Dallas Cowboys 2018 Season

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys did what most people thought they couldn't do and that's go into Philadelphia and beat the Eagles. The 27-20 win was like Christmas came early to my house. I have been elated for a week! The Cowboys opened up the playbook and attacked the Eagles in much the same way they did when they beat Jacksonville. The true test is will Scott Linehan stick his head in the sand the he did post Jacksonville or will the Cowboys continue to play aggressively in all phases including play calling. Obviously, Cowboys fans are hoping for the latter. The Falcons have a very dynamic offense led by Matt Ryan and Julio Jones but as Cleveland demonstrated last week, if the Falcons don't have the ball they can't score. Also, the Browns defense was very similar to the Cowboys defense in that they allow yardage to the opposing offense between the 20's but you get in the neighborhood of the red zone and that defense stiffens up considerably. The Falcons defense, also as demonstrated by Cleveland last week is weak against both the run and the pass. Rookie RB Nick Chubb ran for a little over 200 yards against Atlanta including a 95 yard TD romp. Baker Mayfield also did well against a very bad Falcons secondary that has been ravaged by injuries. This isn't the same Falcons team that put a smack-down on the Cowboys last year. It isn't the same Cowboys team either. Tyron Smith was out and it didn't matter who replaced him that player was going to give up sacks by the bushel. Last year the Cowboys had defensive issues because Sean Lee was out. Lee is out this week too, again with a pulled hamstring. The difference this year is the Cowboys have a totally healthy Jaylon Smith and rookie sensation Leighton Vander Esch. Vander Smash, as he's being called in the Dallas area won Defensive Player of the Week honors for the 19 tackles, 1 interception and being a one-man wrecking ball going through the Eagles defense last week. The other difference is DB's and Passing Game Coordinator Kris Richard has brought a new attitude to the back end of the Cowboys defense. This defense does give up a lot of yards but they are stingy when it comes to allowing points. People get to the Cowboys red zone but they rarely come away with touchdowns.

Another big change on the offensive side of the ball was the firing of O-line coach Paul Alexander and the promotion of Marc Colombo to that position coach. The Cowboys also hired former O-line coach Hudson Houck as a consultant to help Colombo and both men are bringing back a more aggressive approach to the line play. In Philly last week the line dominated and the Eagles All Pro DT Fletcher Cox was a non-factor in the game. The line helped Dak Prescott time enough to pass the ball around enough for him to throw for 272 yards and 2 TD's while Ezekiel Elliott rans for 151 yards with another 36 yards in receptions.

The scary thing is we have seen Dallas play well before but they couldn't repeat the performance. They hung 40+ on Jacksonville and failed to break 20 points after that. So, was last week just smoke and mirrors or have the changes I talked about plus the addition of Amari Cooper allow Dallas to show some consistency? That's the rub isn't it? 2018 is a hard year to be a Cowboys fan for sure. I don't think the Eagles game was smoke and mirrors. I think Dallas may just be one to something. Both teams are 4-5 and need to win bad. Atlanta is at home which is a big advantage for them but they just don't seem to be able to show the things that made them a playoff team.

So, what does that mean in today's game? I think Dallas will pull an upset and beat Atlanta today. I am banking on the Cowboys performance last week in Philly as a trend rather than a fluke. It will be a hard fought game but I see Dallas winning 33-29. Both the Texans and the Cowboys play early today so I will have the rest of the afternoon to figure how I'm going to end it all if they lose.

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys got out of Atlanta with a win just by the hair of their collective chinny-chin-chins. Brett Maher made a 42-yard field goal as time expired in the game to lift Dallas to a 22-19 win over the struggling Falcons. It wasn’t a gimme field goal though, as it just snuck inside the right upright. In fact, I wasn’t 100% sure it was good until the referees raised their arms to signal it so. There is just too much drama with Maher. He has missed either a field goal or an extra point in the last 4 games. Coming into the game Maher had missed a field goal in 3 straight games and yesterday he badly missed the point after their first TD of the game which should have made the game 13-9 but, with the miss, it was just 12-9. We spent years not worrying about field goals when Dallas had Dan Bailey. I don’t think Bailey ever missed an extra point even after the NFL moved the line of scrimmage back to the 15-yard line making the extra point a 33-yard attempt back in 2015. Maher now has 2 game winning field goals on the season and he has also missed an opportunity. Maher had a shot at a sending the last game against Washington to overtime when his kick clanged off the left upright to preserve a Redskins 20-17 victory. That was a month ago. Since then, Dallas lost a head scratching game against Tennessee and they rebounded for back-to-back wins over Philly and now Atlanta. On short rest the Cowboys will come full circle and play the Redskins on Thanksgiving afternoon. Just like a month ago, Dallas will be trying to secure at least a share of the NFC East lead. This scenario has been set up by the Cowboys winning their first two games in a row this season. It didn’t come without a struggle.
Cole Beasley had a sure TD on what would have been a 3-yard TD pass from Dak, but he just flat dropped it. That was 4 points lost right there. Then, there was Maher’s missed extra point making it 5 points the Cowboys squandered away. But, style points don’t count for anything and the bottom line is the Cowboys went on the road against a very good team and came away with a win. That’s all that really matters in the end. The Cowboys now have to come back on Thursday and beat the Redskins who lost their starting QB, Alex Smith, yesterday when he broke both bones in his lower leg when he was sacked early in the 4th quarter. Colt McCoy came in for Smith and darn near led the Redskins back to a win but a 60+ field goal attempt fell ten yards short setting up Thursday’s opportunity for Dallas to climb back into a tie for the NFC East lead if they can beat Washington. Three weeks ago, it looked like you could stick a fork in the Cowboys after an inexplicable loss to Tennessee coming off their bye week. Now, they can claim a share of the division lead.
The coolest thing yesterday came in the late game on Fox when the Saints kicked the dickens out of the hated Eagles 48-7. When Drew Brees threw a TD pass to Alvin Kamara to make the score 45-7 a member of the Eagles, in a true class act, flipped off Sean Payton. I was dancing for joy in my living room seeing the Eagles get the worst beat-down ever of a defending World Champ in the Super Bowl era. I freaking love it!!!!

[eagle eye]

I hope everyone had a really nice Thanksgiving. I had a nice turkey day. Together with family, eating a really good meal and settling in to watch the Cowboys beat the Redskins! The final 31-23 final score should not have been that close but the Cowboys, I suppose in the spirit of the holiday season, let the Redskins back in the game after building an 18 point lead. After Dak Prescott scored on a very adventurous TD run Ezekiel Elliott picked up Prescott and put him into the giant Salvation Red Kettle located by the wall outside of the end zone. Cute move Zeke. Two years ago Zeke jumped into the red kettle after scoring a TD and he got fined by the NFL for that move. I wasn't the worst thing that happened. The refs threw a penalty flag for excessive celebration which is a 15 yard infraction accessed on the ensuing kickoff. What happened was a short kickoff allowing the opposing team to get a good run back and it set them up for a scoring drive of their own. Fast forward to 2018 and the same flag was thrown, the same 15 yard penalty was accessed on the ensuing kickoff and the kick coverage team did a lousy job allowing the 'Skins to return the kick to the Cowboys side of the field. A few short plays later and the Redskins trimmed that 18-point lead to 11 with more than half of the 4th quarter left to play. It was a really dumb move by Zeke and Dak and it cost the team. If they were to pull that crap against a team like the Saints, whom they play in one week on Thursday Night Football, Drew Bree would make the Cowboys pay dearly for such a faux pas. If I'm Jason Garrett I would fine both players for no other reason that pure stupidity. Now, the NFL has greatly relaxed their stance on celebrations and a move like Zeke and Dak pulled calls greater attention to a charity like the Salvation Army. In fact, in 2016, after Zeke jumped into the kettle donations spiked, not a little but, quite a lot. Why the act of jumping into the kettle is still a penalty is a bit of a head scratcher but it wasn't like Zeke didn't know it was a penalty. After he scored the Cowboys first TD in the first quarter he got 21 dollars from a security guy at the back of the end zone and he threw the money into the kettle. BTW, that wasn't flagged. You just can't do things that hurt your team and the old saying, "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice shame on me." very much applies. It didn't overshadow the day that Amari Cooper who had five catches for 180 yards and two TD's. The second TD was spectacular in that Cooper caught about a 25 yard pass from Prescott and he made a move to get around 3 Redskins defenders and he outran everyone to the end zone. That score seemed to break open the game for Dallas as they got the ball back and promptly drove for another TD on a short Dak Prescott run to make the score 31-13 early in the 4th quarter.

The fact that the offense managed to score 31 points was amazing given the fact Tyron Smith didn't play a snap. On the final drive of the game against the Falcons last Sunday Smith suffered a neck stinger. Smith missed some plays in the game but he returned to the game to help finish off the Falcons. Smith was limited in the short week of practice and it was decided prior to game time to hold Smith out of the game. He dressed but he was only available in an emergency. His replacement, Cameron Fleming the Cowboys swing tackle, struggled in the first half as he allowed Dak to be sacked on several occasions. It almost looked as if yesterday was going to be a repeat of the Atlanta game last year when Smith was out and his replacement, Chaz Green, allowed 8 sacks in a 27-7 Falcons route. The coaches made adjustments to help Fleming out. Dak was sacked once in the second half but it wasn't necessarily Fleming's fault. Dak held the ball too long and that sack had to be on him. By and large, with the O-line missing 3 starters they did a nice job against a defensive line as good as the Redskins have. Hopefully, the time off benefits Smith enough to allow him to play against the Saints next Thursday. The Cowboys have now won 3 straight games but getting the fourth in a row won't be easy as the Saints are one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the NFL this season. The Saints are a winning streak of their own as they got their 10th straight against Atlanta last night. If Dallas doesn't play a perfect game they will be beaten by the Saints. Even though Dallas will be at home I see them being underdogs in that game.

For now, we shouldn't be thinking about next week, we should be basking in the glow of our team beating division rivals Wasthington and Philadelphia in two of the last three games. The win puts Dallas into a tie for the NFC East lead with Washington each with a 6-5 record. Because Dallas has a better division record than the Redskins they are technically in first place in the division. After a demoralizing loss to Tennessee four weeks ago to drop the Cowboys to a 3-5 record and many people, me included, counted the Cowboys out for the 2018 season. It will be important IF Dallas can pull out a victory over New Orleans but, for now, I'm going to appreciate the win. I am also going to avoid shopping this weekend like the plague. What will make this weekend perfect will be if Lamar can beat Northern Iowa on Saturday and the Texans beating Tennessee on Sunday. That would be a perfect Thanksgiving weekend.

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys have had a whole week to enjoy being in first place by a tie-breaker in the NFC East. Now, reality is going to slap them in the face as they will square off against the high powered New Orleans Saints tonight. Somebody’s winning streak will come to an end tonight, either the Saints 10 game run or the Cowboys 3 game streak. The Saints lost their first game of the season but, they have run off 10 in a row including wins over the powerful LA Rams and the defending World Champion Eagles. The win over the Eagles was a pure D smackdown that inspired one of the Eagle players to flip off Sean Payton after the Saints last TD. That Eagles game was the Sunday before Thanksgiving and the only thing the Eagles had to be thankful for heading into Thanksgiving was that that nightmare of a game, that ended with a 48-7 final score, was over and they won’t have to play the Saints again this year unless, by some fluke, they make the playoffs. The Saints backed that win up on Thanksgiving night when New Orleans easily handled the Atlanta Falcons.
Dallas has rebounded from a rather embarrassing loss to Tennessee to beat Philly and Atlanta on the road and Washington at home all in an 11-day span. All this comes on the heels of the Cowboys obtaining WR Amari Cooper in a trade with Oakland and the firing of their offensive line coach and the resulting change of philosophy how the O-line goes about their business. Now, this trading and firing and hiring all took place on the Cowboys bye week 5 weeks ago. The wheeling and dealing didn’t do Dallas much good against Tennessee which was the Cowboys first game after their bye but, since then, the Cowboys have looked and played like a different team that took the field the first 8 games of the season. Even though LT Tyron Smith missed the Washington game the O-line still performed well with backup Cameron Fleming taking over for Smith. What’s even more amazing is Fleming didn’t know he was starting until a couple of hours before kick-off. There is a good chance Smith will miss tonight’s game and you have to believe that Fleming, who took all the practice reps this week will be much better than he was in the surprise start he got last week. Amari Cooper has been a shot in the arm to the Cowboys offense which reached a high-water mark against the Redskins on Thanksgiving. In that game Cooper caught 8 balls for 180 yards and two TD’s. They were any cheap TD’s either. One was a 40-yard catch and run and on the very next series on a 2nd down and 10 from their own 10 Cooper caught a 30-yard pass from Dak Prescott that he took to the house for a 90-yard catch and run TD. That performance earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Just yesterday, Dallas LB Leighton Vander Esch was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month of November. The Cowboys rookie first round draft pick had a phenomenal month of November recorded double digit tackles in the four games he played, recorded 2 interceptions and a pass defensed among his accomplishments. He is the first Cowboys rookie to win such an honor since DeMarcus Ware won the DPOM honor in 2005.
What’s all this mean going into the game with the heavily favored Saints? Nothing really except that Dallas has good players and maybe shouldn’t be written off as sure losers tonight. The Cowboys are finally playing up near their potential on offense and that is making life easier for a pretty darn good defense. I may be wrong here but, I just don’t think Dallas is going to roll over and play dead for the Saints. Dallas has a history of beating teams on winning streaks. In 2006 Dallas hosted the Indianapolis Colts who were 9-0 going into their Week 11 game. Dallas came out and beat the Colts and Peyton Manning 21-14 as the Colts eventually went on to win the Super Bowl that year. In 2009 in Week 15 Dallas went into the Louisiana Super Dome to face the 13-0 Saints. Dallas came out of that game with a 24-17 win killing the Saints’ hopes of a perfect season. Ironically enough the Saints won the Super Bowl that year and in an even bigger stroke of irony it was over the Indianapolis Colts!
What does all this mean as it relates to tonight’s game? To me it means that Dallas isn’t a lamb going to slaughter. The Cowboys are a proud franchise who is playing with a lot of confidence now. If the play calling isn’t just awful and if the defense can stop Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram Dallas has a chance to win. So, what’s the final score? I’m picking Big D to win in a close game with the final score being 31-29. The loss won’t hurt the Saints as much as it would hurt the Cowboys so I’m figuring on a little more desperation from the Cowboys at home. 10-2 won’t look bad for the Saints but 7-5 would look a darn good for Dallas as they get 10 days off heading into the month of December and the last four games of the season.

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys won a sort of old school NFL football game last night. A game that was dominated by defense was definitely a throwback to the olden days of the pro football. Way back when a 13-10 type of score was more prevalent. There weren’t but a couple of domed stadiums and if you go back to the 60’s there was only one domed stadium and that was in Houston. Teams in the north and northeast like Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Chicago and Cleveland were played in open air stadiums in freezing cold temperatures from November on. Games played in snow, freezing rain and mud. A time when a 40-yard field goal was a big deal. It was a time when the defense was able to abuse the offensive players and it was legal.
It also seemed as though officiating was better in the old days. Last night there were several obvious calls missed by the refs that hurt both sides pretty much equally. Saints fans can honestly say they got hosed when the refs missed a vicious helmet to helmet hit by the Cowboys Jaylon Smith on Alvin Kamara in the 2nd half. The Cowboys got the benefit of a missed call by the refs when Cole Beasley was clearly down short of a first down but, Beasley lunged forward to get the ball to the first down marker on a 3rd and 8 play. The refs missed the fact that Beasley’s knee was down just before the lunge. The Cowboys got the short end of the penalty stick when the refs failed to call a facemask on New Orleans when Prescott was being sacked and they also missed an obvious push-off by Saints receiver Keith Kirkwood that gave him enough separation to make the TD catch that made the score 13-10.
There were also dumb plays, mainly on the Cowboys’ Randy Gregory that helped the Saints score that TD to Kirkwood. Byron Jones had two pass interference penalties that kept the Saints drive alive and Randy Gregory was guilty of roughing the punter when the defense had stopped the Saints. That 15-yard penalty got New Orleans inside the Cowboys 40-yard line and a couple of plays later was Kirkwood’s TD catch. Later in the 4th quarter the Cowboys got a strip sack of Drew Brees that was negated because Gregory lined up off sides. Dak Prescott has really poor pocket awareness. He was sacked 7 times by the Saints and at least 4 of those sacks were Dak’s fault. Prescott fumbled twice losing one and he missed a wide-open Michael Gallup on a stop and go route that was a sure TD but he overthrew him by 5 yards.
On the one hand you could say Dak had a great game as he went 24 of 28 passing for 248 yards and 1 TD and no picks. Dak also had a couple extremely key runs that picked up crucial 1st downs in the fourth quarter that kept drives, and the clock, going. But, the Cowboys didn’t score a single point in the 2nd half. Not one. Prescott’s pocket awareness is not good and I don’t know if it’s Prescott or Scott Linehan but I’m sick of Dak dinking short passes to the exclusion of intermediate routes. The dinks help his completion percentage look good but, it does nothing to throw a 2-yard pass on 3rd and 9 except to frustrate me and a lot of other folks I’m sure. In many ways the Cowboys won in spite of the offense last night. That isn’t to say the Saints’ defense didn’t play well, they did but Dallas’ offense left at least 10 points on the field. The missed pass to Michael Gallup was a sure TD that Dak just blew and Dak’s fumble in the red zone cost the Cowboys at least a field goal. The Cowboys dominated the Saints in a way people just don’t do and the score should have been at least 23-10. The defense played amazing. There was literally no run after the catch as a Dallas defender was all over the Saints receivers. They played so tight that the Saints receivers were often denied the ball or they dropped the ball expecting the Cowboys to hit them. The pass rush got to Brees for 2 sacks but they were in his face all night. The INT Brees threw with about 3 minutes left in the game was only the 3rd he’s thrown all season and it was because of pressure up the middle. The Cowboys Jourdan Lewis made a great catch on the ball and Dallas was able to run out the clock, with help from a pass interference call in the end zone. After the PI call Dallas had the ball on the Saints one-yard line with no time outs left for the Saints and just 1:58 left in the game Dallas just knelt down 3 times to run out the clock. As great as the Cowboys defense is I wish someone would teach the cornerbacks to turn around once in a while. The DB’s are all over the receivers, not just last night but all season long, but they never turn around. There would be no telling how many INT’s this group would have if they would look for the ball. I’m not complaining (much) because I am happy Dallas got this win. A 7-5 record looks much better than 6-6 would have. Dallas now has 10 days off to rest and heal up. A week from Sunday the Cowboys will host the Eagles in what could be the game that eliminates the Eagles from the playoffs and that would be SWEET!!!!

[eagle eye]

It’s now been 5 days since the Cowboys beat the Saints. There are so many reasons to point out one simple fact, last Thursday’s game was the biggest win of the decade for the Cowboys. The overwhelming fact is not very many people thought Dallas would beat New Orleans because most people thought the Saints were the best team in the NFL in 2018. Many of these people still feel that way. What was abundantly clear is the Cowboys have built a darn good defense. To be able to hold the highest scoring offense with arguably the best QB to 10 measly points is no fluke. The thing is, if Dallas doesn’t come off extra rest and beat an Eagles team on a short week at home, that win last Thursday was nearly meaningless. The Eagles had hell beating Washington last night and that’s with the Redskins playing Marc Sanchez at QB after Colt McCoy was injured. The Eagles and ‘Skins are tied with 6-6 records but the ‘Sins are in trouble while Philly has a glimmer of hope just one game behind the Cowboys. If Dallas doesn’t take care of business this Sunday at home Philadelphia may just lap the Cowboys down the stretch. If Dallas can beat the Eagles and open up a two game lead in the NFC East with 3 games to play we can safely say Dallas has turned a big corner and this team may be for real after all. If only Dak can lead the offense to more than 13 points because, as good as this defense is, the Cowboys won’t win too many games scoring so little.

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys have had 10 days to rest and prepare for today's game with Philadelphia. They finally catch a break in the schedule which saw the 'Boys play 4 games in 18 days. Think about that, most of the time you play 4 games it is in a 28 day span. A whole month!! Dallas just came away 4-0 playing a month's worth of games in just over half that span of time. It's not exactly the same as a bye week when you have whole week to heal up before you have to prepare for the next game but an extra 5 days before returning to The Star in Frisco to begin prep for their next game probably felt like a month of vacation. Having that extra time to let their bodies recover, injuries to get better and a chance to mentally relax has got to be just what the doctor ordered. Or, it could have broken their mojo and that 4 game winning streak will come crashing down around their ears. Philadelphia, on the other hand, only had 6 days and the normal day off on Mondays went away since they are coming off a Monday Night Football win over the Redskins. The 'Skins were down 2 QB's as Alex Smith was lost a couple of games ago and Colt McCoy was lost to a broken fibula in the 2nd quarter of the game on Monday night. It must be noted that McCoy was 4-4 on 2 drives at the time of his injury. The score was also 14-10 Eagles when he was injured. Marc Sanchez, who had been with Washington for two weeks after Alex Smith was injured came in and drove the Redskins to a field goal making the score 14-13 at halftime. That was the last time Sanchez was effective in the game as Philly pulled away and won the game 28-13. In terms of rest and prep - advantage Dallas.

I think Dallas' defense is better than Philly's. The Eagles were the first victims in Dallas recent 4-game winning streak. It was a close game which ended in 27-20 Cowboys win which was made even more impressive since the game was played in Philadelphia. Dallas is leading the NFC East by one game over Philadelphia and Washington. Dallas 7-5 and the Eagles and 'Skins are both 6-6. Given the fact that Washington is down to a 3rd string QB under center I think the Redskins hopes for the playoffs is a sinking ship. The 'Skins play a suddenly resurgent NY Giants team who has won a couple of game in a row. Philly, on the other hand seems to be trying to dig their way out of a hole they dug for themselves. 3 weeks ago Philly was 4-6 and looked to be in the middle of a 'Super Bowl slump' with their chances of repeating as champions slipping away. But, with the Redskins losing 4 of their last 5 games both Dallas and Philly took advantage of the crack opened by the slumping Redskins. Dallas has won 4 straight beating Philly and Washington along the way to take over first place in the division. A win today would give Dallas a two game lead over Philadelphia with just 3 games to play and may feel that Philly would be a candidate to stick a fork into their playoff chances. I don't know about that but, one thing I do know, I hate the Eagles and I hope Dallas hangs 50 of them. If they don't then it's okay as long as Dallas has more points at the end than the Eagles. What Dallas has to do is bring the same intensity they had last Thursday when they beat the Saints. That defense stuffed the run game of the Saints, they stuffed the passing game of Drew Brees and if they could have gotten a little more help from the Cowboys offense they would have beaten New Orleans going away. The Eagles couldn't stop the Cowboys run game 5 weeks ago and Xavier Su'a-Filo handled the Eagles Fletcher Cox very nicely. Su'a-Filo has been battling a sore ankle and he looked bad against the Saints but, with the extra days off maybe he will be back to 100%. If so, then I am not as worried about FC. Cameron Fleming as done a good job filling in for Tyron Smith who suffered a neck stinger on Thanksgiving and Fleming has filled in the past 3 weeks very well thank you. With the change of position coaches 5 weeks ago this O-line has played much, much better.

The one thing that worries me about this game is the Eagles offense especially the connection between Carson Wentz and TE Zack Ertz. Ertz is clearly Wentz' favorite target and he is the go-to guy on 3rd down. The Cowboys have to figure out a way to shut him down and do it without letting Golden Tate, Nelson Agholor, Alshon Jeffrey and Darren Sproles kill them. Sproles came back from injury just last Monday and he infused a little juice into the Eagles offense. The Cowboys have their hands full today and if they don't bring the intensity this could be a long day for Cowboys fans. The Eagles secondary is weak and can be had if Dak Prescott is given time to throw the ball, assuming he is accurate when he throws it. Dallas has shown they can run on the Eagles and the old man of running backs Adrian Peterson pulled off a 90-yard TD run against them on Monday. All in all, I think Dallas is better at this point than Philly, they just have to prove it.

What does this mean for this afternoon's game? I think it will be similar to the game 5 weeks ago in Philadelphia. Back and forth but Dallas will have the home field advantage to lean on. So, Dallas has the extra time off to rest and prepare, they have home field advantage and they have a defense playing at a very high level. I think Dallas wins the game and I believe the final score will be Dallas 31 Philadelphia 27. Go Cowboys and a big ju-ju curse on the Eagles.

[Dracula]

Dallas is playing at home, 1st in the division and, with a win over Philly, can almost ice the division championship, with only 3 games to play versus teams with a combined record of 15-21. What more motivation can there be? What could go wrong? Two words, JASON GARRETT. The man couldn't motivate a starving bear to eat a fish. If Dallas wins today, it will not be because of Mr. clappy, on the sidelines, but the players motivating themselves and a very good D.

Dallas wins 27-10.

[Dracula]

Oh Lord. Dallas dominates the first half and leads by just 3-0.

[Dracula]

Make that 6-0 on a Hail Mary of a FG. They are letting the Eagles hang around. Mr Happy Clappy better have them screaming out of the locker room or it's going to get real ugly on the Cowboys message boards.

[eagle eye]

If you want to get an idea of just how much Dallas dominated the Eagles on Sunday you have to look no further than time of possession, Dallas 45:33 and Philly 22:32. Or how about plays run by each team? Dallas 93 Eagles 48. How about first downs? Cowboys 32 Eagles 16. About the only statistical categories the Eagles won was QBR and turnovers. Carson Wentz' QBR was 120.3 while Dak Prescott's QBR was 104.9 and the Eagles got 3 turnovers to the Cowboys 2. It's a wonder that Prescott had a 104.9 QBR after he threw 2 picks and lost a fumble, all three TO's led to Eagles scores. Dak did throw for 455 yards in the game, the most by a Dallas QB in a win and that 455 was tied for 3rd most in a game in Cowboys history. Tony Romo holds the record for most yards with 506 which he recorded in a loss to Denver and Peyton Manning 5 years ago while Dandy Don Meredith tossed for 460 yards in a game back in the sixties. Dak's 455 is tied with Troy Aikman who did it in 1998 against the Vikings. Romo, Meredith and Aikman's big days were all in a losing cause. Dak set records for pass attempts (54) and completions (42) in the game and if he'd quit overthrowing Michael Gallup he would have had 1, possibly 2, more TD passes and he would certainly have broken Romo's single game yardage record. It's been 4 days since that game and you know all the stats by now. All I can say is thank you Zeke for your 100+ yards rushing and 40 touches in the game and thank you Amari Cooper for your 10 catches for 217 yards and 3 TD's. Dallas won both because of and in spite of Prescott. Dak is what he is at this point but he needs to get better like Tony Romo got better every year when he became the starter.

It's time to put the Philly game to bed. It's over and we can enjoy the win but there is still work to be done before January comes. The next challenge will be against the Indianapolis Colts who just ended the Houston Texans 9 game win streak last Sunday. They have won some games of late, the only stumble coming two weeks ago against Jacksonville who shut them out 6-0. Dallas had better study the film of that Houston game because the defense pretty much shut down the Texans offense and the Colts offense just picked apart the Texans defense. The Colts know they have to win out to have a shadow of a chance at a Wild Card and they would like nothing better than to end the Cowboys 5 game winning streak getting a clean sweep of Texas in the bargain. If Dallas wins they would just about clinch the NFC East and at the same time pretty much bury the Colts postseason dream. It's not encouraging to see that Zeke didn't practice yesterday. Elliott is the lynch pin that holds the Cowboys offense together. If Zeke doesn't play Sunday my outlook on the Cowboys chances is pretty slim. C'mon Dallas, get Zeke in the whirlpool, get him a massage or two, do cryo-therapy. Show Zeke the film of Emmitt Smith single-handedly beating the NY Giants to win the NFC East way back in 1993 with a separated shoulder he suffered in the first half. Whatever it takes, get Zeke in the game and beat the Colts. Then he can rest until the playoffs. Beat the Colts Sunday.

[eagle eye]

Well into the first half of the game. I am DVR'ing the game and I don't begin watching for a while so I can skip through the commercials so I am still not aware of the game status. That said, I saw the Texans struggle against the Jets yesterday and there is no reason to believe that Dallas won't struggle against the Colts if, for no other reason than Andrew Luck who seems to have found his Dallas Clark in Eric Ebron. Is TY Hilton playing which is the new age Marvin Harrison so I suppose I'm also saying that Andrew Luck is the new age Peyton Manning. This trio lit up the Texans last week but, as we saw yesterday, a good QB can make a defense look fairly pedestrian. All that said, I'm not giving the Colts much of a shot at beating the Cowboys. In truth, The Cowboys should take care of Indy unless they help the Colts by playing stupid which includes a boat load of penalties. Dallas won last week against Philly despite 3 turnovers and 11 penalties. It seemed, for a time, that Dallas was trying to give the game away to the Eagles before finally pulling their heads out of their collective arses. I have a feeling that Dallas has enough talent on defense to pretty much shut down the Colts and I am quite sure Dallas offense is more talented than the Colts defense. Really, all the Colts have on defense is Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Darius Leonard. He is the Colts best defensive player but you never know about how a team will rise up especially on their home field. Generally speaking, home field is usually worth about 6 points to the boys in Vegas so it stands to reason that Dallas needs to win by 7 or more just based on the spread. The Colts still have a shot at a Wild Card so they should be motivated. I have a feeling that this will be a close game and likely a low scoring game. Dallas will not have yet another All Pro offensive lineman as Zack Martin will miss due to the knee injury he suffered last week. I expect Connor Williams will take over at right guard while Xavier Su'a-filo will remain at left guard.

What does all this mean? I think the game will end up in the teens and if anyone gets to 20 points that team will win. The final score via my crystal ball is Dallas 22 Indy 18. Now, I can go watch the game!!!

[Dracula]

Congratulations, you're right, the team that scores more than 20 points will win. Colts 23-0 over Dallas halfway through the 4th quarter. You might want to delete that game recording, nothing to see here folks move along. Mr Happy Clappy had them mentally ready to play today, not.

[eagle eye]

There is literally nothing I can add to what Dracula said about the humiliating loss in Indianapolis last Sunday. The first time in 15 years the Cowboys have been shutout. That pre-Romo folks. That would either be Drew Bledsoe or Quincy Carter. Yikes. Now, you would think a team that has a chance to not only clinch their division but also put the Redskins and Eagles out of their misery would be motivated enough to play like they gave a damn. Okay, I'll grant you, the Cowboys probably gave a damn but how demoralizing is it to have a 10 play drive, a 15 play drive and a 14 play drive and come up with zero points? A blocked field goal that more of a mishit than it was a great effort on the Colts part. I don't trust Matt Whatshisname any farther than I can throw him. I predict that Dallas will have a new kicker in 2019. I'm just saying. Also, if there are any more of these real stinker games then I think the folks that want to see Jason Garrett fired will get their wish. This 2018 defense is the best the Cowboys have had since 1995, which was the last time the Cowboys won a Super Bowl and all this team can manage through 15 weeks is 8 wins? Seriously? A lot of the blame, almost all of the blame, is on the Cowboys offense. Aside from a couple of games Dak Prescott has struggled. He fails to recognize open receivers or he fails to get them the ball. He has accuracy issues and he holds the ball too long resulting in a lot of sacks. It's not all on Dak but a lot of it is. People talk about Dak's leadership skills and that may be but, like General Pickett at Gettysburg leadership isn't everything. Pickett's issue was he was outgunned, Dak's issues go way deeper. Pickett was a great soldier but Dak is not a great QB. People want to equate playing football with going to war. I hate that analogy but for argument's sake let's go there. If Dak were Pickett, for example, and Dak swung his sword at his enemies as he charges an enemy position more often than not Dak would whiff and more than likely Dak would be killed because you can't whiff in battle. In more modern times if Dak has a rifle and is shooting at his enemies he would likely miss and he would miss high because that's what Dak does. He misses high most of the time. Unless of course the enemy is 3 yards from him then Dak would connect because we all know Dak knows how to check down. So, you miss a field goal on one possession, on another you throw a bad pass to a wide open receiver who fails to even put his hands on the ball as it drops helplessly to the ground and on 4th down you line up with 3 tight ends and one wide receiver. I hate that bunch formation because there are more defenders than there are blockers and you have 3 subs playing on the O-line. Dumb call, poor execusion so, on 4th and 1 Dallas turns the ball over on downs. The third possession the Cowboys are in field goal range until Dak is sacked all the way back near midfield. Game over. Indy scores a TD, and two field goals to take a 13-0 lead into halftime. Jason Garrett was bold in this game but when you only convert a 4th down opportunity once in 5 tries maybe you should have been more conservative. Maybe that's why the defense played so badly, they had no hope. They know exactly what it looks like when Dak sucks and he sucked on Sunday against the Colts. Dallas had the chance to do so much good for themselves by beating the Colts including keeping some pace with Chicago for the 3rd seed in the playoffs. Although, if the playoffs started today Dallas would play Seattle. If they had the 3rd seed they would have to play Minnesota. It's pick your poison there so maybe it's not any difference but, at this point Dallas can lose out on the playoffs altogether if they play like they did Sunday against Tampa Bay and the Giants. Don't get comfortable folks, this roller coaster ride is not over yet.

[eagle eye]

The Cowboys barely escaped their own stadium with a win today. Again, Dak shows he is not a franchise QB with questionable play. I won't list all the bad things he did but how a decent offense struggles against the 28th ranked defense is beyond me. Dallas won because the Cowboys got an extra score thanks to a 64 yard fumble recovery and return for a TD by Jaylon Smith. This team is in deep stuff in the playoffs because this offense is under performing like crazy. Zeke can't gain a hundred yards on a team that gave up 245 last week? Your best receiver has 4 catches for a mere 40 yards? It's bad enough that Dak and the rest of the offense is struggling but the refs seemed to be on the Bucs side today. 3 non-calls for delay of game and one delay of game call nullified by a BS delay of game infraction by DeMarcus Lawrence that was almost as bad as the roughing the passer call on Randy Gregory who did nothing but tackle Jameis Winston. There were other calls that went against Dallas or were not called like a face mask penalty that should have been called a couple of times. It's a testament as just how bad Tampa Bay is when they get a struggling team to play AND they have the refs on their side. It's not just me, Troy Aikman said as much when he commented on the poor job the refs did today. All is well, I guess. Dallas clinched the NFC East despite the win by Philly today. How sick would that be if Dallas has to play the stupid Eagles again in the playoffs. The refs were instrumental in the Texans loss as well. Most games this season have been a laundry fest, flags flying everywhere but in the Cowboys and Texans games the flags were not only plentiful but the refs did a lousy job calling those games.