Blogging The Boys
And then there was hope.
The Dallas Cowboys clawed their way back to .500 with a dominating win over the admittedly hapless New York Jets, but it was just the kind of win you would want to see from a strong team facing a lesser opponent. And with a little help from the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants in wins over the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas is back in the thick of the race for the NFC East.
There is still a lot of season ahead. Staying relevant depends on what the team does going forward. Our David Howman and Tom Ryle discuss what they need to do to stay in the hunt.
Tom: The offense merits some discussion, but let’s start with the defense that looked like an entirely different unit than it had over the first four games. They harassed Justin Fields constantly, getting five sacks and a whopping 14 QB hits in the game. That to me was the deciding factor. We knew the offense could score a lot of points, but for once they weren’t trading score for score. They got a big lead and just kept their foot on the neck of the opponent.
I don’t know what Matt Eberflus did to have them this ready. I just know I hope he can duplicate it the rest of the season. If he can, this team can stay on the field with anyone. The playoffs no longer look like a pipe dream.
David: Yes, this defense looked great on Sunday. How great? Dallas finished with -0.020 EPA/play allowed, the eighth-best number for any team in Week 5. They were also eighth in EPA/dropback allowed, specifically doing well against the pass.
Part of it was Eberflus using more man coverage and more jam techniques at the line of scrimmage, both of which play into the strengths of Trevon Diggs and Kaiir Elam, in particular.
However, and not to be a downer, but I do suspect a lot of it also had to do with facing the Jets. On the year, New York is 23rd in EPA/play, so it’s not like the Cowboys shut down an offense that was otherwise lighting up the scoreboard. That doesn’t make Sunday’s performance meaningless, but I’m not ready to declare the defense as fixed.
Now, the offense… there’s a different story.
Tom: Absolutely. Dak Prescott is on fire. Most impressively he is getting it done with CeeDee Lamb on the sidelines. The George Pickens acquisition looks brilliant. Ryan Flournoy had a breakout game. Now when Lamb gets back opponents face three serious threats on the outside. Stop them and Jake Ferguson will keep the chains moving or rack up six in the red zone.
Speaking of great acquisitions, can we have a round of applause for Javontae Williams? Need tough yards or a breakaway threat and he can deliver. Brian Schottenheimer is getting so much out of his offense.
David: Everyone looks great on offense, even the line. Well, maybe they...
