Blogging The Boys
What in the world happened on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles? It’s still hard to believe the second-half shutout by the Cowboys defense, but winning is all that matters and the biggest takeaway. So what did the rookie class do to help bring home the victory? Let’s dive in and find out.
(Game stats- Snaps: 74, Pass Blocks: 47, Pressures: 1, Sacks: 0, Penalties: 2)
Booker’s day against the Eagles was mostly solid but a little scruffier than his box-score reputation, with one big mistake standing out. PFF’s game recap has him at a 63.0 offensive grade, one of the better marks on the Cowboys’ offense in the win. As a unit, Dallas allowed 18 total pressures and just one sack on Dak Prescott, so the line held up reasonably well in pass protection overall. Coming into the week, PFF had Booker at 499 total snaps with 323 pass-block snaps, allowing 14 pressures, five QB hits, one sack and four penalties on the season, really tidy numbers for a rookie right guard.
Where his night clearly took a hit was the flags and a couple of run snaps. In the fourth quarter, with Dallas driving, he was called for a holding penalty on a deep shot to George Pickens that set the offense back from 1st-and-10 to 1st-and-20 and effectively killed that series. Earlier in the second half, Jordan Davis blew up a run by shoving Booker backwards and dropping Javonte Williams for a four-yard loss, one of the few times the Eagles’ interior really dented Dallas’ ground game. Outside of those moments, he mostly blended into the background in a good way as the interior stayed reasonably firm while the Cowboys mounted their comeback, and allowed only one pressure all game, showing he won more snaps than he lost but had a couple of obvious negatives that show up on tape.
(Game stats- Snaps: 37, Total Tackles: 3, Pressures: 1, Sacks: 0, TFL: 0)
Ezeiruaku’s game against the Eagles was more grind than flashy. Coming into Week 12, his stats had him at 22 total pressures, two sacks and a strong 79.7 overall grade for the season, really efficient production for a rookie edge in a deep rotation. Against Philly, though, the basic stat line shows how quiet he was as a pass-rusher with three total tackles, zero sacks, and zero tackles for loss. With Quinnen Williams wrecking the middle of the pocket and credited with a career-high eight pressures, plus Osa Odighizuwa cashing in the only sack, most of the pressure column belonged to the interior rather than Ezeiruaku.
His best work came in doing the dirty edge stuff that doesn’t always show up stat sheets. On Philadelphia’s first-quarter scoring drive he helped finish a short completion to Xavier Gipson inside the Dallas 20, keeping the gain contained and forcing the Eagles to earn it in the red zone. In the third quarter, with Dallas still trying to claw back,...
