The Dallas Cowboys offense was solid in Sunday Night’s win over the New York Giants. Quarterback Dak Prescott showed out against the team that beat him twice in his rookie season, finishing 24 of 39 for 268 yards. Ezekiel Elliott had another 100+ yard game and a career-high five catch game. Jason Witten broke yet another record, becoming the Cowboys’ all-time leader in receiving yards.
That’s all fine, dandy and, well, typical, of this talented offense. Did we expect anything less? Let’s talk about the real story here. Raise your hand if you were pleasantly surprised by the Cowboys defense.
(Live footage of me in my living room watching the Cowboys defense.)
Because let’s be real… there were many questions in the off-season about this group, all things considered. But I think we can all breathe a little easier after this win. Just a little. We do have another game Sunday.
Defense held their NFC East rivals to just three points. The last time a Cowboys defense has held a team to less than seven points in the regular season was in 2013 against the Philadelphia Eagles in a Week 7 win. Impressive!
Granted the Giants were without their larger than life wide receiver Odell Beckham due to an ankle injury, Coach Jason Garrett believed there was still enough talent on that G-Men team to possibly put up more points.
“Ultimately you are measured by how many points you give up,” Garrett said to Todd Archer of ESPN. “For us to hold them to three points, they’ve got a lot of weapons on that offense. Obviously the quarterback is outstanding. So for us to be able to do that against that offense, I thought that was impressive.”
The Giants offense had just two first downs in the first half, and Eli Manning was sacked three times and picked off once. That pick came from a player that kinddd of made me want to take back some words I wrote pre-training camp.
I wrote an article highlighting the players that needed a stellar year for the Cowboys to surpass their 2016 success. I wrote with the notion that if those players were not on the field, the team would struggle. Orlando Scandrick was on that list. Yea. Anthony Brown, with his chip on his shoulder, stepped in, didn’t miss a beat, and demolished my little, baby take.
Listen to what he had to say about the defense’s performance and his big interception that sealed the Cowboys’ win over the Giants.
DeMarcus Lawrence had two sacks and Charles Tapper had the first of his career. Jaylon Smith played 36 defensive snaps in his debut, finishing with seven tackles (four solo) and the game’s only forced fumble. Overall, it was a good night for the defense, and more nights like that will be needed for a successful campaign to Super Bowl LII.
Next week the defense will travel to face a Denver Broncos offense coming off of a Monday Night win over the San Diego Chargers. Please, oh please, Cowboys defense… give me another good reason to use the above gif in an article!
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