Tag: Good Bad & Ugly

Good, Bad, Ugly: Record breaking overshadows Cowboys’ porous run defense in Week 18

The Cowboys had a record-breaking performance in their Week 18 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, but kicking game woes linger. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys did exactly what they wanted to do against the B squad of the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday night, dominating the game and coming away with a 51-26 win. Head coach Mike McCarthy couldn’t have scripted it any better as his offense, led by quarterback Dak Prescott, had their best performance of the second half of the season.

If the Cowboys wanted to enter the postseason with some confidence, and that was the reason for playing most of their starters for three quarters, mission accomplished.

In the beatdown the Cowboys earned a season sweep of the NFC East, going 6-0 and put up their second 50-point game against a divisional opponent. Dallas also scored at least 44 points against each rival on their way to a 12-5 season.

The Cowboys beat an Eagles team that wasn’t playing their best players, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, but they got some of their offensive groove back, which was the biggest goal heading into the game.

Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly as the Cowboys embarrassed the Eagles in Week 18.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Special teams mishaps, confusion come back to bite Cowboys in the end

Cedrick Wilson and Micah Parsons couldn’t save the Dallas Cowboys from an embarrassing 25-22 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 17. | From @BenGrimaldi

The 2021 Dallas Cowboys remain a difficult team to figure out. Just when it appears they’ve righted the ship and gotten back to their dominant ways from earlier in the season, the Cowboys turn around and give another uneven game.

In losing 25-22 to the Arizona Cardinals, the Cowboys played more uninspired football where they didn’t match the intensity of a winning team. The knock on the Cowboys these last few weeks was they were beating down on inferior opponents during their four-game winning streak and critics wanted to see how they fared against a good team.

Dallas fans couldn’t have liked the response from their team. In what several members of the team referred to as a measuring-stick game, the Cowboys fell short, at home, to an undermanned team that was reeling. The Cowboys, especially their offense, played an ugly game for most of the first three quarters before turning it on in the end to give themselves a chance.

Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from a disappointing loss in Week 17.

Good, bad, ugly: Cowboys dominate Football Team

The offense got back to their groove back and the defense played well again. So what could there be to complain about? | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys left no doubt who was the best team in the NFC East with a 56-14 beatdown of the Washington Football Team. From start to finish, the Cowboys dominated in all three phases of the game and had the Football Team frustrated to the point where they were fighting with each other on the sideline.

That’s what the Cowboys did on Sunday night, they embarrassed a rival and put the division to bed, even though they had already clinched earlier in the day. For those waiting on the offense to play up to the standards they had set earlier in the year, watching this one was very satisfying. It felt like the extra present waiting to be opened that nobody noticed in the corner.

In beating the WFT, the Cowboys put up 42 points in the first half, had close to 500 yards of offense, scored in all three phases, and had an offensive lineman score a touchdown. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly in the Cowboys’ Week 16 demolishing of the Football Team.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Red-zone offense dampens enthusiasm from Cowboys’ stellar defensive effort

Despite a shaky offensive effort, the Dallas Cowboys rode a great defense to a 27-20 victory over the Washington Football Team in Week 14. @BenGrimaldi breaks down what worked and what didn’t.

The Dallas Cowboys needed to go into Washington and earn a victory to gain separation in the tightening NFC East. Mission accomplished. The Cowboys limped their way to a 27-20 win over the Football Team and opened a three-game lead in the division with just four games to play.

After head coach Mike McCarthy declared his team would win the rivalry contest, the game took on more meaning and it was up to the Cowboys to make a prophet out of him. Dallas came out firing on all cylinders, putting up 18 points in the first quarter and taking a 24-0 lead into halftime. Yet the Cowboys had a difficult time putting Washington to bed in the final 30 minutes. It was an ugly and confusing second half of football where the Cowboys looked nothing like they did early on.

The Cowboys got the win in the end and now sport a 9-4 record and have won seven consecutive conference matchups. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly in the Week 14 win for the Cowboys.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Prescott’s 4th quarter not enough to overcome Cowboys’ defense, penalties

Dak Prescott tried to rescue the Dallas Cowboys from a bad defensive performance and a lack of discipline losing to the Las Vegas Raiders. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys provided another subpar effort in the 36-33 overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders and the outcome left many Cowboys fans regurgitating Thanksgiving dinner. The flag fest masquerading as a pro football contest surely gave most watching a case of agita.

The Cowboys have now lost three out of four and are suffering from their first back-to-back losses of the season. What once was thought of as a comfortable lead in the NFC East is now just two games in the loss column as the Philadelphia Eagles have been playing their best football.

Even though the Cowboys will be getting several injured players back in Week 13, the bigger issue is the team didn’t play well for the entire month of November.

Before turning the page to December, here’s a look at the good, the bad and the ugly against the Raiders.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Big Uglies earn nickname wrong way as Cowboys’ offense collapses

The Dallas Cowboys had an awful offensive performance, which trumped their defense standing tall in the 19-9 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. | From @BenGrimaldi

What was anticipated as the game of the year turned out to be a game to forget for the Dallas Cowboys, who were man handled 19-9 by the Kansas City Chiefs. It was the worst performance of the season for the Cowboys on offense as they failed to score a touchdown or gain 300 yards.

The offense was missing some of its pieces, but the Cowboys still had quarterback Dak Prescott under center and that usually gives them a good shot at winning. It wasn’t to be in this contest as Prescott and the offense were off schedule from the very first play and never got in sync.

The Cowboys wouldn’t have beaten many teams Sunday and after a second stinker in three games, it’s far to wonder just how good Dallas is. With a short week coming up, the Cowboys need to rebound quickly.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from a lethargic loss in Week 11.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys strong arm Falcons into submission despite penalty woes

From Dak Prescott to the defense, the Dallas Cowboys dominated the Atlanta Falcons 43-3 in Week 10 to get back on the winning track. | From @BenGrimaldi

What a difference a week makes for the Dallas Cowboys. After a horrific outing that saw the Cowboys soundly beaten last Sunday, Mike McCarthy’s team came out and thrashed the Atlanta Falcons, 43-3, to put last game’s debacle in the rearview.

From start to finish, the Cowboys dominated the action. The offense came out and made a statement by scoring a touchdown on their first drive and never looked back. The defense held down an opponent which had been scoring at a successful clip as they had managed to win three of their last four contests. In the end, Dallas did whatever they wanted on the field on Sunday afternoon and were able to sit back and enjoy the rest of the slate of action.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from an easy Week 10 victory by the Cowboys.

Good, Bad, Ugly and Odd: Cowboys take Panthers on wild ride to woodshed

The pass rush, the running game and the play of Trevon Diggs were highlights of the Dallas Cowboys in their win over the Carolina Panthers. | From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys handed the Carolina Panthers their first loss of the season Sunday afternoon, taking down the NFC South leaders by a score of 36-28. The Cowboys were down by a point at halftime before pulling away by outscoring the Panthers 20-0 in the third quarter.

Coming off a short week and playing against a team that had four extra days rest after playing on a Thursday night, the Cowboys started off sluggish on defense. However, Dan Quinn’s group looked like a different unit in the final 30 minutes and helped the Cowboys get to 3-1 on the young season. The juxtaposition puts Mike McCarthy and the staff in the position to once again celebrate a victory but also have plenty of coaching points to harp on during the next week of practice.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the Cowboys in their Week 4 win.

Good, Bad, Ugly: Cowboys’ discipline, clock management nearly wasted epic two-headed RB attack

The Dallas Cowboys got key stops and ran the ball well to help beat the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 on a last second field goal. Here’s a look at what was pretty, pretty good and pretty ugly from Week 2. From @BenGrimaldi

The Dallas Cowboys won their first game of the 2021 season in typical nail-biting fashion, beating the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17. Greg Zuerlein nailed a 56-yard field goal as time expired to help the Cowboys avoid the dreaded 0-2 start.

Nothing feels easy with this team, but Cowboys somehow won a game where they only forced one punt (which was negated by a penalty), gave up 408 yards on defense and scored just 20 points. Fortunately for Dallas, the Chargers were far from perfect, and the Cowboys escaped with a win to even their record before heading home to play their first game at AT&T Stadium this season.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from the Cowboys.

Good, Bad & Ugly: Tony Pollard, defense shine for Cowboys in 41-33 win

Tony Pollard and the defense forcing four turnovers highlights most of the good things the team did to beat the San Francisco 49ers

The Dallas Cowboys are living life on the edge, hanging on by a thread in the race for the NFC East. They kept their hopes alive with a thrilling Week 15 win, 41-33, over the San Francisco 49ers.

It was one of the more spirited efforts from the Dallas defense, despite giving up 33 points and over 450 yards of total offense. Just a week after forcing three turnovers, the Cowboys took the ball away four more times in the win to escape the division basement.

Here is the good, the bad and the ugly for the Cowboys as they fight their way to a fifth win on the year.