The Dallas Cowboys were triumphant Thursday Night by the score of 27-17 over the New Orleans Saints. Dallas needed this one to avoid suffering a 3rd straight defeat and their 4th loss in 5. With the win, Dallas moves to 8-4 on the year and can now watch their foes in the division and the conference this weekend.
Here are three things gathered by the Cowboys win over the Saints.
Do Not Judge a Book by its Cover
While the score suggests it may have been a comprehensive win for Dallas, it really wasn’t. Dallas struggled to get anything going on the ground in this game bar a 58 yard touchdown run by Tony Pollard. Ezekiel Elliott, who has been hurt with a knee sprain since week 4, had a dismal night on the ground totaling 13 carries for 45 yards.
Even dissecting the passing game, Dak Prescott was only solid in this one completing 26 of 40 for 238 yards and throwing a touchdown with one interception. Prescott only had to be solid in this game because the Saints simply are not a good football team, and it showed.
Dallas did their best to keep this came close for New Orleans, but in the end Dallas made enough plays to make the score look a bit more lopsided than this game really was. Dallas needs to get back to putting teams away, because sooner rather than later Dallas is going to pay the piper for allowing teams to stay in games.
Defense Stepped Up Their Game
The Dallas Cowboys defense needs to be given credit where credit is due. Last week against Las Vegas, this defense simply gave the game away to the Raiders via too many silly penalties. This week, Dallas was way more disciplined defensively while upping the anti with the turnovers as the Cowboys recorded four interceptions. One of them being returned for a score to seal this game for good.
Dan Quinn was asked to execute double duty for this game, serving as both defensive coordinator and head coach with Mike McCarthy out due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Quinn, a former head coach with the Atlanta Falcons, filled the role flawlessly. The ship was steadied, and that is all Quinn needed to do for this game while getting his defense ready to play and they were ready.
Micah Parsons: Defensive Player of the Year?
This is not a proclamation for Micah Parsons to be just the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. This is a proclamation to suggest he should be in the running for all around Defensive Player of the Year in the National Football League.
The point has long passed about Parson’s being a star in this league, he is very much a star. But it isn’t about his high draft pedigree, or the fact he plays for America’s Team, it is about numbers and numbers alone. Parsons thus far has recorded 67 tackles to go along with 10 sacks for the rookie out of Penn State, all while operating in various roles for Dallas. Parsons has served as a linebacker at times, and has also been utilized as a pass rusher off the edge. Parsons has had to be versatile thanks to various injuries to DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory, and he has thrived.
Calculating long term numbers, Parsons is on pace to finish the season with over 100 tackles and roughly 14 sacks. While he has stiff competition from his teammate Trevon Diggs and a very, very bad man playing for the Cleveland Browns Myles Garrett who is probably the front-runner for the award, Parsons deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as them. That is just how good Parsons has been as a draft pick and as a player for the Cowboys.
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