Mailbag: Reason for zone coverage in secondary? – Tommy Yarish, DallasCowboys.com
Why are the Cowboys playing so much zone coverage on the backend if it’s not working?
Tommy: It’s Matt Eberflus’ calling card. That doesn’t mean the entirety of the blame is on his shoulders, though. I thought the Cowboys handled the Eagles just fine in zone coverage during Week 1. I don’t think a lot of the secondary players were on the same page in Week 2, which led to some of the deep shots and chunk gains from the Giants offense. But back to the question, yes, I think the reason is because it’s
what Eberflus has done over the course of his career and had success doing. In the last six years that Eberflus has been a defensive play caller, he’s used zone coverage at at least a 10% higher rate than the league average of 67.9% in four of those seasons. The bigger questions may be whether or not Eberflus has the pieces on the roster to be able to run that much zone, which is a totally separate conversation.
3 KEY MATCHUPS THAT COULD DECIDE COWBOYS VS BEARS – Mario Herrera Jr., Inside The Star
What are the key matchups for Sunday’s game?
Trevon Diggs vs Rome Odunze
The spotlight in the secondary will shine brightest on CB Trevon Diggs, who likely draws the challenge of covering Bears young WR Rome Odunze.
With CB DaRon Bland hobbled and DJ Moore demanding defensive attention on the other side, Eberflus would ideally like to roll coverage toward Moore to support a younger cornerback, but that luxury only comes if Diggs can handle Odunze one-on-one.
This will be no easy task. Diggs struggled in Week 2 against Giants superstar WR Malik Nabers, whose speed and athleticism exposed some coverage lapses.
Odunze may not have the same highlight-reel quickness as Nabers, but he’s a polished, physical receiver with size and ball-tracking ability that can give any corner fits.
3 keys for Bears offense vs. Cowboys in Week 3 – Mike Pendelton, BearsWire
The Cowboys will have a tough time stopping the Bears offense on Sunday.
Unleash Caleb Williams
Last week, the Cowboys were involved in an overtime thrilled against the New York Giants, where they pulled off a 40-37 overtime victory, but quarterback Russell Wilson shined for most of the game against the Dallas defense. Although Wilson threw a decisive interception in overtime, he totaled 450 passing yards and three touchdowns on the day, meaning there is plenty of opportunity for Caleb Williams against the Dallas defense. Johnson said this week that he has seen significant growth in Williams play through the first two weeks of the season, and if that growth continues, it’s time to take the handcuffs off the young quarterback. If Wilson could look like his old self against the Cowboys defense, the opportunities are endless for Williams and the weapons he has in the passing game in Chicago’s offense.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott puts himself atop MVP race in latest prediction – Sayre Bedinger, Fansided.com
Dak Prescott is a MVP candidate through two weeks.
It might not be long before Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is skyrocketing to the top of the NFL MVP conversation.
It’s going to be tough to beat out guys like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson for the NFL MVP award, but with the Cowboys so frequently in the spotlight, it would also be impossible for the NFL masses to ignore Prescott if he puts forth a big year.
Forget “Comeback Player of the Year” for Prescott. If the latest prediction from NFL Spin Zone’s Ryan Heckman comes to pass, Prescott will have absolutely soared to the top of this year’s MVP race.
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott predicted to throw 5 TD passes in Week 3
“Dak Prescott ties his career-high with 5 touchdown passes against the Bears: Coming off a game where the Bears let Jared Goff throw five touchdowns, it isn’t going to get much better. Dak Prescott just threw for 360 yards and a couple of scores and, against the Bears, he’ll tie his career-best of five through the air, just like Goff did the week prior.”
– Ryan Heckman, NFL Spin Zone
Throwing five touchdowns in a single game obviously isn’t very common, but you can’t put it past the Cowboys going up against the Chicago Bears in Week 3. We just saw the Bears give up a whopping 52 points to the Detroit Lions this past weekend, and Jared Goff absolutely went off.
Goff completed over 82 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and no interceptions against the Bears last week, and the Bears just placed their best cornerback, Jaylon Johnson, on injured reserve.
The Cowboys have a chance to really kick them while they’re down and add insult to injury. Prescott has thrown five touchdown passes in a game just one time in his NFL career, a late matchup with the Eagles at the end of the 2022 season.
Ranking 10 winless NFL teams: Chiefs, Bears, others at 0-2 – Bill Barnwell, ESPN
A Bears scouting report.
Well, it was fun for a quarter or two. The Ben Johnson era came in with a bang Monday night in Week 1, as the Bears marched down the field for an opening-drive touchdown. Despite holding a win expectancy north of 91% as they entered the fourth quarter, though, the Bears blew their lead to the Vikings before they were unmercifully stomped by the Lions in Week 2. What felt like the dawning of a new era quickly faded into the same old Bears.
Of course, the Johnson hire was simultaneously about improving the team and fixing frustrating 2024 No. 1 pick Caleb Williams, who had burned through one coach and two coordinators in his first year with the organization. The goal for every team is to win as often as possible, but from a fan perspective, a successful debut season for Johnson was going to be more about getting Williams right than Chicago’s win-loss record at the end of the season.
So how is Williams doing? Two things can be true. On one hand, Williams isn’t “fixed” or a finished product like the one the Bears saw on the opening drive of the season. He has a 26.6% off-target rate this season, nearly double the league average (14.2%). Williams has the third-highest expected completion percentage (70.1%, per NFL Next Gen Stats) yet is completing only 61.5% of his throws; the only quarterback underproducing his expected completion percentage by a higher margin this season is Patrick Mahomes.
