The personality of the Dallas Cowboys has shifted dramatically. At the start of the 2021 season, the offense was on a record-setting pace, the quarterback was in the MVP conversation and talks about whether or not the team would be able to retain their hotshot young offensive coordinator after the season were real. Fastforward to the second half of the season, and it appears the Cowboys’ defense are the stars of the show.
For the first time all season, Dallas played with their star-laden cast of characters and they thrived in every conceivable way. Consistent pressure led to a slew of forced turnovers and extra possessions on way to a 27-20 road victory over the Washington Football Team. All thanks go to the defensive front which throttled the Washington offense and quarterback’s Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen.
DeMarcus Lawrence, Neville Gallimore and Randy Gregory were on the field together for the first time this season and combined for three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble, the last two stats compiled by Gregory. Defensive rookie of the year lock and player-of-the-year candidate Micah Parsons had two sacks, including a forced fumble that was returned for a touchdown, the defense’s second-straight week with a score.
The win moved Dallas to 9-4 on the season and ended Washington’s four-game winning streak as the latter tried to make the NFC East race interesting.
The Cowboys were able to survive a lowly effort by the offense, which failed to convert on four of five red-zone possessions while Dak Prescott threw two interceptions at other points in the game.
After 10 days off and getting several members of the team back from the COVID restricted list including head coach Mike McCarthy, the offense looked disjointed in several ways. Prescott sailed a pass for a first-half interception and completely missed a lurking linebacker for a late pick-six to put the final score in doubt.
However Gregory came through on a third-down play to chase and bring down Allen, who had come in for Heinicke after Gallimore destroyed the center on the way to knocking out the lineman and the QB on the same sack.
Dallas missed several interception opportunities early, but the biggest reason they squandered 24-0 and 27-8 second-half leads was due to the offense’s continued struggles. After starting out hot in converting third downs, Dallas finished just 7-of-18 for the contest and 1-of-6 in the red zone, though the final miss was on end-of-game kneel downs.
The Cowboys still have plenty of time to straighten out their woes with the ball, and the improved play of the defense over the last couple of weeks gives hope that both sides of the ball have the ceiling to win ball games when called upon.
Reaching both ceilings in the same game and consistently will be the ask for the final four games of the season.
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