Blogging The Boys
Our writers provide their opinions on the latest Dallas Cowboys news during our weekly review on the Roundtable.
Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have Brian Martin, Jess Haynie, Tom Ryle, David Howman and RJ Ochoa.
The Dallas Cowboys come away with a miraculous victory in a game that had both sides score just three points by half time. Both offenses had their struggles throughout the game and both team’s defenses put up a major fight. That left the game being decided by the final part of the roster, special teams.
Brandon Aubrey had his first field goal blocked, then another hit the post and even Brian Anger had a punt blocked which put Washington in scoring position. But the special teams madness didn’t end there. Aubrey got back on form, KaVontae Turpin then made a house call on a kickoff return for 99 yards, with a spin move that will make highlight reels for weeks.
On the Commanders’ side, Austin Seibert missed a field goal and in a dramatic conclusion of the game, he missed the extra point on the final scoring drive to level the score. But it didn’t stop there!
After all that Juanyeh Thomas then returned an onside kick at the end of the game, which thankfully didn’t affect the outcome. This game was won for Dallas off the efforts of defense and the crazy turn of events that unfolded on special teams. The game proving that you need all three elements of your roster to win games in the NFL.
Howman: A hot mess. Emphasis on “mess” in the first half, and emphasis on “hot” in the second half. A blocked kick, a blocked punt, and a straight up miss from Brandon Aubrey is pretty terrible. But Aubrey bounced back to hit two field goals and all four PATs (which, apparently, was a big deal in this game) and the Turpin touchdown was massive in fending off a surging Commanders squad in that fourth quarter.
RJ: It was a chaotic mess that was only tolerable because the Dallas Cowboys won. I recognize that this makes me not cool, but something like Juanyeh Thomas not going down when recovering the onside kick is inexcusable and the type of thing that coaching should theoretically address. This group needs some serious tightening up in the worst way and this game proved that.
Tom: Was it something in the water? Washington certainly had its own share of special teams mishaps and breakdowns, and they were arguably more important than Dallas’ errors. Or you can look at it as both teams having some massive wins on special teams. Remember that only one of Aubrey’s misses was really on him, while Austin Siebert had a terrible day of his own. I’ll agree they have plenty...
