By Mark Halpern
No matter how you want to look at the result of this past Sunday’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, the Cowboys lost. It wasn’t because of turnovers, it wasn’t because of injuries, and it has nothing to do with play; it came down to one call, and I will get to the point soon. But Dak played well and proved a lot to his critics.
Let’s look at the game overall and break down the fantastic play by the Cowboys this weekend. The Quarterback Dak Prescott had a spectacular day, going 29/44, 374 yards, and 3 (no interceptions). Dak connected with eight different receivers in the game, and Cee Dee Lamb was the leader with 11 receptions for 194 yards but no touchdowns. The running game over the past few games has been anemic. It is not that Dallas was down by 20-plus points, but the play-calling was weird; Pollard ran the ball 12 times for 51 yards. The Eagles have a formidable run defense, and I said that Dallas would be able to move the ball through the air (as I said earlier), but why abandon the run game so fast?
The Dallas defense went toe to toe with the Eagles and was very good but had some miscues, such as penalties, which gave the Eagles first downs on drives that should have been ended. The Cowboys slowed down Jalen Hurts but didn’t stop him from having a non-error-like day. I said controlling Hurts had to be the focus, and it’s like trying to stop Lamar Jackson (as they can hurt you through the air and ground), and it’s a tough job.
Dallas lost the game and had a chance to win it, and there was a call with about 2 minutes left. Dallas had the ball 4th and one on the one and down by 5. You score a touchdown if you look at any book or even use your math skills. You have the lead with under two minutes to play, but the Eagles would get the ball back. The play was designed right, and Prescott hit Schoonmaker right on the goal line, but the defender got his knee down on the 1-inch line before the ball crossed the goal line. This was huge because now the Eagles got the ball back and only needed to move the ball enough to get a first down. They wouldn’t throw the ball as an incompletion would stop the clock, but Dallas had three timeouts. Here is where you kick the field goal, knowing you have 3-time outs to get the ball back. If you kick the field goal, the is 25-26. Dallas would have used the timeouts like they did, and instead of needing a touchdown to win, a field goal would have been more practical. I understand what’s at stake with the result of this game for both teams. If you look at the analytics, the books say to go for the Touch Down. Sure, if they had one time-out left, but you had three, you give your team the best chance, and that would have been kicking the field goal.
I mentioned something good came out of this game: Dallas can go toe to toe with the best of them. The Dallas offense played error-free against one of the most formidable defenses. Gilmore and Bland did a fine job on Brown and Smith, but Dallas Godert was found open too often. Dallas needs to use this game to guide how to play the rest of the season.
We know the final result, but both teams killed themselves with penalties on the final drive. First, the Eagles committed 2 back-to-back personal fouls, helping Dallas move the ball 40 yards off the field. Dak did everything to try and win, and with 5 seconds left, Dak threw a bullet to Lamb at the two. Since no player was behind him, he couldn’t lateral the ball and was tackled down at the 1, and the game ended. Philly now has a game and a 2-game lead on Dallas, and they have the Bye Week coming, so the Cowboys can make up a game. As for next week, the Dallas Cowboys will play the Who cares about football in the New York Giants. A game where they can run up the score might help get this team back on track.
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