Well it wasn't pretty and it took an entire four quarters, but the Dallas Cowboys were able to secure a much-needed win on the road yesterday afternoon against the Detroit Lions. The final score 35-27 alone tells you that Detroit was a much tougher opponent than the Cowboys were probably anticipating. This is the NFL though and even the teams you are expected to beat can surprise you. In the end though the Cowboys did what they needed to do in order to come away with the W.
I don't know about you, but I have mixed feelings about the way the Dallas Cowboys played yesterday against the Detroit Lions. There was quite a bit to get excited about, but even more that raises the cause of concern. This is a team guaranteed to take us on a roller coaster ride on any given game day, but the highs and lows sure have left me feeling a little queasy.
With all of that in mind, let's get to this week's edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I don't know if there has been a more appropriate game for this article than this one between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. The only thing difficult about this matchup is deciding what to put in each category.
The Good
Okay, maybe I lied a little earlier when I said it might be a little difficult to decide what to put into each category. I had absolutely no problem figuring out what I wanted to go with here. I think the good for the Dallas Cowboys yesterday against the Detroit Lions was Quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys passing game. Any argument?
Dak Prescott completed 29 of 46 of his passes for 444 yards and three touchdowns. If that's not impressive enough he did it without his #1 WR (Amari Cooper) on the field for quite a bit of the game. Michael Gallup and Randall Cobb both and big games catching the ball for the second game in a row, which helped propel the offense to a much-needed victory. The Cowboys passing game should continue to make opposing defenses pay if they try to sell out to stop Zeke.
The Bad
I had a difficult time deciding what I wanted to go with in this category. I had two options that I wrestled with back and forth, but in the end I decided the bad yesterday for the Dallas Cowboys was once again their inability to get off to a fast start. Slow starts have been the headline of their season thus far. It's been one of the main factors in nearly every single one of their losses this year.
The Dallas Cowboys nearly shot themselves in the foot once again by starting off slowly. It all started on the second play of the game with the Ezekiel Elliott fumble. That gave Detroit a short field, which allowed them to score a quick touchdown. It took three possessions for the Cowboys offense to finally get a first down and nearly an entire quarter to put any points in the board. They absolutely need to figure out some way to get things going earlier.
The Ugly
The Dallas Cowboys defense continues to struggle to the point where they are becoming a liability each and every week. I nearly put them in the bad category this week, but they did manage to do just enough to win the game. I think it could've gone either way, but I think they were just ugly this week against the Detroit Lions, but on the verge of being bad.
The Lions had a backup quarterback, backup running back, and backup right tackle starting for them and still managed to put up 27 points on the Cowboys defense yesterday afternoon. This was a unit that was arguably a Top 5 defense last season, but has dramatically dropped off this year. The personnel is almost identical as last year, with a few upgrades, but they have underperformed all season and are becoming a liability. Something needs to change and fast!
