The Cowboys got the job done on Saturday versus the Philadelphia Eagles, winning 51-26. The Cowboys were impressive Saturday Night against a depleted Eagles team, with many of the Eagles usual band of characters sitting the game out due to various injuries and COVID issues within the Eagles team right now.
With the win and Sunday’s results, Dallas now sits as the number three seed in the NFC, and will play the San Francisco 49ers in Dallas next weekend. Before looking ahead, here are three things we learned from Dallas’ win over the Eagles.
One Week Bad…. Another Week Good
What to make of this Cowboys offense as things stand. For now, the Cowboys offense was very impressive versus the Eagles. With the injury to Michael Gallup that now has him sidelined for the remainder of the season, Cedrick Wilson got his chance to shine and did he ever. Wilson recorded five catches on six targets for 119 yards and two touchdowns. What makes this overly impressive is how he seemingly has the trust of Dak Prescott in big time moments, as he caught both of Dallas’ first two scores of what was a close contest to start and ended up as a blowout. Wilson will be important for Dallas against one of the better graded coverage units in football according to Pro Football Focus next week.
The concerning factor here is that Dallas did this against the Eagles JV defense, for lack of a better phrase. The Eagles were missing several key defensive players, including Fletcher Cox and Darius Slay. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t game for Dallas. Win, and they won against backups. Lose, and they lost against backups and can’t be taken seriously.
The Cowboys were efficient here, that cannot be taken for granted. But as Mike McCarthy said after the game, the season starts now for the Cowboys.
Penalties Continue to be a Problem
For the microanalyzers out there that want to go at the Cowboys for a specific thing and have some sort of merit, this is the thing to attack. The Cowboys have got to clean up the penalties, plain and simple. It could be just who this team is, which is a team that will concede a ton of penalty yards, yet in the playoffs the way this Cowboys team concedes yards will haunt them.
When looking at The Football Database and their breakdown of the penalties by team, the numbers become much more glaring. Dallas leads the league in number of penalties called against with 127, they lead in most yards conceded via penalties with 1103, and are also first in the league with offensive holding penalties with 27. The offensive line also leads the league with most penalties called against, the majority holding calls.
Looking ahead, the 49ers defensive strength is their front seven. They boast some of the best, young, defensive players in the game in Arik Armstead, Joey Bosa, and Fred Warner. These three will be a problem for Dallas if they continue to concede these penalties at such a high clip, and something that has got to be addressed in the ramp up to the contest this week.
Nothing Else Matters
This is where the Cowboys have aimed to be all year long. They have played 17 games of regular season contests to get to this stage, and now it is time to put up or shut up. Through all of the offensive struggles, with injuries to Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott which have made the road home a tad more difficult, through all of the various COVID issues that have hurt this team in various areas this year, this is now or never for the Dallas Cowboys.
The good news for Dallas after Sunday’s results is they do not have to face Aaron Rodgers and the Packers at Lambeau Field until the NFC Championship game, if both teams get there. The bad news is if Dallas does defeat San Francisco this weekend, a date with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay looms. In order to be the best, however, you have to beat the best. That is what Dallas should be preaching this week, and it starts with San Francisco in Jerry’s World.
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