Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys won in Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season, and that is the ultimate goal. How they got there and who they played against adds some much-needed context to the win. The Cowboys kicked a 64-yard field goal to end the regular portion of the game in a tie and send it to overtime. They followed that up by kicking a much-more reasonable 46-yard field goal with no time left to end overtime with a 40-37 win.
All of this was against a New York Giant club that looked miserable last week. This week, they torched the Cowboys defense, but ended up short because of their incredible rate of penalties and one ill-timed turnover.
Usually my colleague Dan Rogers does a ‘10 thoughts on the game’ column. While he is out and on the mend, I try to sub in. But because I’m only half as good as Dan, it will be five thoughts.
Let’s start with the worst thing in the game. The Cowboys secondary that could not get on the same page on their zone coverages. Giants receivers were running loose deep in the secondary with no one around, only to be followed by some combination of Trevon Diggs/Kaiir Elam and Malik Hooker/Donovan Wilson looking at each and asking what happened.
Eberflus has to address this, and he could certainly punch up his base scheme with some more tricks and stunts as the defense became unable to consistently pressure the QB and cover the receivers. The offense won’t be able to outscore everyone like this. The Cowboys defense is certainly playing better against the run, but now their pass defense has evaporated. Eberflus is under the microscope.
Most were skeptical, but Javonte Williams is creating some believers. After a quality first game of the year where he mixed elusiveness with power and always falling forward, he had a really, really good game against the Giants. Williams had 18 carries for 97 yards (5.4 YPC) and one touchdown. He tacked on six catches for 33 yards.
Williams has shown a nice blend of quickness and power. He doesn’t excel in any one thing, but does many things well. The Cowboys do not have to fear using Williams in short-yardage and goal line situations. When the Cowboys finally get Jaydon Blue into the mix, their running game might be just fine for this year.
During the first game against the Eagles, George Pickens was pretty quiet. In this game, he had a big impact. His stats are nice. Five catches for 68 yards and one touchdown. But that doesn’t tell the full story. The Cowboys had two chunk plays as a result of pass interference calls when Giants defenders couldn’t handle Pickens.
He also started showing up in clutch situations. That means that Dak Prescott is showing the trust and utilizing Pickens not just on deep...
