Cowboys-Dolphins Inactives: Zack Martin, Tyreek Hill to go in Week 16, Tyron Smith out

The Cowboys and Dolphins are set to square off in a battle of 10-4 teams. Here’s who won’t be in full gear, through injury or coach’s decision. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys will be with one, but without another key member of their offensive line. In doubt all week, left tackle Tyron Smith was ruled out of the contest on Saturday, staying behind in Dallas while the team boarded their plane for South Florida. Smith will miss his fourth game of the 2023 and first since the game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Dallas will however have right guard Zack Martin, who left last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills with a quad injury. Dallas has announced their Week 16 inactives ahead of their matchup with the Miami Dolphins. Both teams are 10-4 and looking to improve their playoff seeding in their respective conferences.

For Miami, the biggest question mark would be whether or not Tyreek Hill, trying to become a 2,000-yard receiver, would play. He’s in the lineup as well after being marked questionable following the week of practice.

Here’s a look at all of the inactives from Dallas’ 55-man roster after they elevated a DT and RB this week.