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.