Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys will head to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Sunday to play the New York Jets. The Jets have yet to win a game this season, and the Cowboys are hoping that streak continues as they look for just their second win of the year, the first one came against that other New York football team.
The Cowboys need this win badly, as a loss to a winless team would send them down the path of what likely turns into a rebuild season. A win, however, keeps their season alive and allows them a chance to still make some amount of noise in 2025. What should we expect in this one? Here are five things to keep an eye on when they play the Jets on Sunday.
The Jets don’t have a lot of offensive weapons, but they do have one very powerful one behind center. Quarterback Justin Fields is a huge threat with his legs. He takes off running at a league-high rate of once for every seven of his dropbacks. He is averaging nearly 60 yards rushing per game, the most of any quarterback this season, and it’s not even close.
Fields is going to be a problem for a Cowboys’ defense that has proven vulnerable to containing the quarterback as the pocket collapses. In three of their four games, they have surrendered a quarterback run of at least 15 yards, including last week when Jordan Love scampered for a huge 25-yard gain. The Cowboys have struggled with filling the gaps and taking good angles, which has led to some breakdowns when trying to chase down the quarterback this season. Jalen Hurts had 62 yards against them in the opener. If the defense isn’t able to limit the damage of the mobile Fields, it could lead to a frustrating day for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys’ defense is the absolute worst at stopping the deep ball. They have surrendered 11 receptions, 461 yards, and five touchdowns on deep pass plays, the highest in the league in each category. This week’s recipient is Garrett Wilson. Entering the week, the Jets’ star receiver has 38 targets, third-most for wide receivers. He’s the meat and potatoes of the Jets’ passing attack, as no other receiver on the team has caught five passes for the year.
It would be nice to see some adjustments in the secondary, as the heavy use of zone coverage has not been working for the new defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus. Expect Wilson to have some big chunk plays. The last time these two teams faced each other was a couple of years ago at AT&T Stadium. Even though the Cowboys won by 20, Wilson still had a 68-yard touchdown when he took a pass over the middle to the house.
One way to limit big plays is just getting off the field by making...
