The Dallas Cowboys delivered a performance against the Philadelphia Eagles that was both encouraging and concerning, showcasing their offensive potential and their lingering bad habits on defense. While a 17-point win over a bitter divisional rival is always pleasing, a closer look at the film shows a team still trying to completely put it all together. Let’s highlight some specific elements that jumped out at us after further review.
The offensive line completely dominated the line of scrimmage from
the first play of the game. They were routinely getting to the second level, sealing off running lanes, and overpowering defenders, and that says a lot because the Eagles’ defensive interior is no slouch. They were great in pass protection, as Dak Prescott was never sacked, and the group remarkably never gave up a single tackle for loss the entire game. That’s fantastic.
That elite blocking gave Javonte Williams a fighting chance to run the ball, and he looked like a different running back because of it. Williams showed an immense amount of patience before hitting his holes, while doing a much better job of jump cutting and churning his legs for extra yards. His shiftiness allowed him to navigate through defenders and turn smaller gains into bigger gains.
When the Cowboys weren’t running the ball, Prescott did a good job spreading the ball around. He is very fortunate to have two amazing wide receivers with elite body control and ball-tracking ability. His first two touchdown passes of the night were outstanding plays. Ryan Flournoy was also super efficient despite only seeing four targets. He caught all four of them for 70 yards and just seemed to be in the right place at the right time whenever Prescott needed him.
We are also starting to see more and more of Brevyn Spann-Ford, and we like it. He played with a lot of toughness. The dude never gives up on a play. His juggling act turned an incompletion into a manageable 2nd-and-4. The team appears to slowly be transitioning to more of Spann-Ford, as he logged a career-high 53% of the snaps compared to a gradually dipping Jake Ferguson, who played 56% of the snaps.
The passing game wasn’t perfect. Prescott is still throwing into coverage much more than he should be. He had two passes on slant routes that caromed off a defender and flew up in the air. He was lucky they were not picked off and returned for touchdowns. The slants have been his bread and butter at times, but he needs to do a better job reading the coverage because opposing cornerbacks have been sitting on these plays, just waiting to jump the route.
Word on the street is that Brian Schottenheimer is an elite playcaller in this league, but sometimes his decisions seem a little bizarre. Quite honestly, his playcalling and game management were questionable throughout the night. The team’s ineffectiveness when they get deep into opponents’ territory is mind-boggling. Settling for a field goal inside the 10-yard line happens, and nobody is perfect, but it should not happen because of poor playcalling or bad clock management. And it just keeps happening. Please stop doing that.
On the defensive side of the ball, it started off horribly. On the first possession of the game for the Eagles, they went 75 yards on just four plays. With a depleted offensive group. What was going on?
As a whole, the defense was terrible on catch-and-runs due to poor angles and poor tackling. They were fortunate that Tanner McKee is Tanner McKee. He was off with his throws, as there were multiple incompletions thrown either behind or directly at the feet of his receivers.
There were some good things, though. The Cowboys’ defensive tackle group looks better than they have in a long time. The way they clogged lanes, chased down screens, and blew up running plays was highly impressive. It is a true group effort. Quinnen Williams looked amazing on several plays, and Elijah Garcia continues to be a meaningful piece to this defense alongside Otito Ogbannia. When they employed their Rhino package by putting four defensive tackles on the line during a goal-line stand, they simply did not let anything pass.
Behind the line, Joey Porter Jr. continues to play well. Someone finally completed a pass on him, but it was short of the sticks on third down. He is absolutely smothering out there. His pass breakup along the sideline against Hollywood Brown was textbook coverage, demonstrating great technique. It’s so enjoyable to watch a corner who sticks his hand out at the last second to break up a pass. The Cowboys finally have a true fundamentalist in the secondary.
The rest of the defense was a bit of a mixed bag. DeMarvion Overshown had a blend of good and bad plays. His interception was obviously a massive highlight, and he had a nice batted-down pass right in McKee’s face. On the downside, Overshown struggled with his angles against the run and was washed out of plays at times.
A similar thing could be said about Shemar James, who played 88% of the defensive snaps compared to just 32% from Jaishawn Barham. It’s unclear what that was all about, but James speed was helpful at times, though his overall play was a little inconsistent.
Special teams looked great. Brandon Aubrey was perfect with his kicks, and his kickoffs helped pin the Eagles back multiple times in the game. Thanks to Aubrey, the Cowboys have the best opponent starting field position in the league at 26.79 and a muff rate of 15.4%, also the best in the league. Those dirty kicks are pretty dirty.
We also got a little spark from Tyler Goodson on kickoff returns. Goodson seems a lot better at finding holes than we are used to seeing. While it didn’t count due to a holding penalty, his return for a touchdown was still a great play. He flew through the opening and made several sharp cutbacks to extend the play. Far too many times we have seen KaVontae Turpin just run out of bounds when it looks like there is nowhere else to go. Goodson is an intriguing piece going forward.
This was a much-needed win for the Cowboys. A loss would have absolutely sunk them. But even in victory, there are things that are still concerning for this team. It feels like a broken record, but unless the team can clean up some of these ongoing problems that have plagued them all season, they are still a ways away from doing anything meaningful, divisional winner or not.
