The Dallas Cowboys snapped their two-game losing streak on Monday Night Football, topping a depleted Philadelphia Eagles team by a final score of 38-21.
It took longer than expected for Dallas to put this one away, but a win is all that mattered to prevent the season from spiraling out of control. The Cowboys are now 3-4 on the season, with a winnable (whatever that means) matchup against the 2-5 Cardinals on deck this Sunday.
Dak Prescott returned to form. Javonte Williams ran all over a mostly healthy Eagles defense, and DeMarvion Overshown iced the win with a fourth-quarter interception in his return from a hamstring injury. This one had a little bit of everything. Let's get into it.
Instant reactions to the Cowboys' Week 7 win over the Eagles
1. Christian Parker's defense is not getting better
The Cowboys' defense was embarrassed on Philly's opening possession, allowing a four-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.
On the first play, Dallas got fooled by play-action and left Saquon Barkley wide open in the flat for an easy first down. Everyone inside Lincoln Financial Field knew Barkley was getting the ball early. It didn't matter.
The Eagles ripped off gains of 12, 29 and 21 yards before Barkley put the finishing touch on the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run. Rashan Gary failed to set the edge on the TD, but DaRon Bland was just as culpable, biting on the misdirection and allowing Barkley to bounce outside untouched into the end zone.
To open the second half, Tanner McKee led a 14-play, 9-minute touchdown drive to give the Eagles a 21-20 lead. Barkley, who was in and out of the game all night, had left the field early in the drive. In other words, Christian Parker's defense allowed a backup quarterback, Dameon Pierce, Makai Lemon, and Hollywood Brown to control the third quarter.
It was pathetic for Parker's unit to make a Tanner McKee-led offense look that comfortable from the opening snap. The Cowboys may have won, and the final stats may not look terrible, but there are way more questions than answers about Parker after seven weeks. His defense isn't getting better.
2. Brian Schottenheimer got back to the run, and it worked
You just had a feeling that Schottenheimer would make it a point to pound the rock after abandoning it against the Packers. The Cowboys' head coach did just that,
By the early second quarter, Dallas had eclipsed their rushing total in each of the last two weeks. Javonte Williams and Tyler Goodson were featured heavily in the first half, rushing a combined 16 times for 93 yards, good for 5.8 yards a pop.
It was more of the same in the second half, even though the Cowboys never had a comfortable lead until late in the fourth. Williams notched a career-high 155 rushing yards on 25 carries, becoming the first Dallas running back since Ezekiel Elliott to reach 150 yards in a game.
The Cowboys ran the ball once over their final 38 plays against the Packers. That was only one of several criticisms Schottenheimer had to answer for coming out of Week 6. To his credit, he adjusted and his offense dominated.
3. More Tyler Goodson, please
A lot of Cowboys fans have been pounding the table to see more of Goodson. Not because Javonte Williams hasn't been running well, but because Williams is almost exclusively a north-and-south runner. There's plenty of value in that style, but it also makes Dallas' running game more predictable.
Goodson got his most burn of the season, and he looked the part of an effective RB2, carrying 10 times for 38 yards, even taking a jet sweep for a handful of yards.
Ironically, Goodson's most impressive moment came on a play that didn't count: a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that was nullified by a Justin Barron holding penalty.
The hold partially enabled Goodson to break free, but he did 98 percent of the work, showing excellent vision and the speed to explode in and out of his cuts. It was a perfect snapshot of the big-play element he can bring to an offense that could use more of it.
The Cowboys have something here. His role should continue to grow.
4. Elijah Garcia, you have my attention
In the second quarter, Garcia shot into the backfield and stuffed Dameon Pierce for no gain on first-and-10.
It was a timely response after Pierce had ripped off a 12-yard run on the previous play and helped get Dallas back on schedule defensively. The Cowboys forced two straight incompletions from there to produce their first punt of the night, and Garcia's first-down win set the tone for the entire sequence.
Monday night was not the first time Garcia made a splash play. Dallas' scouting and personnel departments deserve credit for identifying Garcia, whom the Cowboys signed on Sept. 1 after he turned heads during the preseason with the Panthers.
Even when Jonathan Bullard returns from injury, Garcia is making a strong case to stick around with LT Overton as a rotational defensive tackle.
5. The Cowboys did not get a great whistle
Speaking of Overton, he got hosed by a roughing the passer penalty when the Cowboys appeared to get a stop on third-and-8 in the red zone.
Overton got his hands up to deflect the pass, and his arms naturally came down on Tanner McKee's helmet as he completed the motion. That's not roughing the passer. Overton made a natural football play, and the natural follow-through happened to result in contact.
Dameon Pierce ran for a five-yard touchdown on the very next play. The Eagles were gifted a free touchdown.
If you're keeping score at home, the refs also missed an unnecessary roughness on Andrew Mukuba, who leveled a defenseless Jonathan Mingo well after a deep ball fell incomplete. And they missed a clear facemask on CeeDee Lamb near the sideline.
These mistakes are magnified when you have a defense that is being worked by (another) backup quarterback.
6. Brandon Aubrey's kickoffs had Eagles in a blender
Brandon Aubrey was perfect on the night, drilling both of his field-goal attempts, but his work on kickoffs was just as important.
Aubrey's squib kicks were executed to perfection. He landed them inside the 10-yard line, which made for awkward bounces and delayed returns, preventing the Eagles from getting much of anything in the return game.
The Cowboys will have elite kickoff coverage if Aubrey can do this every week. He had Philly's returners in a blender for four quarters. It doesn't happen often, but Dallas won the field-position battle in this one pretty comfortably.
7. Rayne Dakota Prescott is back
After two shaky performances by his standards, the Cowboys needed their quarterback to steady the ship in a must-win game on the road. He did more than that.
With Dallas' defense struggling to get stops and the Eagles moving the ball with little resistance, Prescott couldn't afford empty possessions. He answered the bell, repeatedly keeping the offense on schedule and matching Philadelphia when the game felt like it was teetering.
Prescott completed 15 of 27 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover. Throwing three TDs is impressive without context, but all three were frozen ropes into keyholes, the best coming on a 21-yard laser to George Pickens.
Dak was in complete control all night despite having zero margin for error. He is back to the level he reached before the Cowboys' two-game skid.
8. Brian Schottenheimer is still a coward
Schottenheimer did so many good things tonight. He deserves as much credit as anyone for getting the offense back on track. He committed to the run and trusted his star wide receivers to overwhelm Philly's secondary. But he continues to be his own worst enemy.
In the first quarter, Schottenheimer elected to take the points (a 55-yard field goal) despite an illegal formation penalty on the Eagles, which presented Dallas with a 4th-and-3. Predictably, he declined the penalty, opting to stick with the 3-0 lead.
Why not be aggressive instead of trusting your league-worst defense to keep Philly out of the end zone?
Ever the coward, Schottenheimer also called two separate give-up runs on third-and-8.
The first came late in the second quarter with the Cowboys leading 17-14. Rather than put the ball in Prescott's hands and try to extend the drive, Schottenheimer conceded the possession and punted, handing a short field to an Eagles offense that was already set to receive the second-half kickoff. Philadelphia did nothing with the opportunity, but the result doesn't absolve the decision.
Given the game script and how easily the Eagles were moving the ball, willingly giving away a possession was indefensible.
The second came in the fourth quarter with Dallas leading 28-21. Facing another third-and-8, Schottenheimer handed the ball to Hunter Luepke, clearly content to protect the field-goal attempt and take a two-score lead. That's playing not to lose.
Prescott was dealing, the running game was having its way with Philadelphia's defense and the Eagles had shown little ability to slow either down. With a chance to keep his foot on the gas and potentially put the game away, Schottenheimer instead settled for the safe outcome.
The Cowboys won, but Schottenheimer's lack of aggression continues to be one of his biggest flaws as a head coach.
Add us as a preferred source on Google