Cowboys need to avoid costly mistake they made vs. Lions once they're in the playoffs
With all of the conversation surrounding the controversial win from the Dallas Cowboys over the Detroit Lions, I feel like we left a lot of meat on the bone in terms of breaking down what happened in Saturday night beyond a couple of officiating mistakes. For the most part, the Cowboys' outing was promising. Dak […]
With all of the conversation surrounding the controversial win from the Dallas Cowboys over the Detroit Lions, I feel like we left a lot of meat on the bone in terms of breaking down what happened in Saturday night beyond a couple of officiating mistakes.
For the most part, the Cowboys' outing was promising. Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb were cooking early and the game would've looked much prettier if it wasn't for a costly goal-line fumble. Even still, Lamb's historic 227-yard game was remarkable and worthy of being praised.
And what about Brandin Cooks? Besides the fact that he and Prescott still need to connect in those vertical routes, the pair have had a special relationship in clutch situations and Week 17 was no exception as the veteran wide receiver caught a key third down in the fourth quarter only to set up another clutch catch to retake the lead with a touchdown.
As for the defense? While they allowed 420 yards and 6.2 in average, it got back to what it does best: Takeaways and tackles for loss. DeMarcus Lawrence was showing off his play-making abilities against a fearsome rushing offense and the defensive backs generated some chaos as Donovan Wilson and Jourdan Lewis each had an interception.
Overall, it was a very promising game from the Cowboys against one of the best teams in the NFC. But Dallas also made some critical mistakes, especially in terms of decision making and one of them has to change soon.
Cowboys must fully embrace passing identity
Since the bye week, Mike McCarthy has turned up the aggression dials all the way up, becoming one of the most pass-hapy teams in the league. Per RBDM, the Cowboys have passed at the fourth-highest rate in the league in early downs in neutral situations.
To put that into context, during the Kellen Moore era (2019-2022), the Cowboys were 15th in the league in that category.
Specifically since the bye week, McCarthy has been surprisingly aggressive on first down. But it's not always been pretty, as the Cowboys' play-caller often turns conservative out of nowhere, which can lead to some head-scratching moments.
The Lions game was a great example of this, as the Cowboys were much more insisting on running the ball on first down even though it wasn't working out for them. The tweet from Warren Sharp below was sent before the Cowboys' last two drives. The offense was almost even in pass/run ratio in first downs even though they were terrible running while Prescott had a perfect 100% completion rate.
The desire to run the ball so much on first down was different from other's weeks, as made evident by the Cowboys' pass frequency over expected numbers on first down:
- Weeks 1-6: -1%
- Weeks 7-16 (post-bye week): +10%
- Week 17: -7%
Mike McCarthy said leading up to Week 18 that the Cowboys will spend more time getting the running game right. While that's all fine and well, there's one mistake they've got to avoid: This is a passing team and the running game is a weakness.
Sure, it's all good if they decide to dedicate time in practice to try and fix it but this late in the season, they're better off leaning in their strength in a big way. They can't go into the playoffs thinking they'll win by keeping it on the ground.
Dak Prescott is likely gonna end up being second-place in MVP voting this year and it's for a reason. He's the best shot at a Super Bowl run. Make it about him. It's their best shot.
All it takes is one game where they deviate from that that could really complicate things in January and send them packing home.
Cowboys: Concern level for every potential Wild Card opponent
Everything changed last weekend.
