Tag: Tony Pollard

News: Vander Esch ‘week-to-week’, Gallup ‘No.1 receiver’, Belichick calls Dak ‘super impressive’

Previewing Sunday’s showdown between Dak Prescott and Tom Brady, outsmarting Bill Belichick, and cashing in on Dak’s pregame dance moves.

So much to discuss as Sunday’s showdown draws ever nearer. The Cowboys look like they’ll be dealing with a surprise scratch in the middle of the defense, while there’s plenty of talk about the two quarterbacks this game will feature. Everyone is trying to predict what Patriots coach Bill Belichick will or won’t do, and what the Cowboys should or shouldn’t do in this one… all while one of the player units in Dallas suggests it’s all just business as usual.

All of that, plus an early look ahead at running back contracts and unrestricted free agents for 2020, breakdowns of both the Dallas offense and defense, and the perfect holiday gift for the Cowboys fan who’s still trying to learn “How to Dak.” That’s ahead in this edition of News and Notes.

Sources: Cowboys LB Leighton Vander Esch (neck) out vs. Patriots :: ESPN

Updating Thursday night’s big news, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch is expected to miss Sunday’s matchup with New England.

“Vander Esch’s injury flared up in practice, which led to an MRI. He will have another MRI in three weeks, according to a source,” reports ESPN’s Todd Archer. Also citing sources, Archer says the second-year star is now considered “week-to-week.”

Longtime veteran Sean Lee will take over for Vander Esch as the team’s weakside linebacker. Joe Thomas is slated to move into Lee’s spot on the strong side, but he has missed two practices this week with an illness.

–TB

Brady vs. Prescott: A one-sided battle is on tap in Cowboys-Pats :: Cowboys Wire

Metrics nerds, get your popcorn ready. Travis Somers presents all kinds of graph goodness in this look at the two quarterbacks who will lead their teams against one another at Foxboro Stadium on Sunday.

Come for the visual eye candy of data plotted out on an X/Y grid and all the pretty colors; stay for the eye-opening conclusion about how the Cowboys’ young star actually compares to the most decorated passer in league history.

–TB

Belichick: Prescott is ‘Super Impressive’

Not much else to say here but watch the reverence  (second vid) the Patriots head coach has for the Cowboys QB ahead of Sunday’s matchup.

— KD

Tom Brady: I’ve disliked the Dallas Cowboys since birth :: Boston Herald

As a San Francisco kid who grew up during the 49ers’ dynasty of the 1980s and saw Dwight Clark make “The Catch” in person as a four-year-old, Tom Brady was perhaps genetically hardwired to hate America’s Team.

“I’ve really not liked the Cowboys since coming out of the womb,” the Patriots quarterback said this week.

“They’ve actually had a great, winning organization, and have got a lot of great players in their history,” Brady said. “Guys that I, just as a Niner fan, you know — you play the Cowboys and every time they’d hand it to Emmitt Smith, it’d be a 5-yard gain. And you’d pull your hair out.”

Brady is 4-0 in his playing career against Dallas.

–TB

Cowboys not changing mentality for defending champ Patriots :: The Mothership

For all the hype and hoopla surrounding Sunday’s showdown with the New England Patriots, the guys in the trenches say they’re approaching this week’s game like any other.

On the Miller Lite Cowboys Hour, offensive linemates Zack Martin and Travis Frederick dispelled any notion that they’re changing their mentality for Week 12 simply because they’ll be squaring off against the defending Super Bowl champions.

–TB

Examining what the Cowboys are up against in Bill Belichick’s singular coaching mind :: The Athletic

“Take away what they do best,” they say. Well, no one’s better at it than New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who has been making winning look easy for going on two decades. The Cowboys offense will present a unique challenge in Foxborough, but here’s a look at what has made things in New England so different for so long.

–TT

Should the Cowboys focus on blitzing Tom Brady? :: Blogging the Boys

The Patriots do just about everything well, but if there’s a weakness to be found, it may in Tom Brady’s performance when under duress.

Connor Livesay writes: “Heading into last week’s matchup against the Eagles, Tom Brady ranked 28th in yards per attempt (4.0), 27th in passer rating (47.9), a 4:3 TD:INT ratio, and is only completing 34% of his passes when under pressure.”

Harassing Brady will be of critical importance, but only if the Cowboys can do it without sending too many blitzers. That’s because one of Brady’s strengths is utilizing screen passes to backs James White, Rex Burkhead, and Sony Michel… and unfortunately, stopping the screen attack hasn’t been something the Dallas defense has excelled at in 2019.

–TB

Classic matchup: Dallas Cowboys’ ‘America’s Team’ vs. New England’s ‘We are all Patriots’ :: ESPN

A comparison between two of the best runs in NFL history, the Dallas team that garnered the “America’s Team” moniker and the Bill Belichick version of the New England Patriots. There’s a trip down memory lane, an NFL record that’s on the brink, and a look at the animosity that the two teams’ success has wrought over the years.

–TT

Amari Cooper confident in WR depth vs. Pats :: The Mothership

Given the Patriots knack for shutting down the thing that’s working best for their opponent, it’s fair to say that keeping wideout Amari Cooper in check will be a priority for the New England secondary. That unit “has been outstanding, ” team staff writer David Helman notes, “anchored by strong play from Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty, and nabbing 19 interceptions on the year.”

Cooper himself, though, thinks that strategy is a double-edged sword. “We have a lot of guys that can make plays, so if they try to take me away and just focus on me, I don’t think that’d be the wisest approach,” he said. “You saw what Gallup and Cobb did last week, going for over 100 yards. If they do try to take me away, we have other guys that can make plays.”

–TB

2 under-the-radar keys to Cowboys finding weakness in Belichick’s defense :: Cowboys Wire

Joey Ickes breaks down a favorite New England technique for negating an opponent’s primary receiver and offers a pair of strategies that Kellen Moore could use in response.

The entire article is worth the read, but one of those tactics has been screamed at the TV by every Cowboys fan out there at some point this season: let Dak Prescott use his running ability.

The second ploy involves a few names that the casual fan- and hopefully the Patriots- might not expect. And a former New England assistant confirms that this particular plan of attack hits one of Belichick’s personal bugaboos.

–TB

All the NFL running backs who could get paid in 2020, and why recent deals look like disasters :: ESPN

Ezekiel Elliott’s is among the running backs’ deals examined in this piece by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, and the results aren’t pretty. Elliott is very good, but he hasn’t recaptured that dynamic play that he flashed throughout his rookie season when he took the league by storm. This year, the new rookie in town, Tony Pollard, has made the Cowboys more efficient when he spells Elliott. Caveat: sample size.

Elliott isn’t holding the Cowboys back by any means, but they have actually been slightly more efficient on offense with backup Tony Pollard on the field than him. Elliott has been on the field far more frequently, but the offense has generated 0.21 points of additional expected points per play with Pollard on the field and 0.17 points with Elliott in the lineup.

–TT

Decoding Kellen Moore: Explosive passes become routine as Cowboys offense transforms before our eyes :: The Athletic

A team’s record has the capacity to make the general NFL fan either overestimate or underestimate a team on that fact alone. This is certainly the case with the Dallas Cowboys, whose offense is as good as any in the league. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterback Dak Prescott have their half of the team rolling in terms of explosive plays and third down conversion. That and more in Bob Sturm’s weekly breakdown of the offense.

–TT

The Richard Report: Cowboys defense allows Detroit a worrisome number of big plays :: The Athletic

It takes two to tango, and in Week 11 the defense failed to hold up their end of the bargain. As explosive as the offense has been, the defense let a backup quarterback match them in that regard. That kind of performance is the exact opposite of the “bend but don’t break” approach that’ s been preached for years in Dallas.

–TT

Top 50 pending NFL unrestricted free agents for 2020 :: The Athletic

The Cowboys dominate this list of upcoming free agents with five players listed on it. Two of them, Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper, are guaranteed to continue their careers in Dallas, but the others on the list have futures that are up in the air, including one of the newest members of the team.

–TT

‘How to Dak’ shirts now available :: Cowboys Pro Shop

Nobody knows how to push their brand quite like Jerry Jones. First, it was the “Zeke Who?” shirts that poked fun at the owner’s perceived slight of Ezekiel Elliott during the star running back’s holdout. Then it was the fun the team had with the black cat who appeared during the Week 9 win over the Giants, even putting him on the stadium’s video screen during player intros the following week.

Now it’s Cowboys Nation’s ongoing love affair with quarterback Dak Prescott’s pregame warmup routine.

The 100% cotton tee is available in all sizes for both men and women, and features the above graphic on the back. On the front, the Cowboys star and Prescott’s jersey number appear above the left breast. The shirt sells for $24.99.

–TB

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Game balls, key stats, instant analysis of Cowboys 35-27 win over Lions

Dak Prescott’s ascension continued, as he led the Cowboys to their sixth win of the season while throwing for 444 passing yards.

Dallas fans invaded Detroit, and were able to witness their team hang on and claim and their sixth victory of the season. It ended up being a shootout between Dak Prescott and Jeff Driskell, in game that featured four lead changes and over 820 combined total yards of offense. Ultimately, the Cowboys were able to prevail, and remain on top of the NFC East.

It was over when . . .

. . . Ezekiel Elliott housed a well-timed screen pass against the blitz from 17-yards out, followed by an excellent Dak Dance TD celebration. Tony Pollard then rumbled into the end zone for the two-point conversion to put Dallas up by two touchdowns with under eight minutes left in the game, effectively sealing the win.

Game balls

QB Dak Prescott

His transformative season continued against the Lions, with Prescott completing 29 of 46 passes for 444 yards, his third game this season with over 400+ passing yards. He was responsible for most of the his team’s big plays, finding open receivers, shaking off defenders, and picking up first downs with his legs. This showing, perhaps more than any other this season, announced that the Cowboys are no longer a run-first, grind it out team led by Ezekiel Elliott, but one that can sling it with the best of them.

WR Michael Gallup

On the one-year anniversary since losing his brother, Michael Gallup had a career day. He set a new high in catches with nine, and led the team with 148 receiving yards. He was a monster, especially in the first half, and made maybe the catch of the season in the second quarter. The second-year receiver has made big strides in 2019, and seems to be developing into a really nice offensive weapon for Prescott.

RB Tony Pollard

It seemed like the Cowboys made an effort to get Pollard involved early, and it certainly paid off. The rookie scored the first receiving touchdown of his career, finding the end zone for the second time this season. He continues to electrify with the ball in his hands, showcasing elite balance and tackle-breaking abilities that the team should continue to utilize. All told, he caught four passes (including two newly unveiled pop passes) for 44 receiving yards, 12 rushing yards, 42 kick return yards.

Key Stat: 5

Robert Quinn and Michael Bennett, two recent imports to the defensive line, have each become immediate, big-time contributors to the Dallas defense. Five represents the combined QB hits they managed to lay on Jeff Driskell, to go along with their three combined sacks and six total tackles, half of which were for loss. The duo, plus DeMarcus Lawrence, were essentially the entire Cowboys pass rush, which held strong and helped ice the game at the end.

Quick Hits:

  • For the third time in 11 games, Dallas’s first offensive drive ended in a turnover. Elliott fumbled the ball away on the second play of the game, reminiscent of Prescott’s interception on the first play of the game in Week 9 vs New York. Early mistakes and playing from behind have been a constant theme this season, and this week was no different. Thankfully however, they were able to pull this one out.
  • Randall Cobb built on his breakout last week in a big way, again scoring a touchdown and going over 100 receiving yards (115 total). He’s now up to three scores on the season, and has recorded 221 receiving yards over his last two games.

  • Early on, it seemed like this week could’ve been the Bo Scarbrough revenge game. The 2018 Cowboys seventh round draft pick made his NFL debut against his former team, and promptly found the end zone on Detroit’s first drive. He managed to reel off some impressive runs, and was the perfect decoy on nicely executed read-option which allowed Driskell to walk into the end zone in the second quarter.
  • It’s hard to remember a time when the Cowboys return game looked more discombobulated. After the mind-numbing decision for forego a return at the end of the Vikings game, it seemed as if Dallas returners were trying too hard to press the action this week, costing the team valuable field position. Pollard took a kick four yards deep in his own end zone, reaching only the Cowboys’ 14. Tavon Austin returned two punts for two yards.
  • The Dallas special teams coverage didn’t fare much better, with Jamal Agnew getting loose for a 32-yard punt return, and a 29-yard kick return. The hidden yardage resulting from the game’s third phase can be extremely valuable, but the Cowboys haven’t gotten much help from their special teams unit this season. Or really since Dwyane Harris left town.
  • What does help special teams is being allowed to kickoff from the opponent’s 35-yard line. A couple ill-timed Detroit penalties essentially gave the Cowboys a free chance at an onside kick just before halftime.

  • Sitting at 6-4, it stings to think about what Dallas’s record could be right now, had they been able to take advantage some earlier opponents, and resisted the urge to shoot themselves in the foot. Still, they more than control their own destiny, and with this offense, can hang with any team in the league.Six games remain, and next up is a trip to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots.

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