A Giant Miss
Dak and WR’s stall during what might as well have been a playoff simulation.
By: Kyle E. Castro
Photo by Keith Allison
You might say that Sunday night’s game between the Cowboys and the Giants was a playoff simulation. Division games are always a clash, and you can argue that no one clashes harder than these two teams. The Giants have a history of ruining all hope for jockeying Cowboys teams. The Cowboys have shown a propensity to flail when it matters.
What’s interesting about Sunday night’s game is that Dallas actually played a near perfect game. When you exclude the performance of Dak and the receiving core, it doesn’t get much better. The league misnomer of that Dallas “bend but don’t break”, starless defense was completely annihilated. They forced 3 turnovers out of Eli Manning and could have forced three more. On the offensive side of the ball, Zeke Elliot compiled another MVP-esque night with 107 yards rushing. Sean Lee amassed 18 tackles and seemed to have a crystal ball when it came to filling the gaps in the Giant’s run game (2nd in the league with 130 total tackles, www.teamrankings.com). With those types of numbers, combined with the momentum of this season, it’d seem to be a recipe for victory.
However, on this night, it came down to rookie Dak Prescott. Theoretically, solid defense and a controlling run game should have yielded Dak’s best performance yet. Instead, the rookie looked like a rookie. He was rushing his reads. Forcing balls. The play calling seemed off and the WR’s just weren’t getting open. It’s hard to tell where the blame lies. Where were the open receiving windows while Zeke was having another breakout game? Why was Lance Dunbar deployed as a blocker in 3rd and long situations when Zeke is obviously the better pass-blocker/pass catcher out of the backfield?
LITTLE CHUNKS
Dallas Failed The Playoff Simulator…and that’s not all bad.
No one would play Dallas harder in the playoffs than the Giants. It doesn’t matter if Eli Manning is playing QB or a dead fish-these teams come to play. The run game and the elite defensive effort should have provided the ultimate opportunity for Dak to have his best game yet. However, it isn’t all doom and gloom. All in all, I think the Cowboys needed this loss to show them the flaws in their game plan. It’s safe to assume that this Giants team is as tough (if not the toughest) NFC challenge they’ll face. Surely the giants couldn’t sweep this Dallas team if they meet in the playoffs?
Control Freaks
What happened to Dallas’s time of possession? Their whole bread and butter around this offense is eating up the clock and keeping the defense off the field. Although still ranked 2nd in the league for TOP, they’ve been edged out by their last three opponents, of which the Giants are ranked 30th(Redskins/Vikings edged them out by almost 5 minutes, www.teamrankings.com).
Dez Elite?
When Dez is on, he’s way on. Sunday, his one catch out of nine targets resulted in a fumble. There is no questions about Dez being an elite WR. However, at some point, we have to admit that his “demand” of double coverage limits him unlike that of Julio Jones. There are faint moments where you have to remind yourself why Dez got the big contract. I do expect him to avenge “The Catch” in a big way in the playoffs.
Romo Is Where The Heart Is
“People who were quick to bench Dak in their hearts on Sunday probably missed out on the 5 interception performance by Russell Wilson earlier that day. “
The biggest question we’ve been asking all season finally erupted last night. How long is Dak’s leash and when do we put Romo in? I don’t think we’re there yet. People who were quick to bench Dak in their hearts on Sunday probably missed out on the 5 interception performance by Russell Wilson earlier that day. Even the greatest of QB’s have their day. For Dak, it all comes down to Scott Linehan’s game plan. Some will argue that Dak’s scrambling ability gives him the edge up over Tony. We didn’t see that yield results on Sunday. The one thing that you cannot replace is the intangibility of the connection between #9 and his receivers. Sometimes, you wonder if Witten and Romo have telepathy. How many times have we seen a play break down and yet somehow, Witten, Bryant or Beasley know exactly where Romo will want to go with the ball? Linehan has to come up with a game plan that suites Dak’s ability and gets receivers open, especially Cole Beasley who is a matchup nightmare for the other 31 teams in the league. One more advantage that Romo has in the time of possession game is diagnosing blitzes and coverages. “KILL! KILL!” could be written on Romo’s headstone. He grinds up so much time adjusting the play call, it complements the run attack greatly.
In The End
This loss was necessary. Don’t freak out Cowboys fans. Did you really want this team to win out 15-1? I recall a 15-1 team of yesteryear that got smashed on the big stage. I expect a big outing this weekend.
3 PHASES 