Dallas Cowboys: 3 biggest takeaways from dominant victory over Falcons
123. Final. 3. 44. 43
The Dallas Cowboys have improved 7-2 with their most lopsided victory of the season. The 43-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons was the response that everyone was looking for coming off the brutal performance against Denver.
As we enter the middle of November this is the time teams want to start playing their best football. From what we saw in this game, it appears the Cowboys are going to do just that.
Without further ado, here are the biggest takeaways from the beatdown of the Falcons.
Dallas Cowboys: 3. The special teams may be… elite?
Once again on Sunday, the Cowboys had a blocked punt, the third one this season, and this resulted in a touchdown by rookie Nahshon Wright. Head coach Mike McCarthy said in Tuesday’s press conference that, ” The unit that is playing the best here this past month is special teams.”
Under McCarthy and special teams coordinator John Fassel, the special teams has never played better. The Cowboys lead the NFL in blocked punt percentage with 5.88% of opponents punts being blocked.
Just how big of an impact is this new coaching staff having on special teams? Take a look at how many blocked punts the Cowboys had under Jason Garrett,
The #Cowboys have blocked three punts this season.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) November 14, 2021
They blocked one total punt during the Jason Garrett era (2010-2019)
and this…
The #Cowboys have scored 7 D/ST TDs in Mike McCarthy's 24 games as the team's head coach.
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) November 14, 2021
The #Cowboys scored 5 D/ST TDs in Jason Garrett's final 69 games as the team's head coach.
Blocked punts/kicks are such huge momentum swings in games that they drastically increase your chances of winning if you can execute them. The continued success of the special teams not only in blocking kicks but successfully making field goals can be the difference between the Cowboys receiving a first-round bye or not.