The Cowboys are heading into their week eight matchup with a little bit of momentum after beating the Philadelphia Eagles on the road in a must-win game.
Fortunately for the Cowboys, they host the Arizona Cardinals (2-5) at home in another must-win game. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, they have struggled mightily against the Cardinals in recent matchups. The Cowboys are 2-8 in their last 10 meetings with the Cardinals, but this is a new year, with a new team on both sides of the field.
Dallas Cowboys DC Christian Parker hints at a defensive adjustment that fans have been waiting for since Week 1 – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
Despite pulling
out a much-needed divisional win in Philadelphia on Monday night, the defense still has a lot of issues. Christian Parker spoke to the media today and hinted at some possible changes coming to the Cowboys defense soon.
Two areas that show how static the Cowboys have been this season: Blitzing and rotating safeties post-snap. Through seven weeks, the Cowboys blitz rate is 28th in the NFL (22.8%) and their safety rotation rate sits at 19th, per Sumer Sports.
Notably, they refused to turn up the pressure against the two backup quarterbacks they’ve faced over the last three games. That includes a 10.53% blitz rate versus Eagles backup Tanner McKee.
Dak Prescott on Cowboys’ offensive identity, matchup vs. Cardinals – Tommy Yarrish, DallasCowboys.com
There has been a lot of identity talk with both the offense and the defense so far this season. While that’s not a great conversation to be having in week eight, it seems like both sides of the ball may be closer to leaning into one.
“It was an attempt at re-identifying who we want to be,” Prescott said. “We obviously know we love our run actions and throwing the ball like that, but you’ve got to get the run going. We weren’t committed enough to it the last couple of weeks before last, and I think that obviously hurt us. We got us into more of a passing situation than we wanted to be earlier than we planned.”
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Cowboys injury updates: Jonathan Bullard window opens, Quinnen Williams, Caleb Downs limited – Calvin Watkins, The Dallas Morning News
Jonathan Bullard returns to the practice field after missing the last four games due to an injured calf. Bullard is currently on IR, but could return in the next week, which will provide the Cowboys defensive line with more veteran depth as they look to catch the New York Giants.
On Thursday, the Cowboys started the 21-day practice window for defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard.
Bullard missed the last four games with a calf injury suffered in the loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 27. Bullard is on injured reserve and has missed the required four games to become eligible to return.
“I felt good, I’m good,” he said after Thursday’s practice.
Ranking Dallas Cowboys’ Biggest NFL Trade Deadline Needs With Under 2 Weeks to Go – Mike Moraitis, Cowboys on SI
Will the Cowboys be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline? It sure sounds like they will be buyers, but what position should we be looking into with two weeks until the NFL trade deadline?
Despite the additions of Rashan Gary, Malachi Lawrence and Von Miller during the offseason, the Cowboys have gotten just 3.5 sacks from the group over seven games.
Miller has zero and Gary and Lawrence have one apiece while Donovan Ezeiruaku leads the group with 1.5.
One of the best ways to cover for the lackluster coverage the Cowboys have seen from is to improve the pass-rush off the edge.
If there’s one position Jerry Jones should break the bank for, it’s this one.
Cowboys can finally build momentum by beating Cardinals – Sean Martin, BTB
The Cardinals have absolutely dominated recent matchups against the Cowboys. A win against the Cardinals (as silly as it sounds) could go a long ways to building momentum for the rest of the season.
The Dallas Cowboys finally produced the performance they needed on Monday night, beating Philadelphia 38-21 to move to 3-4. Now Dallas comes home to face a 2-5 Arizona Cardinals team that has lost five of its last six games. This is a real opportunity for the Cowboys to finally put consecutive wins together.
The biggest positive from Philadelphia was the way Dallas ran the football. Javonte Williams exploded for a career-high 155 rushing yards and a touchdown, while the Cowboys finished with 204 rushing yards at 5.4 yards per carry.
