Tag: major takeaways

3 Major takeaways from Cowboys season coming to an abrupt end

How does a shocking elimination loss to the Packers impact the major takeaways for the Cowboys? | From @cdpiglet

The 2023 regular season set up perfectly for the Dallas Cowboys. They tied for the best record in the NFC at 12-5. They had nine All-Pro players, including their MVP-caliber quarterback Dak Prescott. Their playoff matchup seemed an ideal outcome, with the inexperienced Green Bay Packers coming to AT&T Stadium, where Dallas hadn’t been defeated all season.

Things didn’t go as planned. The Packers shocked Dallas by beating them down so bad it wasn’t a competitive second half where a 48-32 final score was hardly indicative of the true nature of the game. The score was 27-0 before the Cowboys ever showed a pulse. Dallas was the only home city to have their lights turned off for them in the wild-card round.

Now that the season has ended, the team can look back at what went right, what went wrong, and what it means for the future. Dan Quinn, Mike McCarthy, and even Prescott have question marks for their futures in Dallas. The major takeaways from this game include looking at the defense, the offense, and the championship window of the Cowboys going into next season.

3 major takeaways from Cowboys undefeated home slate

Complimentary football, a compliment to Lamb are major needs as the Cowboys finish off the regular season. | From @cdpiglet

The contest was much closer than the Dallas Cowboys are used to in home games, but their victory over the Detroit Lions means they ended the 2023 season undefeated at AT&T Stadium. Controversy aside, Dallas is the only team to go undefeated at home, and they are now in first place in the NFC East and will be the number two seed if they beat the Washington Commanders next week.

The Cowboys can look at the season in totality and see plenty of positives. Dak Prescott is a top-end MVP candidate and a possible First-Team All-Pro quarterback. CeeDee Lamb is in contention for offensive player of the year and is a likely All-Pro receiver. Tyron Smith has been mostly healthy and is still one of the top left tackles in the league. The defense still has a great pass rush and is excellent at causing turnovers.

A closer look would show plenty of issues that no team would want heading into the playoffs. With only one week left in the regular season and Dallas with a chance to be anywhere from the second to the fifth seed, the major takeaways from this game are focused on improvements going forward.

3 major takeaways from Week 15 for Cowboys to work on

Dallas needs to diagnose what went wrong in the Bills loss and what they can take away from it going into their playoff run. | From @cdpiglet

For the third time this season, a team executed a game plan to beat the Dallas Cowboys and do it handily. After a few big misses early from Dallas, the Buffalo Bills settled in, ran the ball down the throat of the defense, and controlled the game. That has been the theme of attacking Dan Quinn’s unit successfully.

The Bills played back on defense, allowing Dallas to run the ball or throw underneath but eliminating deep shots. Buffalo primarily sent only four rushers, keeping seven defenders back in quarterback Dak Prescott’s throwing lanes. This is the same type of plan that the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers employed in their victories over the Cowboys.

Many of the major takeaways from this game have been chronic issues, but the team must again see what they can do to get better at stopping opponents from executing these strategies. The playoffs are upcoming, and how well they clean up these deficiencies could be crucial to the type of playoff run they go on.

3 major takeaways as Cowboys pass the quarter pole of the 2023 season

After Dallas took out the Eagles, there are major takeaways to how the first 3/4 of the season have played out. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys are continuing to answer questions, eliminating excuses and narratives. Prior to the midpoint of the 2023 season, many said the defense is excellent but the offense can’t win games if they had to. Now, the offense might be their best unit. Could they execute in close games, or do they just win in blowouts? The Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks were both close victories. They asked what would happen when they played teams with a winning record. The Philadelphia Eagles had the best record and were beaten.

So what’s next?

With every week that has passed, Dallas has continued to win and win big in the majority of their games. There isn’t any doubt the 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles were a good team, sporting the best record in the league going into the contest. The Cowboys beat them like they beat most every other team at AT&T Stadium.

The offense is one of the best in the league. The defense held Philadelphia to six points and forced three turnovers. They have the best kicker in football for times when the offense stalls, making all of his kicks no matter how long distance. The team is on fire, and acknowledging the reasons why are the big takeaways as the season enters its final four games.

Major Takeaways from another blowout victory for the Cowboys

Dallas whips another opponent, but what are the major takeaways they can look at heading into the Thanksgiving game? | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys continued to roll in Week 11, getting so far out in front their starters were once again sitting in the fourth quarter. They beat down the Carolina Panthers in their house, marking a fourth win in five games. The single loss was on the road against the team with the best record in the league, and that came down to the last drive.

The Panthers kept the game relatively close on the scoreboard but made too many mistakes to a superior opponent, and eventually Dallas pulled away. Since their loss in San Francisco, the Cowboys have outscored their opponents 168-92 and have clicked in all areas of the game more than ever in the Mike McCarthy era. The special teams unit has been consistently great all year. The defense had seven sacks and an interception return for a TD. The offense has been great since Week 5 but was safe in this game, making sure they didn’t do anything to put this game in jeopardy.

Dallas has a short week to study the game, recover, and plan for the upcoming matchup. Here are some major takeaways they can look forward to or clean up going forward.

3 Major takeaways as Cowboys exploit the Giants and move forward

The Cowboys wiped out the Giants once again. What are the major takeaways from the Dallas get-right game? | From @cdpiglet

The New York Giants have got to be tired of playing the Dallas Cowboys. After a 40-0 blowout to open the year, Dallas almost dropped 50 on their heads this time, beating them down to the tune of 49-17. This was a “get right game,” with the team cleaning up plenty of issues coming off a loss in Philadelphia.

The Dallas defense held the Giants to 172 total yards, taking down their QB five times for sacks, grabbing an interception, and holding them to 0-for-12 on third-down attempts. The offense was also in full force, with two receivers going over 150 yards and each scoring touchdowns. In fact six players scored in all, and the Cowboys outgained New York by 468 yards—the largest differential in the NFL in 44 years.

The media and some of the fanbase likely downplay this victory because the team lost to the San Francisco 49ers (badly) and the Philadelphia Eagles, so beating the Giants isn’t seen as an important event. That is a narrative the team must ignore altogether. Dallas is trying to improve their play as the season rolls on. They did that in this matchup, and the team can take plenty of positives from this win. Here are some of the essential items coming out of Week 10.

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.

Major takeaways after the Cowboys blowout the Rams coming out of the bye week

With a matchup looming in Philadelphia, here are 3 major takeaways from blowout of the Rams and the first seven games in general. | from @cdpiglet.

The Dallas Cowboys took down the Los Angeles Rams by a final score of 43-20. That’s known as a scoragami, a unique final score that had never been achieved across the entire history of the NFL. The Cowboys hadn’t achieved this complete of a  team performance this season, either. Dallas had won in blowouts, but not with the offense pulling as much weight as they did against the Rams.

For the first time in 2023, the offense was at the very least an equal partner in victory. The special teams unit stood out, and the defense was far from poor, but this was a game that saw the Dallas offense set the tone early and put it away officially with their first drive of the second half that went 17 plays and took up nearly 10 minutes.

The Cowboys are playing their best football a week ahead of their biggest game of the season in Philadelphia. This is the next big test in the NFC, the first since the San Francisco 49ers game. What major takeaways do the Cowboys need to dive into this week to continue to play at such a high level?

 

3 takeaways from Cowboys first 6-game stretch ending with win over Chargers

What can the Cowboys takeaway from their bounce-back victory over the Chargers to end the first phase of their season? From @cdpiglet

The Cowboys’ fanbase could choose to be pessimistic after the club left Los Angeles with a narrow victory over the Chargers. The team couldn’t run the ball at all, the pass blocking wasn’t much better, and the team wasn’t disciplined. They committed 14 penalties, 11 accepted and seven of the pre-snap variety.

However if the fans want to be optimistic, this was a game set up for the Dallas Cowboys to lose that still ended in victory. For the first time all year the club played a close game, and they escaped.

Last season, every San Francisco 49ers opponent but one (the world champion Kansas City Chiefs) lost the following week. This year, only the Steelers had been able to avoid that trend. The 49ers are rugged to deal with and wear an opponent down physically and mentally.

The Chargers were coming off a bye week, which allowed them to bring back Austin Ekeler plus play Derwin James Jr. and Joey Bosa. Dallas also had a brutal travel schedule, traveling to California and playing in primetime back-to-back weeks.

Sometimes leaving plenty to work on can be a positive going into a bye week. The team needs to look at the major takeaways of this win and how to use them to improve the team going into another matchup with a West Coast team in two weeks.

 

3 takeaways from Cowboys humiliating loss include questioning Prescott

The Cowboys have more questions than answers and here are the biggest takeaways from the debacle. | From @cdpiglet

The Dallas Cowboys did plenty of talking heading into Sunday’s matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. The players, coaches, and front office all revealed how important this game was. They all were motivated by facing the team that eliminated them the past two postseasons.

From improving offensive play calling and playmaking to bulking up the run defense, the entire offseason surrounded a getting another shot. This Cowboys team believed that they can beat any team in the league, but they had to find a way to get over the hump that was San Francisco. What does a team take away from a game that made it seem like climbing that hill is more climbing Mount Everest?