Good morning, Cowboys Nation; what a game we saw last night.
It was easily the best Thursday night game all season, even with the yellow flags thrown everywhere on every drive.
The Dallas Cowboys gutted out a nail-biting victory over the Seattle Seahawks 41-35, and on a night that featured zero punts, here are my three takeaways from the win.
Dak Prescott
Like him or not, what we have seen in the last seven games from Dak Prescott has been better than anyone throwing the football right now.
We all said it was against the bad teams and that he couldn’t do it when he had to make enough plays to win a football game against a much better team.
Well, Prescott delivered. With just under 5 minutes left in the football game and trailing by five, Prescott found Jake Ferguson for a 12-yard touchdown.
They got the two-point conversion to extend their lead to three.
Prescott finished the game 29 of 41, 299 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions.
We can’t lie; he is currently playing at an MVP level.
Better late Than Never
Last night, the Cowboy’s defense struggled badly.
They could not stop a nosebleed until the last three Seattle possessions.
I have my concerns about them; I do. When you don’t force a punt, you question what is happening.
As I said, though, better late than never, when they needed to lock in and make the game-changing plays, they did.
They forced a turnover on downs the last three times Geno Smith and the Seattle offense had the ball.
I will dive more into the defense this week, but they showed up big time when the team needed them the most.
Penalties
They are back.
Dallas had 9 of them for 127 yards. You can’t do that against the Eagles or the 49ers.
They hurt Dallas in the first half.
On two separate drives, the Cowboys’ defensive penalties set up easy Seahawks touchdowns.
Rashaan Evans was called for pass interference, which moved Seattle into the red zone.
Gilmore was called for one in the end zone a few plays later, setting up an easy one-yard rushing touchdown.
Bland’s pass interference set up a second.
The calls were terrible on both sides of the football. Most were legitimate, but the referees were just looking to throw a flag instead of waiting to see if something happened for them to throw it.
Nonetheless, what a great team win for a team that has lost these types of games for the last ten years.
I thought Dallas had no chance of winning this game, and my confidence level in the offense right now is why they can play with anyone.
This is how the offense needs to be playing, with the Eagles coming to town next Sunday, followed by going on the road against the Bills, Miami, and then back home for the Lions.
We will learn much more about this team over the next month, but man, it felt so good to finally win a game they have lost more times than not.
December to remember coming up? Let’s hope so
Ron Howell Let’s hope so! For the first time in a LONG time I trust No. 4 every time he takes the field.
Really do believe they can win any football game with him behind center right now.
Why is the memory of Dak being great so short? Dak is just doing Dak stuff, Nothing new.
2016…offense rookie of the year.
Dak every year carries the offense….after 2016, Elliott never had another dominant year running. Every year Dak throws for 66% or better, 3 or more TD;s to every INT , and hes had over a season worth of 2 minute comeback wins. Plus, he NEVER has more than one top receiver in any year as Jerry buys cheap guys to fill in at tight end and receiver.
Dak being great is not new.
Confidence in an offense that kicked 4 red zone fgs last night?. You can’t have multiple red zone fgs against the best teams and win unless your team plays well. I’m glad they won, but if they put the ball in the endzone in the redzone, it’s a blowout. It’s unrealistic and scoring on almost every drive is impressive but there’s still plenty to clean up and be worried about.
Refs refs refs
They fuc up and they no it
Three huh? How about how Dallas still struggles in the Red Zone? Three times they failed to get a TD inside the twenty…two of those were goal to go.
Or how about the way the Defense was dominated for three quarters by a 6-5 team struggling to find their identity?
Maybe we can talk about how Dallas didn’t actually win this game because Seattle handed it to them on a silver platter with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter? All they had to do was protect the ball, run some time off the clock and maybe pick up a FG to make it a two possession game. Instead, they turned the ball over multiple times, giving Dallas a short field, and inexplicably left the League leading Sacker unblocked on a critical 3rd down play.
Or we can talk about the 19 penalties both teams had ending drives and allowing the opponent to score. You expect that from a 6-5 team, but not a ” Superbowl contender “.
Sorry, that’s 4 things.