Cowboys studs and duds: Tony Pollard explodes in Week 8 win
By Randy Gurzi
The Dallas Cowboys offense was stagnant in Week 7 but that wasn’t the case against the Chicago Bears in Week 8. They came out firing and scored touchdowns on their first four drives of the game to take a commanding lead.
Chicago fought back into the game but the Cowboys continued to pound the ball on the ground as their defense kept attacking Justin Fields. The result was a lopsided win that improved them to 6-2 on the season.
Here we look back over the game and identify a few studs and duds from Week 8.
Cowboys studs and duds from Week 8 win over the Bears
Stud: CeeDee Lamb, Wide Receiver
CeeDee Lamb continues to step up as the No. 1 receiver for Dallas. This week, he hauled in the first receiving touchdown of the game, putting the Cowboys up 14-0 when he caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott, which came on a third-and-nine.
https://twitter.com/dallascowboys/status/1586771361946820609?s=20&t=cJnBc64QnWXdKIlXwEzklw
A couple of drives later, he again had a big catch on third down, going for 15 yards on a third-and-eight. That moved the chains and led to a 28-7 lead as Jake Ferguson caught it from one yard out. In all, he had 77 yards and a score and it could have been more had Dallas not resorted to running to kill the clock in the fourth.
Dud: Dante Fowler, Jr., EDGE
With a 28-7 lead, Dallas appeared to have forced a three-and-out after Fields threw an incompletion toward Dante Pettis on third-and-four. However, the Bears were bailed out by Dante Fowler, Jr. who was lined up offside.
That flag gave Chicago a fresh set of downs and they wound up cutting the lead to 14. In this game, it wound up not mattering much but against a better team — and in a closer game — it could have been a huge mistake.
Flags have been a problem for Dallas, but they’ve been cleaning them up. This was just a reminder that they still need to maintain discipline and pay attention to the smallest of details. Or even big ones, like where the line of scrimmage is. Yes. He did have some impressive defensive plays, but this isn’t the first problematic flag against Fowler this season.