yimyammer
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NoMoRedJ
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We’ve seen this before. The Cowboys are a mediocre team cruising towards .500
ARLINGTON
After the confetti was swept into a trash can and all of the champagne bottles were sent to the recycling bin, a familiar stench flowed from the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room once again.
You’ve smelled it before too much to not realize what we are all drinking. I’m talking about an over-priced bottle of Dom Ahver-hage. The packaging is pretty, and the label is gorgeous, but in the end it tastes like something you could have purchased at the drug store for $4.99.
Dom Ahver-hage the stuff not of champions, but rather the truly mediocre who confuse relevance for success.
The Dallas Cowboys improved to 2-2 after Dan Bailey 2.0 drilled the game-winning field goal as time expired to defeat the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Jerry’s Club.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was as good as he’s ever been as a Cowboy. Dak Prescott played as well as he has since his rookie year.
The kicker from the Canadian Football League made us forget Bailey with his 38-yard, game-winning field goal that sent all North Texans to the souvenir stand to buy more Cowboys’ merchandise they have to have.
For those of you who want offensive coordinator Scott Linehan fired, Jason Garrett sent to Estonia and Dak Prescott traded to the Golden State Warriors in return for DeMarcus Cousins, Sunday’s result is killing both your dreams, and this team.
No NFL franchise owns the “interesting” game quite like the Cowboys under Jason Garrett, and it’s either destroying, or making, the team.
You can’t bottom out if you’re always right near the middle.
In the eyes of our Pro Football Hall of Fame owner and general manager, Sunday’s win is a sign that his favorite toy is traveling down the playoff conveyor built.
In the eyes and hearts of these weary and beaten-down fans, Sunday’s win is another sign that Jerry’s toy is going to tease us all and wind up right around .500 once again.
Since Garrett was named the head coach of the Cowboys and molded into Jerry Jones’ vision as his Tom Landry, Garrett always keeps it close.
The Cowboys have played a total of 116 regular season games with Garrett as the permanent head coach. I know. It feels like 516 games.
Of those games, they have been either been .500, or one game above or below that mark, 62 times.
Other than two periods in Garrett’s tenure - during the ‘14 and ‘16 seasons - the Cowboys can’t quit their love affair with Miss Mediocrity.
Whether Garrett’s quarterback is Tony Romo, Jon Kitna or Dak Prescott, the team knows how to flirt. The only time they couldn’t even tease us was when Coach Process’ QBs were Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel.
Mediocrity wanted nothing to do with those two.
So even after the Cowboys played so poorly one week ago in Seattle where they could only barely move the ball sideways, their return home to defeat a Detroit Lions team that just blew out the Patriots should not be a surprise.
This is what they do.
After one month of the regular season, they are doing it to us again.
While the defense was not great, Zeke was on Sunday. He played as well as an offensive player possibly could against Detroit. He had 240 total yards, and proved definitively he is their No. 1 wide receiver, too.
Dak was efficient, and threw some gorgeous, pin-point passes, and two touchdowns.
The decision to go with Brett Maher over Bailey is playing out well.
And now they all head down Interstate 45 to Houston to play a weak Texans team that is barely 1-3.
We all want the Cowboys’ result on Sunday to be the start of one of those long winning streaks that good teams assemble. We also know better. Including his stretch as the interim head coach in 2010, Garrett has coached 124 regular season games for the Cowboys; he has winning streaks of four games or more a total of four times.
So let us all revel in this win over the Detroit Lions, and try to forget what we are drinking is not the stuff of champions but a $4.99 bottle of Dom Ahver-hage.
Dallas Cowboys: Despite win, mediocre team cruising towards .500 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
ARLINGTON
After the confetti was swept into a trash can and all of the champagne bottles were sent to the recycling bin, a familiar stench flowed from the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room once again.
You’ve smelled it before too much to not realize what we are all drinking. I’m talking about an over-priced bottle of Dom Ahver-hage. The packaging is pretty, and the label is gorgeous, but in the end it tastes like something you could have purchased at the drug store for $4.99.
Dom Ahver-hage the stuff not of champions, but rather the truly mediocre who confuse relevance for success.
The Dallas Cowboys improved to 2-2 after Dan Bailey 2.0 drilled the game-winning field goal as time expired to defeat the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Jerry’s Club.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott was as good as he’s ever been as a Cowboy. Dak Prescott played as well as he has since his rookie year.
The kicker from the Canadian Football League made us forget Bailey with his 38-yard, game-winning field goal that sent all North Texans to the souvenir stand to buy more Cowboys’ merchandise they have to have.
For those of you who want offensive coordinator Scott Linehan fired, Jason Garrett sent to Estonia and Dak Prescott traded to the Golden State Warriors in return for DeMarcus Cousins, Sunday’s result is killing both your dreams, and this team.
No NFL franchise owns the “interesting” game quite like the Cowboys under Jason Garrett, and it’s either destroying, or making, the team.
You can’t bottom out if you’re always right near the middle.
In the eyes of our Pro Football Hall of Fame owner and general manager, Sunday’s win is a sign that his favorite toy is traveling down the playoff conveyor built.
In the eyes and hearts of these weary and beaten-down fans, Sunday’s win is another sign that Jerry’s toy is going to tease us all and wind up right around .500 once again.
Since Garrett was named the head coach of the Cowboys and molded into Jerry Jones’ vision as his Tom Landry, Garrett always keeps it close.
The Cowboys have played a total of 116 regular season games with Garrett as the permanent head coach. I know. It feels like 516 games.
Of those games, they have been either been .500, or one game above or below that mark, 62 times.
Other than two periods in Garrett’s tenure - during the ‘14 and ‘16 seasons - the Cowboys can’t quit their love affair with Miss Mediocrity.
Whether Garrett’s quarterback is Tony Romo, Jon Kitna or Dak Prescott, the team knows how to flirt. The only time they couldn’t even tease us was when Coach Process’ QBs were Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel.
Mediocrity wanted nothing to do with those two.
So even after the Cowboys played so poorly one week ago in Seattle where they could only barely move the ball sideways, their return home to defeat a Detroit Lions team that just blew out the Patriots should not be a surprise.
This is what they do.
After one month of the regular season, they are doing it to us again.
While the defense was not great, Zeke was on Sunday. He played as well as an offensive player possibly could against Detroit. He had 240 total yards, and proved definitively he is their No. 1 wide receiver, too.
Dak was efficient, and threw some gorgeous, pin-point passes, and two touchdowns.
The decision to go with Brett Maher over Bailey is playing out well.
And now they all head down Interstate 45 to Houston to play a weak Texans team that is barely 1-3.
We all want the Cowboys’ result on Sunday to be the start of one of those long winning streaks that good teams assemble. We also know better. Including his stretch as the interim head coach in 2010, Garrett has coached 124 regular season games for the Cowboys; he has winning streaks of four games or more a total of four times.
So let us all revel in this win over the Detroit Lions, and try to forget what we are drinking is not the stuff of champions but a $4.99 bottle of Dom Ahver-hage.
Dallas Cowboys: Despite win, mediocre team cruising towards .500 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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COWBOYS APPEARANCES:::::::
Most Improved Player of the Year
First: Byron Jones, CB, Dallas Cowboys
After being moved from cornerback to safety and failing to develop, the Cowboys at times last season took Jones out of the lineup for sixth-round pick Kavon Frazier. Dallas picked up its former first-round pick's fifth-year option for 2019 and decided to move him back to cornerback, where the UConn product has been a revelation. Opposing No. 1 wideouts are averaging four catches for 61 yards this season against the Cowboys, and the only big play they've hit was a 52-yard touchdown in Week 3, when Tyler Lockett torched Cover-2 away from Jones' side of the field. He's this season's DeMarcus Lawrence for the Dallas defense.
Defensive Player of the Year
Second: DeMarcus Lawrence, DE, Dallas Cowboys
Lawrence now leads the league with 5.5 sacks after racking up three against the Lions in Week 4. He has been consistent as a pass-rusher, chipping in with at least one-half sack and a quarterback knockdown in each of his first three games. Lawrence is up to 10 knockdowns through four weeks, suggesting that the franchise-tagged Cowboys star can keep this sort of pace up. He's on pace to justify a Khalil Mack-sized deal this offseason.
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3 things we learned from Cowboys' win over Lions: Byron Jones may be the best CB in football right now
By John Owning
Contact John Owning on Twitter
JohnOwning
A loss Sunday would have been disastrous, but when the clock struck zero, a 38-yard field goal by Brett Maher cut through the middle of the uprights, giving the Dallas Cowboys (2-2) a 26-24 win over the Detroit Lions (1-3).
After weeks of below-average production, the Cowboys offense moved the ball at will against a soft Lions defense, accumulating 414 yards on 65 plays -- 6.4 yards per play. Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott had their best collective performance of the season, as the offensive line gave Prescott time in the pocket and opened up holes for Elliott in the run game.
The defense wasn't as stout as it had been to start the season, giving up 7.2 yards per play, but it made some key stops near midfield to keep the Lions from scoring opportunities.
With the victory, the Cowboys close the first quarter of the season with a 2-2 record and in the thick of the NFC East race. There's a long way to go, but it could have been much worse for a Cowboys team that struggled mightily, especially on offense, to start the season.
With that being said, let's discuss a few things we learned from the Cowboys' win Sunday.
Cowboys offense gets on track
Through the first three weeks, the Cowboys had one of the worst offenses in football, averaging just 13.7 points per game, but Prescott, Elliott and company were able to slice and dice the Lions defense.
Prescott, who engineered the sixth game-winning drive of his career to set up Maher's field goal, went 17 of 27 for 255 yards and two touchdowns while Elliott finished with more than 200 yards of total offense, running for 152 yards on 25 carries (6.08 yards per carry) and accumulating 88 yards and a touchdown on four catches.
The coaching staff did a marvelous job of putting the players in a position to succeed throughout the game. While Dallas didn't run anything "new" per se, it did use more pre-snap motion, play-action and up-tempo offense against Detroit as offensive coordinator Scott Linehan showed an improvement in sequencing his play calls.
A higher frequency of pre-snap motion gives Prescott an opportunity to identify coverages better before the snap, leading to better post-snap decisions. The Cowboys routinely aligned Elliott out wide before motioning him into the backfield, a helpful way for quarterbacks to identify coverage.
Furthermore, the Cowboys offense played at a faster tempo than it had previously. Using no huddle is a great way for an offense to dictate personnel and create mismatches since it prevents a defense from being able to substitute. When Detroit used its lighter personnel packages on defense (nickel and dime), Dallas countered with an up-tempo offense, allowing it to condense its formations and create beneficial running situations for Elliott with defensive backs in the box instead of linebackers.
More play-action forced the Lions' second-level defenders into a lot of run-pass binds, leading to indecisive play from their linebackers against the run and pass. Play-action passes took advantage of the Lions linebackers creeping toward the line of scrimmage to stop the run. In fact, the Cowboys used play-action on four of the five passes that went for 15 or more yards.
The touchdown throw to Elliott was a great example of using play-action and pre-snap motion creatively to produce big plays:
Here, the Cowboys are in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) against the Lions nickel defense (four defensive linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs).
Once the ball is snapped, Prescott executes a play fake to Cole Beasley, whose jet-sweep action forces the second level of the Lions defense to flow toward the wide side of the field. With the linebackers flowing the wrong way, Joe Looney, Connor Williams and Zack Martin have the space and angles necessary to make their blocks and spring Elliott for the touchdown on the screen pass.
It was a great call to take advantage of the aggressiveness of the Lions' second-level defenders and great execution to turn the play into a touchdown.
Later in the game, the Detroit linebackers stopped biting on the play-action fake, forcing them to be a step late to fill their gap against the run. This gave the Cowboys offensive line great angles to wall off Detroit's second-level defenders, leaving Elliott giant running lanes into Detroit's secondary.
Furthermore, the Cowboys coaching staff did an excellent job of sequencing their play-calling, illustrated best by Elliott's catch to put the Cowboys in field-goal territory to win the game late in the fourth quarter:
When the Cowboys previously used an empty formation, the Lions countered with a Cover 1 defense -- man coverage with a safety in deep-middle zone coverage.
On the above play, the Cowboys took advantage, using an empty formation to manufacture a one-on-one matchup for Elliott against a linebacker in space. Prescott found Elliott, who did an excellent job eating up the cushion between him and the linebacker before using his burst to create separation and give Prescott a usable throwing window, on a fade route from the slot -- a concept known for beating man coverage -- for 34 yards.
With great protection in front of him, Prescott made a perfect throw, dropping the ball in the bucket over the linebacker to Elliott in stride.
It was an excellent play call by Linehan to take advantage of Detroit's coverage tendencies and perfect execution by the Cowboys offense.
DeMarcus Lawrence, Byron Jones are elite; Leighton Vander Esch is ascending
On a day when the Cowboys defense wasn't at its best, DeMarcus Lawrence and Byron Jones continued their stellar play while Leighton Vander Esch performed admirably in Sean Lee's absence.
Jones was dominant in coverage, providing sticky coverage and giving Matthew Stafford minuscule throwing windows throughout the game. Jones does a phenomenal job of taking away vertical routes, using his speed, length and leaping ability to stymie receivers down the field.
In press coverage, Jones displays patient feet with accurate hands, allowing him to consistently disrupt the timing of a receiver's route. When he's in zone coverage, Jones demonstrates great mental processing and eye discipline to take on, pass off and defend receivers in his zone. Stafford was terrified to target Jones in man coverage.
And for good reason -- Jones may be the best cornerback in football right now.
While Jones was locking up receivers in coverage, Lawrence was stealing souls against the run and pass, accounting for eight total tackles and three sacks on the day.
Against the run, Lawrence was routinely disruptive, as he used his quickness and precise hand techniques to defeat blocks and penetrate the backfield. As a pass rusher, Lawrence was effective on stunts and used his potent cross-chop technique to generate pressure, as demonstrated on this sack:
Here, Lawrence is lined up on the outside edge of Lions right tackle Rick Wagner. After the ball is snapped, Lawrence executes a well-timed cross-chop, using his inside hand to knock down Wagner's outside hand and defeat his punch while wrapping around the edge -- displaying the proper footwork to get his toes and hips pointed toward the quarterback, which allows Lawrence to carry his momentum and maintain his balance around the edge -- for the sack.
Now with 5.5 sacks on the season, the Cowboys are likely regretting the fact that they didn't extend Lawrence's contract in the offseason because he's almost certainly going to break the bank after this season.
Coming into the game, one of the biggest storylines was whether Vander Esch would play well enough in Lee's absence. While the Cowboys defense did have some issues, it was not because of Vander Esch's play, as the rookie linebacker performed well against the Lions.
In coverage, the Boise State product was sound, getting the proper depth in his drops and playing with the proper eye discipline while eliminating yards-after-catch opportunities when he was targeted.
Against the run, Vander Esch showed great range to make plays from sideline to sideline, highlighting his athletic ability and instincts. Moreover, Vander Esch did well to take on, play through and avoid blocks when needed against the run.
If Vander Esch can continue his current level of play, the Cowboys are going to have an interesting decision on their hands after the season. Vander Esch's play could make Lee expendable, especially if the former Pro Bowler continues to struggle with injuries.
Whether that comes to fruition or not, the reality is the presence of Vander Esch has afforded the Cowboys defense the ability to survive without Lee in the lineup -- something that couldn't be said previously.
All Cowboys defensive backs not named Byron Jones struggled
While Jones played his tail off in coverage, the rest of the Cowboys secondary played poorly, for the most part. Chidobe Awuzie didn't play terribly, but his inability to locate the ball in the air ruined his blanket coverage on more than one occasion.
Jeff Heath had the worst performance among the defensive backs, as he struggled with missed tackles and made some mistakes in coverage as well. The Cowboys rely on Heath a lot to fill against the run. So when he struggles to tackle well, it leads to big plays for the opposing offense, as demonstrated in the play above.
When he was aligned as the lone deep safety, Xavier Woods played well; however, when he was matched up in coverage against a Lions receiver, Woods struggled to stay in-phase as receivers tended to create separation from him at the top of their routes.
Anthony Brown had his toughest performance of the season, as Detroit routinely took advantage of him with Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones in the slot.
Fan favorite Jourdan Lewis didn't see a ton of action, but when he did, he showed why Brown beat him out in training camp for the slot cornerback job, as he was toasted by Tate for a touchdown.
Ultimately, the Cowboys secondary -- especially the cornerbacks -- has performed well throughout the season. Yet the unit struggled mightily against the Lions' potent pass attack. Because the secondary almost wasted positive performances by the defensive line and linebackers, it will be important that the group bounces back moving forward.
John Owning writes about NFL player evaluation for SportsDayDFW.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnOwning.
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ugh dude i just saw that pic posted on twitter
that chain is probably the 2nd most expensive queer thing money can buy (the 1st is elton john)
NoMoRedJ
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RKG =RKQ
yimyammer
Quality Starter
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Gawd damn it, every fucking time a cowboy player does didly squat, they're immediately vaulted to the "best in the league" status, its one of many reasons why the organization desperately needs to get jeri and his uber positive ass out of all things football related because players and staff need to be grounded to reality if they ever hope to climb the mountain again
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yimyammer
Quality Starter
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skulls and cross bones, grim reapers and poisonous snakes everywhere were tired of having their reputations sullied and put a stop to that shit
#UsToo
