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By Jon Machota 2h ago
ARLINGTON, Texas — Doug Pederson’s comments gained a lot of attention throughout the week leading up to Sunday night’s game.
The Eagles coach said last Monday that Philadelphia would beat the Cowboys and take over first place in the NFC East.
Dallas responded with easily its best game of the season, improving to a division-leading 4-3 record after a dominant 37-10 win at AT&T Stadium.
When first asked after the game if Pederson’s comments fired up the Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott shrugged it off, saying that they don’t care what another man says about their team. The two-time rushing champ gave credit to an electric home crowd and being motivated by a rivalry game.
But Elliott got a little more colorful when later asked again if Pederson provided any extra motivation.
“We don’t need inspiration from him to go out there and play hard,” Elliott said. “This rivalry is enough. Honestly, we don’t give a fuck what Doug Pederson says.”
DeMarcus Lawrence shared similar thoughts. On Friday, Lawrence suggested that Pederson should “shut his ass up and stay on the sidelines.”
When asked after the game?
“I told him to shut up, didn’t I? Alright,” Lawrence said. “What do you think he’s doing now? Don’t ask me about that man no more.”
There were many key plays that led to the lopsided final score. Brett Maher became the first kicker in NFL history to make three field goals of 60 or more yards in his career. Dak Prescott added a rushing touchdown that allowed him to pass Roger Staubach for most rushing TDs by a Cowboys QB in franchise history. Amari Cooper, Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, Byron Jones and Randall Cobb all played significant roles despite not knowing earlier in the week if they would play at all because of injuries.
But as is the case after every game, we trim it down to the five key plays that decided the outcome.
1.) Jaylon Smith’s forced fumble. Less than two minutes into the game, the Dallas defense did something that it hasn’t done nearly enough this season: It forced a turnover. On 2nd-and-10 from the Philadelphia 35, Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert caught a short pass across the middle that gained roughly eight yards. Smith and Leighton Vander Esch were playing back, allowing Goedert to make the grab underneath. As Smith and Vander Esch closed in, Smith delivered a hit around the tight end’s waist, knocking the ball free. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins was in the perfect spot to dive on top, giving the Cowboys offense the opportunity to start on their opponent’s side of the 50-yard line for the first time this season. Dallas entered the game with only five takeaways in six games. The Cowboys forced four Sunday night.
“We knew sooner or later that something was going to break for us and things would go our way,” Vander Esch said. “That’s just by keeping it coming, play after play, knowing that sooner or later we’re going to get something.”
Elliott added: “When the defense comes out there and takes the ball away on the first two drives, it’s hard to lose that ball game.”
2.) Tavon Austin’s touchdown. After getting the ball on the Eagles’ 45 to start their first possession of the game, the Cowboys responded with a six-play touchdown drive, capped off by Austin’s run on third-and-2 with 10:17 left in the first quarter. Dallas lined up with Austin in the slot to the right, Jason Witten in the slot to the left and Michael Gallup (left) and Amari Cooper (right) out wide. Before the snap, Austin came in motion as if he was going to take a handoff directly from Dak Prescott, who was in shotgun with Tony Pollard to his right. As Austin began to run behind Pollard and Prescott, he stopped and darted back to the right. Prescott then faked the handoff to Pollard and pitched to Austin, who had a lot of open turf in front. He then used a stutter-step move to freeze former Cowboy and current Eagles cornerback Orlando Scandrick near the 15-yard line. Gallup blocked his defender up the field, allowing Austin to use his speed to do the rest. It was Dallas’ first touchdown scored on an opening drive this season. It was also the first Cowboys first-half touchdown since Week 3.
“It was a great design by the coaches,” Prescott said. “I know they like to rock and roll their safeties, and we sent Tavon right there in the backfield. They brought the blitz off the edge, and I was able just to quick pull, pitch it. Tavon had him outflanked, made the guy miss, and went and got a touchdown. It was a great way to start the game.”
3.) DeMarcus Lawrence’s strip-sack. Entering Sunday night’s game, Lawrence had never recorded a sack against the Eagles in nine career games. On the second play of the Eagles’ second possession, Lawrence faked inside before going around the outside of Philadelphia Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson. It was a subtle move but it caused Johnson to fall, providing just enough space to get an arm out, knocking the ball out of Carson Wentz’s throwing hand. Defensive tackle Antwaun Woods then fought off center Jason Kelce to get on top of the ball, giving Dallas’ offense first down at the Philadelphia 14-yard line with 9:14 still to play in the first quarter. At this point, AT&T Stadium was the loudest it has been at any point this season.
“He’s not just a shit-talker,” Jaylon Smith said of Lawrence. “He backs it up.”
4.) Ezekiel Elliott’s 13-yard run on the next play. At first, it looked like Elliott scored on the run up the middle. A review ruled that he was down at the one-yard line. He’d punch it in on the next play as Dallas took a 14-0 lead. But the 13-yarder was the most important run of the night as Elliott finished with a game-high 111 yards on 22 carries. The key element to the play was how he lowered his shoulder to bulldoze Eagles Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins. The play brought back memories of Elliott’s first preseason game his rookie year at Seattle when he set the tone by delivering multiple big blows to Seahawks star safety Kam Chancellor.
“I like to look at the defense like a shield,” Elliott said. “In the first quarter, you hit them a couple times, you’re gonna dent the shield, you’re gonna make it splinter a little bit. If you keep hitting it, little pieces are gonna break off, and eventually, it’s gonna break. That’s my mentality going into every game.”
On Sunday, Elliott was looking at an eight-man box before the play started. Lined up in the I-formation with fullback Jamize Olawale in front, Elliott got several key blocks from each of Dallas’ offensive linemen as well as Olawale, Jason Witten, Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper.
“From my standpoint, I thought it was his best game,” Jason Witten said. “Just hard runs against that defense. It deflates a group like that who has so much confidence that they can stop the run.”
Jerry Jones added: “A lot works when Zeke can physically run the ball. I thought Zeke just appeared to be at an extra strength, or extra physical tonight.”
5.) Fourth-and-1. Prescott had just been stopped on a QB-keeper up the middle on 3rd-and-1 the play before. With the Cowboys holding a 14-7 lead and 11:15 left in the second quarter, Jason Garrett decided to have Dallas go for it from its own 49. Prescott lined up under center and showed handoff to Elliott, who was alone in the backfield. Elliott broke out to his right on what appeared to be a stretch run play, but Prescott kept the ball. With Eagles safety Rodney McLeod quickly closing in, Prescott dumped off a short pass to Elliott, who ended up gaining nine yards on the play. Six plays later, the Cowboys were up 21-7.
“We just needed to do that,” Jason Garrett said of his decision to go for it on fourth down. “We needed to stay aggressive and convert that, continue to have confidence in our guys. And our guys did a great job backing us up, making the plays and continuing down to allow us to score points to go ahead by a couple of scores.”
“I love that play call, and we executed it the right way,” Prescott said. “We have a coach that is aggressive. We have a coach that believes in our offense and believes in the guys that he has. We were in the situation last weekend, and we did the same thing. So, it’s just kind of who we are. We’re a team that believes in themselves.”
Bonus play: On the first play of the fourth quarter, Prescott targeted Amari Cooper along the right sideline for a highlight grab that eventually set up a Maher field goal that put Dallas up 30-10. Cooper lined up to the far right with Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills, who was defending him in man-coverage. Prescott threw a precise pass that only a diving Cooper could get his hands on. The play resulted in a 28-yard gain on third-and-6. Here’s how Cooper saw it.
“It’s really like a stop-route that will convert versus press-coverage,” he explained. “He kind of bailed a little bit, so I was really supposed to stop it. I wouldn’t have been wrong either way. But obviously I wanted the deep ball because it’s more yards. He was bailing, so when I tried to give him a release as if he was press, it didn’t work obviously. He was running backwards. I kind of tried to catch up to him, and I had to catch up to him, because he was in front of me. Dak just threw it out there and he trusted my skill set, I guess. I just went and grabbed it.”
Cooper, who finished with five catches for 106 yards, said his injured quad feels “a lot better. It’s, like, 90 percent.”
Other notable postgame comments:
Amari Cooper: “Man, if I can ball out in the same game that Zeke balls out in, we’ll never lose.”
Jerry Jones when asked about the possibility of Leighton Vander Esch (neck) or Robert Quinn (ribs) being out an extended period of time: “I don’t see that. I don’t want to conjecture that because I don’t see that standing here at all.”
Ezekiel Elliott on snapping their three-game losing streak: “This team needed this. This team definitely needed this win, especially in the fashion that we did it. Get some momentum for the season, get some momentum going into this bye week, so we can close this season out right.”
Dak Prescott on the energy he felt before kickoff: “It was no different than the energy I felt all week long. It’s kind of that ‘backs against the wall’ mentality. You don’t necessarily want to be in that position, but I’ve told you all, all year long and will continue to say that we have the right men in that locker room that when we’re in this position, guys that double down on themselves, believe in the man next to them and go out there and just perform like they need to perform when they need to.
“We’re going to grow from it, figure out how to do that when we win a couple of games here in a row, as we’re about to go do. And when success hits, we’re going to handle that the right way and not put ourselves in adverse situations.”
By Jon Machota 2h ago
ARLINGTON, Texas — Doug Pederson’s comments gained a lot of attention throughout the week leading up to Sunday night’s game.
The Eagles coach said last Monday that Philadelphia would beat the Cowboys and take over first place in the NFC East.
Dallas responded with easily its best game of the season, improving to a division-leading 4-3 record after a dominant 37-10 win at AT&T Stadium.
When first asked after the game if Pederson’s comments fired up the Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott shrugged it off, saying that they don’t care what another man says about their team. The two-time rushing champ gave credit to an electric home crowd and being motivated by a rivalry game.
But Elliott got a little more colorful when later asked again if Pederson provided any extra motivation.
“We don’t need inspiration from him to go out there and play hard,” Elliott said. “This rivalry is enough. Honestly, we don’t give a fuck what Doug Pederson says.”
DeMarcus Lawrence shared similar thoughts. On Friday, Lawrence suggested that Pederson should “shut his ass up and stay on the sidelines.”
When asked after the game?
“I told him to shut up, didn’t I? Alright,” Lawrence said. “What do you think he’s doing now? Don’t ask me about that man no more.”
There were many key plays that led to the lopsided final score. Brett Maher became the first kicker in NFL history to make three field goals of 60 or more yards in his career. Dak Prescott added a rushing touchdown that allowed him to pass Roger Staubach for most rushing TDs by a Cowboys QB in franchise history. Amari Cooper, Tyron Smith, La’el Collins, Byron Jones and Randall Cobb all played significant roles despite not knowing earlier in the week if they would play at all because of injuries.
But as is the case after every game, we trim it down to the five key plays that decided the outcome.
1.) Jaylon Smith’s forced fumble. Less than two minutes into the game, the Dallas defense did something that it hasn’t done nearly enough this season: It forced a turnover. On 2nd-and-10 from the Philadelphia 35, Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert caught a short pass across the middle that gained roughly eight yards. Smith and Leighton Vander Esch were playing back, allowing Goedert to make the grab underneath. As Smith and Vander Esch closed in, Smith delivered a hit around the tight end’s waist, knocking the ball free. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins was in the perfect spot to dive on top, giving the Cowboys offense the opportunity to start on their opponent’s side of the 50-yard line for the first time this season. Dallas entered the game with only five takeaways in six games. The Cowboys forced four Sunday night.
“We knew sooner or later that something was going to break for us and things would go our way,” Vander Esch said. “That’s just by keeping it coming, play after play, knowing that sooner or later we’re going to get something.”
Elliott added: “When the defense comes out there and takes the ball away on the first two drives, it’s hard to lose that ball game.”
2.) Tavon Austin’s touchdown. After getting the ball on the Eagles’ 45 to start their first possession of the game, the Cowboys responded with a six-play touchdown drive, capped off by Austin’s run on third-and-2 with 10:17 left in the first quarter. Dallas lined up with Austin in the slot to the right, Jason Witten in the slot to the left and Michael Gallup (left) and Amari Cooper (right) out wide. Before the snap, Austin came in motion as if he was going to take a handoff directly from Dak Prescott, who was in shotgun with Tony Pollard to his right. As Austin began to run behind Pollard and Prescott, he stopped and darted back to the right. Prescott then faked the handoff to Pollard and pitched to Austin, who had a lot of open turf in front. He then used a stutter-step move to freeze former Cowboy and current Eagles cornerback Orlando Scandrick near the 15-yard line. Gallup blocked his defender up the field, allowing Austin to use his speed to do the rest. It was Dallas’ first touchdown scored on an opening drive this season. It was also the first Cowboys first-half touchdown since Week 3.
“It was a great design by the coaches,” Prescott said. “I know they like to rock and roll their safeties, and we sent Tavon right there in the backfield. They brought the blitz off the edge, and I was able just to quick pull, pitch it. Tavon had him outflanked, made the guy miss, and went and got a touchdown. It was a great way to start the game.”
3.) DeMarcus Lawrence’s strip-sack. Entering Sunday night’s game, Lawrence had never recorded a sack against the Eagles in nine career games. On the second play of the Eagles’ second possession, Lawrence faked inside before going around the outside of Philadelphia Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson. It was a subtle move but it caused Johnson to fall, providing just enough space to get an arm out, knocking the ball out of Carson Wentz’s throwing hand. Defensive tackle Antwaun Woods then fought off center Jason Kelce to get on top of the ball, giving Dallas’ offense first down at the Philadelphia 14-yard line with 9:14 still to play in the first quarter. At this point, AT&T Stadium was the loudest it has been at any point this season.
“He’s not just a shit-talker,” Jaylon Smith said of Lawrence. “He backs it up.”
4.) Ezekiel Elliott’s 13-yard run on the next play. At first, it looked like Elliott scored on the run up the middle. A review ruled that he was down at the one-yard line. He’d punch it in on the next play as Dallas took a 14-0 lead. But the 13-yarder was the most important run of the night as Elliott finished with a game-high 111 yards on 22 carries. The key element to the play was how he lowered his shoulder to bulldoze Eagles Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins. The play brought back memories of Elliott’s first preseason game his rookie year at Seattle when he set the tone by delivering multiple big blows to Seahawks star safety Kam Chancellor.
“I like to look at the defense like a shield,” Elliott said. “In the first quarter, you hit them a couple times, you’re gonna dent the shield, you’re gonna make it splinter a little bit. If you keep hitting it, little pieces are gonna break off, and eventually, it’s gonna break. That’s my mentality going into every game.”
On Sunday, Elliott was looking at an eight-man box before the play started. Lined up in the I-formation with fullback Jamize Olawale in front, Elliott got several key blocks from each of Dallas’ offensive linemen as well as Olawale, Jason Witten, Michael Gallup and Amari Cooper.
“From my standpoint, I thought it was his best game,” Jason Witten said. “Just hard runs against that defense. It deflates a group like that who has so much confidence that they can stop the run.”
Jerry Jones added: “A lot works when Zeke can physically run the ball. I thought Zeke just appeared to be at an extra strength, or extra physical tonight.”
5.) Fourth-and-1. Prescott had just been stopped on a QB-keeper up the middle on 3rd-and-1 the play before. With the Cowboys holding a 14-7 lead and 11:15 left in the second quarter, Jason Garrett decided to have Dallas go for it from its own 49. Prescott lined up under center and showed handoff to Elliott, who was alone in the backfield. Elliott broke out to his right on what appeared to be a stretch run play, but Prescott kept the ball. With Eagles safety Rodney McLeod quickly closing in, Prescott dumped off a short pass to Elliott, who ended up gaining nine yards on the play. Six plays later, the Cowboys were up 21-7.
“We just needed to do that,” Jason Garrett said of his decision to go for it on fourth down. “We needed to stay aggressive and convert that, continue to have confidence in our guys. And our guys did a great job backing us up, making the plays and continuing down to allow us to score points to go ahead by a couple of scores.”
“I love that play call, and we executed it the right way,” Prescott said. “We have a coach that is aggressive. We have a coach that believes in our offense and believes in the guys that he has. We were in the situation last weekend, and we did the same thing. So, it’s just kind of who we are. We’re a team that believes in themselves.”
Bonus play: On the first play of the fourth quarter, Prescott targeted Amari Cooper along the right sideline for a highlight grab that eventually set up a Maher field goal that put Dallas up 30-10. Cooper lined up to the far right with Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills, who was defending him in man-coverage. Prescott threw a precise pass that only a diving Cooper could get his hands on. The play resulted in a 28-yard gain on third-and-6. Here’s how Cooper saw it.
“It’s really like a stop-route that will convert versus press-coverage,” he explained. “He kind of bailed a little bit, so I was really supposed to stop it. I wouldn’t have been wrong either way. But obviously I wanted the deep ball because it’s more yards. He was bailing, so when I tried to give him a release as if he was press, it didn’t work obviously. He was running backwards. I kind of tried to catch up to him, and I had to catch up to him, because he was in front of me. Dak just threw it out there and he trusted my skill set, I guess. I just went and grabbed it.”
Cooper, who finished with five catches for 106 yards, said his injured quad feels “a lot better. It’s, like, 90 percent.”
Other notable postgame comments:
Amari Cooper: “Man, if I can ball out in the same game that Zeke balls out in, we’ll never lose.”
Jerry Jones when asked about the possibility of Leighton Vander Esch (neck) or Robert Quinn (ribs) being out an extended period of time: “I don’t see that. I don’t want to conjecture that because I don’t see that standing here at all.”
Ezekiel Elliott on snapping their three-game losing streak: “This team needed this. This team definitely needed this win, especially in the fashion that we did it. Get some momentum for the season, get some momentum going into this bye week, so we can close this season out right.”
Dak Prescott on the energy he felt before kickoff: “It was no different than the energy I felt all week long. It’s kind of that ‘backs against the wall’ mentality. You don’t necessarily want to be in that position, but I’ve told you all, all year long and will continue to say that we have the right men in that locker room that when we’re in this position, guys that double down on themselves, believe in the man next to them and go out there and just perform like they need to perform when they need to.
“We’re going to grow from it, figure out how to do that when we win a couple of games here in a row, as we’re about to go do. And when success hits, we’re going to handle that the right way and not put ourselves in adverse situations.”