I don't know what you were personally expecting Sunday afternoon when the Dallas Cowboys squared off against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but I think it's safe to say what happened was a pleasant surprise. The Cowboys not only beat the Jaguars 40-7, but they did so in an absolutely dominant fashion. Hopefully, this is just a sign of things to come.
The Dallas Cowboys will go on the road this week in a matchup with their division rival, the Washington Redskins, in a game that could ultimately decide who wins the NFC East division. But before we get into any discussion about the Redskins, let's talk about The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly for the Cowboys against the Jaguars.
As always, please feel free to share any of your opinions about what I chose for each category in this article. I also encourage you to share your own good, bad, and ugly in the comment section located at the bottom. I enjoy hearing all of your feedback and look forward to reading what you have to say.
The Good
In a game where just about everything fell just right for the Dallas Cowboys, it was a little difficult to narrow down exactly what I wanted to put in this category. It was a great all-around team effort, so I didn't want to go with an individual. Ultimately, I decided the good for the Cowboys against the Jaguars had to be awarded to the entire offense.
All last week I was trying to figure out how the Cowboys were going to move the ball against the Jaguars top-ranked defense. Jacksonville's defense was ranked No. 1 in the passing game and in total defense. I thought if the Cowboys had a chance it would be on the ground where the Jaguars were just ranked 14th against the run. Boy was I shocked at what took place Sunday afternoon.
The Cowboys offense not only moved the ball on the ground with Quarterback Dak Prescott (83 yards rushing) and Running Back Ezekiel Elliott (106 yards rushing), but also found success in the passing game. Prescott and Wide Receiver Cole Beasley connected with one another nine times for 101 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Overall, it was quite impressive to see the Cowboys put up 40 points against one of the league's best defenses.
The Bad
For a change, finding something to put in this section this week was extremely difficult. The Dallas Cowboys pretty much played a flawless game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, so I decided the bad had to be that because they played so well our expectations should be for them to continue to play at this level. After all, if they can put up 40 points on the NFL's best defense, why shouldn't this kind of dominance continue.
The sad truth is, we have already seen the Cowboys offense raise our expectations once this season. After the phenomenal performance against the Detroit Lions earlier this season we expected them to pick up where they left off the next few weeks against the Seahawks and Texans. Unfortunately, we know how they played in both of those contest, so we should probably temper our expectations a little.
I don't know about you, but I'm trying not to get too excited about what took place Sunday afternoon against the Jaguars. I'm really hoping that the entire offense is finally starting to click and that Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan has figured out how to use his playmakers to the best of their abilities. But for now, we will just have to hope that this bad will actually turn out to be a good.
The Ugly
I really liked what I've seen for the Dallas Cowboys defense this season, but I absolutely loved how ugly they made the Jacksonville Jaguars offense look Sunday afternoon. This defense is playing at a championship level and they aren't quite receiving the recognition as of yet that they probably deserve. But, that could change if they continue to play the way they did against the Jaguars.
Jacksonville's offense had a tough time getting anything going Sunday against the Cowboys defense. They barely had over 200 total yards of total offense and I lost count of how many three and outs they had. What I loved the most though were the turnovers the Cowboys forced. Turnovers have been pretty nonexistent so far this season, so it was good to see that change against the Jaguars.
I honestly can't say enough good things about the Dallas Cowboys defense and how they've played this season. I'm just hoping they are able to do the same against this week's opponent, the Washington Redskins. With the NFC East division up for grabs, how the defense plays against the Redskins could impact the outcome of this game and help secure the division title.
