Silver And Black Pride
Week 11 pits the Las Vegas Raiders against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, after both teams underwent some changes during the trade deadline. The Raiders were sellers and traded away Jakobi Meyers while the Cowboys were looking to improve their defense, most notably by bringing in defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.
To preview the contest, Silver and Black Pride reached out to our friends at Blogging the Boys, and David Halprin was kind enough to answer some questions about the Cowboys for Raider Nation.
Q: Raiders fans can relate to their team trading its best defensive player and an elite pass-rusher right before the start of the season (a la Khalil Mack in 2018). How has moving on from Micah Parsons impacted the Cowboys’ defense this year? Also, what has Kenny Clark brought to the team so far?
A: We know it has had a big impact, but it’s hard to tell how big given just how bad the Dallas defense has been this year. It feels like the defense just cratered on all three levels (front four, linebackers, secondary), and that isn’t all on the Parsons trade, but the lack of impact from our front four in the pass rush is certainly an issue.
It has gotten better over the last few weeks as we are starting to get more sacks and significant pressure, but we also don’t have the guy who shifts line protections, forces chips, and demands a special offensive game plan. The place we may miss him most is his ability to rush the QB and create turnovers or bad plays quickly. We just don’t see much of that.
As for Kenny Clark, he’s a good player, and initially it seemed like he helped the run defense some. Lately, his impact has trailed off so much so that we just traded for Quinnen Williams.
Q: On a similar note, what do you expect recently acquired defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to bring to Dallas?
A: That’s the big question. Should the Cowboys have done this? We just don’t know yet. The expectation is that no matter what, he is going to be a run-stopper in the middle, something the Cowboys have lacked for a while.
He’s young enough that there shouldn’t be any kind of age-related drop-off in the near future, so you’d expect at least a plug for a leaky run defense. If he can force double-teams and draw attention away from the pass rushers, that would be an added benefit. If he can actually collapse the pocket, including some pass-rush ability, then the Cowboys will have made the right move.
Q: It seems like Dak Prescott started the year strong but has fizzled over the last two games. What’s been the difference in his play to start the season and more recently? Also, it comes with the territory of being the Cowboys’ starting quarterback, but it feels like Prescott takes a lot of heat/criticism in the media. What’s the fanbase’s perception of him?
A:...
