Tag: Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Cutting Cowboys’ pre-snap penalties is easy way to fix big problem

The Cowboys are league leaders in pre-snap penalties in 2023; here’s why cutting these errors in concentration could make all the difference. | From @ReidDHanson

The Cowboys have a penalty problem.

With 108 flags thrown against them, they only trail Seattle among the NFL’s 32 teams. Of the 90 penalties officially charged to them (removing declined and offsetting ones), they are just one penalty away from the top spot. Their 764 yards against places them in the top-three most yards penalized.

It’s a leader list no one wants to be on, and a sign Dallas is often making things more difficult on both sides of the ball than they need to be.

Yet not all penalties are created equal. Some penalties are more damaging than others and some are unavoidable, perhaps even occassionally preferred. In the case of mismatches, sometimes a player needs to commit a penalty to minimize the damage.

For instance, a defensive holding call in the secondary might result in five-yards and an automatic first down, but if a defensive back is about to get torched by someone like Tyreek Hill or D.K. Metcalf, the penalty is probably worth it. A holding call by an OT may cost the offense 10 yards, but if an explosive pass rusher like Micah Parsons or Nick Bosa are on a collision course with the QB, a hold is probably worth it.

As long as there are elite players in the NFL and cunning coaches scheming to find mismatches, there are going to be unavoidable penalties.

Playoff Picture: Here’s how Cowboys could take NFC East lead, win out, and still be No. 5

A look at all of the tiebreaker rules and the various scenarios Dallas could find themselves in if they are able to stay red hot throughout the remainder of the regular season. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys are rolling along, now winners of four straight games and six of their last seven contests. The club has strung together 14 straight home victories, dating back to last season and are on a mission to try and earn home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs.

That road is treacherous and unlikely, however Sunday’s results allow the team to dream a little more vividly ahead of Week 14. Thanks to San Francisco’s drubbing of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys have a chance to take the lead of the NFC East in Week 14. Now it must be stated, a Week 14 lead is not the same thing as control, because even if Dallas has the tiebreaker right now, scheduling quirks means they could win out and still lose the division.

Throw in the fact that Dallas could be win out, win the division, have no team with a better record, and still not earn a bye week and there’s a ton to unpack about the NFC playoff picture.

Buckle up.

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.

Cowboys Final Numbers: Important takeaways before moving on to Giants

Inside the numbers of the Cowboys 28-23 loss to the Eagles in Week 9 and what it means going forward to face New York. | From @ReidDHanson

After losing 42-10 to San Francisco in Week 5, the Cowboys had something to prove. They had to prove to themselves, their fans, and the world, they could compete against the best.

Dallas’ five wins in 2023 were against fairly inferior opponents. The Cowboys had a growing reputation of being a team that could bully the little guy but would wilt under the pressure when faced with a worthy opponent.

Against Philadelphia, they had an opportunity to silence critics and put themselves in the conversation as a legit postseason challenger. They also had a prime opportunity to close the gap on the division and send their rivals into the bye week on a sour note.

Alas, none of that was to be. Dallas lost 28-23 in a nailbiter. They kept their critics energized and dug themselves a hole to climb from, siting three wins behind the Eagles at the season’s midpoint.

The numbers break down the good, bad and what lies ahead.

Gallup’s drop, missing Ferguson on 4th among Cowboys loss-defining plays

From @ToddBrock24f7: Beyond the plays everyone is talking about, don’t forget about Jake Ferguson wide open and Michael Gallup’s dropped pass in key moments.

When picking the plays that defined the Cowboys’ 28-23 loss to Philadelphia in Week 9, there are the obvious choices. Luke Schoonmaker not getting into the end zone on his 1-yard catch. Dak Prescott stepping out of bounds on his 2-point conversion. The final play in which no one was following CeeDee Lamb toward the end zone to receive a last-gasp lateral.

But a final score in the NFL almost always comes down to more than just a handful of larger-than-life plays. It’s all the countless little things, tiny details, seemingly inconsequential moments along the way that lead up to those gotta-have-it highlights.

For this edition of 4 Downs, we’ll bypass the no-brainers on which the game very visibly shifted and instead dive into four lesser plays that just as importantly swung the momentum in what ended up being a rollercoaster clash of NFC East rivals.

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3 Major takeaways from Cowboys loss include swapping Gallup for Turpin

The Cowboys leave Philadelphia with plenty to clean up but with enough positives to see a path to excellence. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles played another NFC East classic on Sunday, with the Cowboys unfortunately ending up on the short end of the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard. The game was back and forth, with Philadelphia getting the early lead and Dallas going ahead by halftime. The Eagles had a dominant third quarter, and Dallas made a run in the fourth that wasn’t quite enough to pull out the victory.

The Cowboys and Eagles will each leave the game feeling good about how they played overall. Both quarterbacks performed great, there weren’t many big mistakes, AJ Brown and CeeDee Lamb both showed up, and the defenses played well enough to win. Philadelphia simply made more plays and escaped with a win.

On paper, the schedule looks great for the Cowboys in the next few weeks compared to Philadelphia. They need to go over some of the major takeaways from this game and get over the final hump in the biggest matchups in the future.

‘He’s a warrior’: Cowboys teammates come to Dak Prescott’s defense after gutsy performance in loss

From @ToddBrock24f7: Prescott had his most passing yards in nearly two seasons, but his teammates don’t blame him for the team coming up short in Sunday’s loss.

There are plenty of reasons why the Cowboys fell in Sunday’s 28-23 loss to the NFC-leading Eagles, but despite one popular narrative playing out with a certain segment of football fans, no one actually wearing the star believes their quarterback is one of those reasons.

Dak Prescott passed for 374 yards in the Week 9 clash, his most through the air since 2021’s Thanksgiving Day overtime meeting with the Raiders, and a total that ranks within the top 15 games of his pro career.

But that was of little solace to Prescott as he spoke with reporters at Lincoln Financial Field after his three-touchdown effort was in vain.

“It sucks,” Prescott said plainly. “You want to come into this game, everybody in that locker room believed. And we still do, don’t get me wrong. We were inches away, on three different plays, from this being a different game or being a different outcome near the end.”

Two of those plays were Prescott passes that came up just short. One was the apparent touchdown to rookie tight end Luke Schoonmaker, called back only after a video replay review determined his knee was down before the ball crossed the plane of the goal line.

That play happened immediately after Prescott tried to punch it in himself and was dramatically flipped head over heels to land inside the 2.

The Cowboys also came up just shy on the game’s final play, when CeeDee Lamb was tackled on the 4-yard-line as time expired.

The third play was Prescott’s late two-point attempt that saw him race Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham to the goal line and get forced out of bounds just before getting the ball across. A successful conversion there would have put the Cowboys down by just a field goal with over six minutes still to play.

“Really just mad at myself for not just attacking the pylon earlier with two hands, diving,” Prescott said. “I was just going for the pylon and played it too close. Obviously, we get that, those last two possessions are completely different. So, it sucks.”

But Prescott’s teammates and coaches had nothing but praise for No. 4 for an overall heroic performance.

“I thought Dak Prescott played extremely well under the circumstances. This is a tough place to play,” head coach McCarthy told reporters in his postgame press conference. “He made plays with his feet, hung in there in the pocket, took hits. I thought he played his ass off.”

“He’s just so reliable. What a leader,” Schoonmaker agreed. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. The confidence is just through the roof.”

“Dak was awesome tonight,” guard Zack Martin said. “Using his legs, throwing the ball down the field. He was lights out.”

“He’s a champion. He has a champion mindset,” explained guard Tyler Smith, who had a critical false start penalty on the final drive that pushed the offense back five yards. “I’ve got to be better for him.”

Thanks to a running game that never really materialized, Prescott had to put the entire offense on his right shoulder, attempting a season-high 44 throws while using his legs to evade an Eagles pass rush that still got home for five sacks and hit him another ten times.

That made an impression on the Cowboys’ own defensive star, watching from the sideline.

“Dak’s a freaking warrior,” linebacker Micah Parsons said at his locker. “There was multiple times where I was like, ‘That’s Dak [expletive] Prescott, bro.’ He’s a dog. He’s a warrior. I’ve got an unbelievable amount of confidence in him. I thought he had a great game. I think more people need to put more respect on him; he outplayed everyone today.”

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And still, Sunday’s clash came down to the smallest of margins. A few inches on Schoonmaker’s catch. A few inches on Prescott’s two-point run. A couple yards on the final throw to Lamb.

There’s not much comfort in that for Prescott.

“There’s no moral victories in this, I can promise you that. Not by any means,” he explained.

But there are lessons to take moving forward.

“We got close. We got close,” Prescott repeated. “We’re doing things the right way. We’ve just got to- an inch here, an inch there- make that difference, and we’ll find a way to gain that.”

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Studs and duds in Cowboys’ crushing 28-23 loss in Week 9

The offense had a bunch of positives, but in the end several factors contributed to the club coming up short. | From @BenGrimaldi

It was all there for the taking for the Dallas Cowboys, a big road win against divisional opponent with quarterback Dak Prescott leading the way. In the end it wasn’t meant to be as the Cowboys fell in a crushing 28-23 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 9.

Prescott once again answered questions about if he could play well in a big game, and he brought with him some of his receiving options, who helped the offense get the team in position to win the game. The big statistical performances weren’t enough to carry the Cowboys, who made mistakes in critical moments. In a game of inches, Dallas fell just short too many times to walk away with the win. Here are the studs and duds for the Cowboys in a tough Week 9 loss.

Twitter reactions to egregious officiating in Cowboys’ loss to Eagles

The Cowboys didn’t lose because of the officials, but they certainly didn’t get a fair shake in the Week 9 loss. A look at how folks reacted on Twitter. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Dallas Cowboys didn’t lose because of the NFL referees. Let’s get that out of the way first and foremost. In every game, there are a multitude of plays that can be called either way and once the ball starts rolling in one direction, it’s easy to pay attention to every greivance on one side and ignore the ones on the other.

However, the calls the refs made, and others they didn’t make, certainly made the Dallas Cowboys’ efforts more of an uphill battle than they did for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 28-23 game on Sunday afternoon.

There has been a long tradition in the NFL where the Cowboys are constantly on the short end of the officiating stick; actual studies have been done on this in the past. However, more often than not, as long as time is left on the clock, the results almost inevitably end up being back in a team’s control.  Sunday’s loss had numerous examples of the Cowboys being screwed by the calls, but also messing up themselves.

Dak Prescott stepping out of bounds on a two-point conversion was not the ref’s fault. Tyler Smith false starting on first-and-goal from the six yard line was not the ref’s fault. Either of those things

What was the ref’s fault? Plenty. There was the lack of an offensive pass interference call when Devonta Smith used an arm bar to create separation for his TD against DaRon Bland. There was the lack of a DPI call when CeeDee Lamb was grabbed on a deep ball the very next play.

There was the DPI called against Stephon Gilmore on an uncatchable ball that landed well outside the sideline on a throwaway. There was the penalty on Chuma Edoga for not declaring eligible that negated a Tony Pollard TD. Three plays later there was an overrule that claimed Luke Schoonmaker was down before crossing the goal line. The refs threw a flag for illegal hands to the face but picked it up when the replay showed there was clearly hands to the face.

Again, the Dallas Cowboys had a chance to win this game despite these officiating errors, and they didn’t come through. But the refs were really bad in this game and as such, the reaction on social media let them have it.

RT Terence Steele is a glaring problem Cowboys need to address

The Cowboys need to adjust because Terence Steele is at the bottom of the NFL in pass protection and his run blocking isn’t making up for it. From @ReidDHanson

Terence Steele is a problem.

The Cowboys starting right tackle has not only been a weakness of the offensive line this season, but he’s been a liability. On Sunday night in Philadelphia, he made every bit the impact CeeDee Lamb made, but instead of for the positive, it was unequivocally for the negative.

It wasn’t just one great player victimizing the floundering young tackle either. The Eagles were rotating left edge players in. It was as if Oprah were giving away pressures to the studio audience at LDE – “you get a pressure, you get a pressure, you get a pressure!”

By early count, Steele was credited with eight pressures on the day. It was the same number of pressures Steele yielded against San Francisco earlier in the season. For the sake of context, Micah Parsons, arguably the best pass rusher in the NFL, is averaging just over six pressures per game.

In other words, these top teams have been getting an above Parsons-level performance by their rotation of bodies lined up over Steele. That’s like gifting the opponent an All-Pro player each game.

It’s also important to point out pressures don’t count plays in which he’s beaten but the ball has been released before the actual distance has been closed.

Mike McCarthy’s offense relies on quick game and less time in the pocket. Dak Prescott has one shortest average pocket times in the NFL this season which benefits his linemen’s pressure numbers. Steele’s numbers could, and maybe should, look much worse.

Pro Football Focus, who grades overall play and not just official pressures logged, has been fairly consistent in their grading of Steele. He’s currently rated No. 67 in the NFL amongst OTs. His grade BEFORE Sunday’s contest, had his pass blocking score in the bottom 10 of the NFL. It’s safe to assume he’ll grade even further down the rankings after this film has been digested.

Steele’s issues returning from a catastrophic knee injury suffered late last season are somewhat expected. It takes time to rebound and frankly, not all players are up to the challenge.

His Cowboys teammate, Michael Gallup, is in a similar situation with his return from a knee injury. He suffered his knee injury during the 2021 season and he’s yet to return to form.

It’s important to point out, Steele has never been a good pass protector. Even at his best last season, the 26-year-old was generally wading in the waters of average. It was his run blocking that earned him his enormous contract extension over the offseason.

Like Gallup, Steele was signed fresh off an injury in hopes he’d reclaim form. Like Gallup, those optimistic results have yet to be seen.

Even Steele’s run blocking has been well below league average this season. Yet time is on Steele’s side. The Cowboys are committed, whether they like it or not, so it’s Steele or bust for the foreseeable future in Dallas.

Steele’s tremendous work ethic and determination assure he’ll do everything within his power to get back to form. Until he’s able to physically regain form, it’s up to the Dallas coaching staff to help him out.

Giving him help blocking and frequent chips from TEs and RBs will be key to helping Steele survive this season. He can’t be left alone like he has been the majority of the time, or the results will likely be the same.

Steele has been a massive problem for the Cowboys passing game and his run blocking is doing nothing to make up for it. While his issues are understandable given his recent injury, they cannot be ignored.

It’s imperative the Cowboys find ways to help out their young tackle because he’s drowning and pulling the entire Cowboys offense down with him.

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