With both teams feeling they needed a victory to keep their seasons alive, the Cowboys traveled to Philly to take on the Eagles in Week 7, and Dallas survived with a 38-21 win. Brian Schottenheimer was very short with the media after the game, often answering questions with "they were good," and on his side of the ball, they were. The offense did its job, scoring seven times in nine drives, led by a dominant offensive line that allowed no sacks, QB hits, or tackles for loss. Dallas ran the ball for over 200 yards, 5.4 yards per attempt, and won time of possession.
Dak Prescott and the offense had to face a healthy, very talented Eagles defense, and they stepped up. Prescott was precise on his touchdown throws to CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
Javonte Williams ran the ball incredibly well, and play-calling was much better in a game where the team needed the offense to be elite to survive another poor defensive performance against the Eagles second-string offense. Dallas wasn’t perfect, but the Cowboys needed to survive another week, and they did with a victory at Philadelphia.
The Cowboys brought explosive plays to the table
In the last two contests, the Dallas offense, which was supposed to carry this team, did not show up. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers held them to 16 points, 50 yards on the ground, and a 40% third-down conversion rate. It was a short week for the Cowboys, and they were coming off of a brutal travel schedule, so one game can be excused, but they had 10 days to prepare for the Green Bay Packers, and they held the Cowboys to 13 points, 48 yards rushing, and 38% on third down.
They combined for six explosive plays in the two games, with the only explosive play at Green Bay being on the final drive when the game was already decided. Dallas had nine explosive plays against the Philadelphia defense. Five rushing and four passing, plus Dallas added two more touchdown passes of 16 yards. Schottenheimer has to keep this offensive performance consistent, especially the rushing attack.
The run game was better than ever in Philadelphia
Schottenheimer had to listen to criticism about his lack of a rushing attack for the week leading up to their Monday night game in Philadelphia. He had a stretch of 38 plays during which the team ran the ball only once. The offense combined for 98 rushing yards over the last two games. Javonte Williams was the player of the game Monday night, rushing 25 times for 155 yards with four explosive runs and a touchdown.
He had an explosive run on every first-half scoring drive except the two-minute one to end the half. Williams helps the pass game by setting up the play-action passing attack. He helps the defense by keeping them off the field, and he leads the league in rushing touchdowns. The team just had to get back to using him.
The Dallas defense still left plenty for a backup quarterback to exploit
The Cowboys defense made some stops in the fourth quarter that allowed them to gain some separation on the scoreboard, but with under five minutes left in the third quarter, the Eagles were leading 21-20 and had just scored a touchdown on a 17-play, 84-yard drive that lasted over eight minutes.
Dallas’ defense leads the league in eight-minute drives allowed this season, but allowing it to a beat-up Eagles offense is awful. Philadelphia scored on their first two drives and to open the second half, with their backup quarterback, missing their top two receivers, and having a hobbled Saquon Barkley going in and out of the game at running back. Dallas Goedert and Landon Dickerson were just back off of injury too. Holding a team to 21 points should lead to a victory with the Cowboys' offense, but 21 points to mostly backups was not a positive performance for the Dallas defense.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys offensive prowess returned, defense still riddled with issues
