Cowboys vs. Rams: Offence Starting To Roll
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After what can only be described as a rough start to proceedings, when three out of the first four plays ended up in Dak Prescott being sacked. An illegal contact penalty on the LA defence negated a 3rd and long, which looked to have a saved the Cowboys offensive line from an embarrassing three and out series. But Aaron Donald then did what Aaron Donald does and disrupted yet another play, leaving the Cowboys at 2nd & 17. However, it appears Mike McCarthy has figured out, that if you throw the ball to your best player, good things might happen. Prescott to Lamb for 17 yards and the Cowboys didn’t look back. Prescott went 6/7 for 77 yards and a dot to tight end, Jake Ferguson up the seam for a touchdown.
A few back-and-forth possessions moved the game to 10-3 Cowboys after a couple of field goals, Brandon Aubrey hitting from 58 yards, on his way to a record tying 18 straight made field goals to start a career. With 43 seconds left in the first quarter, the game looked well poised. By half-time, the game was over.
The play after Aubrey’s 58 yarder, Daron Bland came up with his 4th interception of the season, returning it for six, for the third time already this year, becoming the Cowboys leading touchdown scorer. This would be equalled at three a piece when Ceedee Lamb would pick up a brace, but since the loss of Trevon Diggs, this 4th round pick has stepped up in a big way and is well on his way to becoming an all-pro. Four plays later, Sam Williams – who has been very active on Twitter (X) in recent weeks – walked the walk, blocking a punt out the back of the endzone for a safety. The free kick from the safety was then returned 63 yards by Kavonte Turpin with Dallas scoring their third touchdown two plays later, leaving the score 26-3 with 12:45 left in the second quarter. 16 points in three minutes left the LA Rams penned into a corner. Not a place you want to be against this Cowboys rushing defence. A further touchdown each left the score at 33-9 at HT (LA not converting their 2-point try).
An underwhelming second half saw Matthew Stafford and the Rams go 75 yards in 7 plays under 4 minutes to give the neutral a bit of entertaining viewing but after a 17 play, 10-minute drive from the Dallas Cowboys, the quarter and this game was all but done. 43-20 it finished.
A great result against a potential slippery opponent after a bye week is what was required before this team heads into Philadelphia. The best game by the offence yet, provides us with further encouragement that the race for the division title and potential number one seed, is far from over.
Mike McCarthy has called somewhat of a vanilla offence so far this season; short passes, curl routes and what looks to be a very one-dimensional run game. These receivers have struggled for separation when being presented with press coverage and Tony Pollard seems to have lost his home-run speed, now being asked to carry the load. However, this past week against the Rams, provided us, well, at least me, with a reason to be optimistic about what this offence can be.
Coming into this weekend, the Cowboys had only used pre-snap motion on 33 plays through 6 games (5.5 per game). On Sunday alone, they used motion 18 times. This must be something Coach McCarthy has seen on tape, as something to utilise, to help his receivers get open. As well as throwing to your best receiver the majority of the time, of course. But Brandon Cooks has now had back-to-back touchdown games, this week, on a go-route, which we have been begging Prescott to throw to the veteran, who was supposedly so lethal in training camp. Gallup also helped move the chains, while your tight end can’t seem to drop anything right now. A great balance in the passing offence, with Dak Prescott dealing it the way he is right now.
The cause for concern in this offence, however, is still the run game. Pollard had 12 carries for 53 yards. Now, this doesn’t look all too encouraging, but, if this was a planned effort from Mike McCarthy, then I think we could see a big improvement from this unit. Pollard touched the ball six times per half. Six times for 17 yards at 2.9 yards per carry in the first half, six times for 36 yards at 6 yards per carry in the second. If McCarthy could rotate a second or third back, in Rico Dowdle and/or Hunter Luepke – who may be more built for the workload – then I think we could see Tony Pollard explode in the second half of games and the second half of this season. Number 20 has only 2 rushing touchdowns all season. This needs to change if the Cowboys are going to be contender, in my opinion.