Cowboys Still Frauds – 25 Immediate Takeaways from Dallas 40, Eagles 34

The Eagles lost, but the Cowboys are still frauds. Birds win that game with Jalen Hurts and should have won it with Gardner Minshew as well, but the story will be four turnovers and a ridiculous 3rd and 30 conversion that should have essentially iced it.

Observations:

 

1) Gardner Minshew – very little to complain about for me. He led the offense to 27 points on the road, throwing for 355 and a couple of touchdowns with the two picks. Yeah, it was frenetic at times, and he threw a couple off his back foot, sailed some passes, and missed a wide-open Quez Watkins for what would have been a first-half touchdown, but making his first start of the year on the road in Dallas and doing what he did is perfectly acceptable and was more than good enough to win the game. The Birds are continually blessed with great backup quarterbacks and if Hurts can’t go next week, everybody should feel comfortable with Minshew under center.

2) Miles Sanders ran for 65 yards on 21 carries. He had some adventures in bouncing it outside and committed a backbreaking fumble at the end of the game. Just needed more from him in this one.

3) How about Trevon Diggs falling for that sluggo on the opening drive? Vintage Izel Jenkins and a great play call right here:

AJ Brown TOASTED Trevon Diggs pic.twitter.com/R0JTdeerU6

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) December 24, 2022

4) I think they missed Jalen Hurts the most in the Red Zone. He is, after all, the NFL leader in RZ rushing attempts. You saw Minshew get out of the pocket on 3rd down during the first drive, but while Hurts could have possibly done something there, Gardner just isn’t the same guy on the feet (he also had DeVonta Smith in the end zone).

You saw on the third drive, however, that they got to 4th down and said “fuck it, we’ll just sneak it,” and that’ll work from one yard out. 3-5 in the Red Zone isn’t bad, but with Hurts I think it’s 4-5 or even 5-5.

5) Josh Sweat rumbling to the house on the pick-six was extremely gratifying, probably the most gratifying play of the entire season.

6) You like that green sleeve Marcus Epps was wearing? Not the traditional English folk song, the thing on his arm. It was popping against the all-black uniforms.

7) Gotta hand it to Dak, shrugging off Avonte Maddox on that 3rd down blitz and then moving the sticks was a great play. Like vintage Big Ben there, just being big and strong and hard to bring down. That really was a turning point in the game, if you can have 1st quarter turning points, because it was the different in forcing a punt up 10-0 vs. allowing Dallas to finish off a 14-play drive to make it 10-7. Jonathan Gannon went too passive on the rest of that drive after the perfect blitz call that his player couldn’t finish.

8) The first interception was ugly. Minshew staring down a target in zone, the target happening to be a WR3 coming off a horrendous game the week prior. He and Watkins both gotta do a lot better on that one.

I saw some people asking for PI there, but whatever, you’re probably not getting that call.

9) Darius Slay with a penalty on a 4th and 8 is fucking ridiculous. Should never happen, especially after that huge Maddox play to blow up the flea flicker. Then Slay laughing about it afterward? Made me feel like an angry WIP caller right there.

10) Busted coverage on the second Cowboys touchdown. Notably, Maddox had to come off the field and Josiah Scott was in there.

11) Kenny Gainwell jumping towards the end zone from the four yard line was something else. Jayron Kearse (6’4″, 215) basically caught him in mid-air and kept him out.

12) Rugby scrum middle/double cheek push – call it what you will, it’s unstoppable. You could put me or Pagan under center and we’d get into the end zone.

13) Demarcus Lawrence asking for the QB sneak and then giving up a touchdown anyway is an all-time dumbass move:

lol pic.twitter.com/8kGXpL8KAD

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) December 24, 2022

14) Acceptable two-minute drive right before halftime to tack on a field goal, all things considered. They were gifted a dropped interception on a ball Minshew sailed over Smith’s hands, but he came right back with a nice 3rd and 4 seam to Dallas Goedert and then the next 3rd down completion before the false start on the spike attempt and 10-second runoff, which burned the final timeout. Then you had the “let’s just get three points” throwaways. Add all of that shit together and you gotta be happy with getting three, because it should have been zero.

15) They really needed that three-and-out to begin the second half. 1v1 win on the edge by James Bradberry, four-man rush from Gannon with a 5th guy showing blitz then dropping out. Sometimes you just need guys to win reps, and that’s what happened there.

16) Goedert going up against Wilson and coming down with that ball was awesome. Big boy football.

17) Gritty drive to open the 3rd quarter. Key conversions to move the sticks, great hands, and then the beautiful 4th down touchdown pass to exploit Diggs for the second time. They really buckled down and executed there. Great analysis from Greg Olsen as well, explaining why they wanted A.J. Brown off the field to focus on Diggs and set that matchup.

18) Nothing much to say about the Boston Scott/Minshew fumble. Mesh point fuck up. Biggest complaint should be the fact that Scott is even in there at all.

19) On the touchdown tat put the Birds up 34-27, Dallas completely sold out on the 3rd and goal and got cooked. A lesson there for the “blitz on every 3rd down” crowd.

20) Can’t allow Turd Ferguson to go for 24 yards, I mean come on. The guy is a stiff.

21) The 3rd and 30 is mostly on Scott. What the fuck was that? Absolutely unacceptable to get beat on that.

22) Quez Watkins getting out-muscled for a second interception was the cherry on top of that 4th quarter crap sundae. Get the man in the weight room.

23) DeVonta Smith rules. Big catch after big catch, week after week.

24) Avonte Maddox leaving was a huge loss for the defense. If he stays in the game, they win it. No joke. He’s that much of an upgrade over the guy behind him on the depth chart.

25) I’m not that mad at Jonathan Gannon, at least not as much as Seth Joyner is. That Maddox non-sack could have changed the game. Slay committed a fourth and 8 penalty. Minshew and Scott gave the Cowboys amazing field position after the fumble and Linval Joseph was close to recovering that strip sack prior to the 3rd and 30 conversion, which is on the players and not the DC. You shouldn’t have to dial up some exotic blitz on 3rd and 30, the players just gotta keep dudes in front of them.

Gannon also blitzed on the 3rd down when Dallas called a screen to the other side of the field, so chalk that up to Kellen Moore making a good call. There were a couple of untimely bad luck moments that compounded what was an otherwise okay first half. I think Gannon maybe got a little spooked after the Maddox play and went slightly soft with the four-man rush and drop zone, but it is what it is when you’ve got Josiah Scott and Reed Blankenship back there. They DID set up 3rd and 30 with two straight sacks, but you won’t hear anybody mention that this week.

Gannon didn’t have an amazing game, but if we’re doing a hierarchy of blame for the loss, I don’t have him at the top. Players gotta make plays. Gotta hold on to the ball. You can’t go down to Dallas and finish -3 in turnover margin with a backup QB and expect to win.

Happy holidays y’all.

edit/#26 – put Lane Johnson in cryostasis until the playoffs

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