Post by Matt Meyer, Sports Morning and College Football Coverage Producer @bluto51 on Twitter
Old man’s thoughts coming in 3, 2, 1…
Hard to recognize what we saw last Sunday as Dallas/Washington. Two organizations that combined to win 8 Super Bowls in a 25 year span aren’t anywhere close and haven’t been for a while now. Also hard to recognize if you just turned the TV on and didn’t see a scoreboard at the bottom of the screen. Helpful hint…if at any time the TV announcer, in this case FOX’s Kevin Burkhardt, has to tell the viewers “do not adjust your TV set, that really is Washington,” maybe it’s time to rethink what your alternate uniforms look like. I know it’s all about creating revenue. I know the players like them, although I’d think professionals wouldn’t care as much. I’ve just never needed a fashion show when I watch a football game. There’s plenty of other channels for that. Exception: give me ALL of the throwbacks. Every single one.
Deep breath…exhale. Now then.
Cowboys 3-1 when I thought they’d be 2-2 and didn’t know Prescott would miss 3 games. What do I have to be upset about?
Defense playing tremendous, pressuring the QB like mad. Hope they continue against an offensive line that allowed 7 sacks, 9 tackles for loss, and 11 QB hits. Two of the three wins have been against pedestrian or worse offenses but the Bengals are a lot like the Rams, a lot of offensive weaponry, but poor offensive line play. Still could use to tighten up against the run.
Trevon Diggs seems to be in position more consistently this season than last. Yes, he led the league in picks a year ago, but he’s also allowed more yards than anyone over his first two seasons. There’s more to being a great CB than just your interception total and Diggs is developing more into that. If he is a step off from where he should be, he has the athleticism to close the gap and make the play.
Now, to the hot topic, the Cowboys offense. Cooper Rush continues to play well, avoiding the big mistake at the worst time, although he did have two picks called back because of penalty. Maybe he threw those passes knowing the flag would nullify a pick, I’m not sure, but as long as he takes care of the football, he’ll make a throw or two and the Cowboys can be in good shape. Dallas didn’t run the ball very effectively last week against Washington. Pollard did nothing and Elliott did very little. As defenses continue to clamp down on the Cowboys’ running game, it will be more and more important for WR’s to win battles and Rush, and soon Prescott, to deliver the ball on time and on target. So far so good, but the competition improves in three of the next five games.
I don’t expect Dak back any time soon. He couldn’t even grip a football earlier in the week and there was visible swelling in his hand a few days ago. Hard to practice with that. Prescott even admitted he probably rushed his rehab a little. Hope he comes back soon as he’s the better player, and I hope the Cowboys will continue to operate as they have with Rush, emphasizing the running game and not putting everything on Prescott.
This is a very good spot for the Rams. I know they played on Monday night and it’s a short week, but they’re coming off a bad performance against San Francisco, which in this league has a way of sharpening up a well coached team throughout the week in practice. Cowboys are feeling good about themselves, which is positive, but I hope they’re not listening to too much noise outside the building. One genius on ESPN said this week that Cooper Rush is the NFL MVP. Same genius declared Mike McCarthy the Coach of the Year. I’m not as down on McCarthy as others have been and I think it’s interesting that nobody wants to give him any credit when his team goes 3-0 with a backup QB. He sure seems to get a lot of criticism when they lose, some of it justified. Point is, this league can humble you very quickly and a good candidate to get humbled is a team that’s just okay playing a championship caliber team coming off an embarrassing game. There’s solid reasoning to be optimistic for Sunday with the Cowboys’ pass rush, but I think Aaron Donald could have a big day as I expect to see him over LG a lot, avoiding Zack Martin. Be interesting to see how much Diggs is on Cooper Kupp. Tough chore for anyone, and Diggs better not take too many chances. Rams are more talented than the Cowboys and I think this is one of those “pride weeks” in this league where a team shows why they’re not to be counted out. Would love to be wrong.
Rush throws his first interception and Dallas shows some flaws defensively. Rams 27 Cowboys 17.