Week 13 Thursday Night Gameday Chatter | Cowboys vs Vikings | 12-1-2016

Texas Ace

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So for the people concerned about our offense what exactly was concerning outside of the penalties? A fumble by a guy who touches the ball about one time a game on offense at most? It couldn't be Dak and his 108 QB rating? The only reason he didn't put up bigger numbers was because he only had like 18 pass attempts. Zeke averaged 4.3 ypc. Maybe not his best game but certainly not bad at all.

I guess the concerning part could be the 3 sacks that our offensive line gave up. But this offensive line doesn't concern me at all. Dak had time to throw most passes. The bad one was the strip sack where Free just got beat.

What concerns me are the 5 offensive drives that were killed by some type of a penalty.
We've had ONE bad game on offense all season long and it came against an elite defense who we're facing in our 3rd game in 11 days.

People need to relax.

If it happens again next game, then yes, start sounding the alarm. But I don't understand all the fuss over one singular game.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Another penalty that we haven't really talked about because it wasn't against our offense was the hands to the face that negated the big INT by Hitchens. Talk about a useless penalty that in no way impacted the play but killed a game changing play by our defense.
 

shane

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Another penalty that we haven't really talked about because it wasn't against our offense was the hands to the face that negated the big INT by Hitchens. Talk about a useless penalty that in no way impacted the play but killed a game changing play by our defense.
Yeah I was really sad to see that play brought back. Hitchens is really an unsung hero on the defense and it was his big moment.
 

Jiggyfly

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He's a good player and I like him, but he has shown on plenty of instances in the last few weeks that he shouldn't be outside.

He's making more mistakes with each week and they really need to get Scandrick outside and put him back in the nickel where he was excellent.
He was doing the same inside, do you not remember how he got abused against SF and Wash at the beginning of the season?

He is a rookie who is being targeted and is holding his own, since when is a CB supposed to never give up a catch?
 

1bigfan13

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Agreed, we struggled offensively. Shouldn't even be debatable.

Vikings I believe were in the same boat so I don't give us a pass on that.
I agree as well. There were certainly some questionable calls that other officiating crews probably don't call, but overall I thought the Vikings did an outstanding job shutting down our run game and making Dak hold the ball.

The good news is there aren't very many defenses out there with the talent to do that to us. The Seahawks have the most talented defense out of the playoff teams but they're not built to shut down an offense like ours. We saw that in 2014.
 

UncleMilti

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The LT did jump. I noticed that too. And no way in hell was that a hold on Free.
Wasn't a hold on Free, was a ticky tack call on Scandrick that negated the INT too.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Dallas Cowboys
Quarterback grade: Dak Prescott, 76.5

Prescott suffers from rookie struggles in close win

Prescott didn’t throw the ball downfield in harm’s way, but he coughed up two fumbles in the game, with one leading to three points for the Vikings. For the most part in this one, Prescott struggled to consistently move the offense. We’ve become accustomed to seeing him hitting short throws lead his receivers past the sticks, but on Thursday his 10 targets within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage netted just 56 total yards.

Top offensive grades:

C Travis Frederick, 83.6

LT Tyron Smith, 83.0

LG Ronald Leary, 82.9

RG Zack Martin, 78.9

WR Dez Bryant, 76.3

The holes were there for Elliott, but he didn’t capitalize

Ezekiel Elliott is going to be watching the game tape this week knowing that he left some more yards out on the field. Never mind the long run that got called back by a holding penalty — there were multiple reads Elliott missed throughout the game that would have likely still churned him over 100 yards. (He finished with 86 and a touchdown.) The left side of the Cowboys’ offensive line was caving in the backside of outside zone runs play after play, and Elliott was often slow to work back there.

Top defensive grades:

CB Orlando Scandrick, 88.9

DE DeMarcus Lawrence, 85.2

DT Maliek Collins, 85.1

LB Anthony Hitchens, 84.1

CB Anthony Brown, 83.7

Lawrence, Collins lead pass-rush attack

Entering the game, DE DeMarcus Lawrence had just 11 pressures on 202 pass rushes this season. Going up against the struggling Vikings offensive line allowed him to total nine total on the night. Rookie Maliek Collins also had by far his best pass-rushing game of the season, with six pressures of his own, including two sacks. It certainly helped in the secondary as well. Anthony Brown and Orlando Scandrick were the top-graded defenders in coverage, and on a combined 10 targets, they surrendered six receptions for just 32 yards, with no catch going for more than seven yards.
 

Simpleton

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At least we have one guy to build around on the DL in Collins who looks like a bona fide hit with 3 sacks on the year. Lawrence is likely a guy you'd like to keep around but he isn't a foundation type of player like Collins looks to be.
 

Genghis Khan

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So for the people concerned about our offense what exactly was concerning outside of the penalties? A fumble by a guy who touches the ball about one time a game on offense at most? It couldn't be Dak and his 108 QB rating? The only reason he didn't put up bigger numbers was because he only had like 18 pass attempts. Zeke averaged 4.3 ypc. Maybe not his best game but certainly not bad at all.

I guess the concerning part could be the 3 sacks that our offensive line gave up. But this offensive line doesn't concern me at all. Dak had time to throw most passes. The bad one was the strip sack where Free just got beat.

What concerns me are the 5 offensive drives that were killed by some type of a penalty.

200-something total yards, 13 completions, 2 turnovers and 17 points is a bad offensive day no matter how you want to slice it.
 

Simpleton

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I also wouldn't worry about clinching HFA next week, there is about a 4% chance that Carolina can win at Seattle, so even if we beat the Giants we'd still need to win a game or have Seattle lose one to clinch HFA.

Best case scenario is we have everything wrapped up going into the Detroit game, and even then I think you play the starters that week as if it's for real. Then against the Eagles you play them for a half, three quarters or whatever.
 

Cowboysrock55

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200-something total yards, 13 completions, 2 turnovers and 17 points is a bad offensive day no matter how you want to slice it.
Yeah, because of penalties. And frankly a Lucky Whitehead fumble should concern no one. He touches the ball one a game at most. It's not like he is a meaningful piece to the offense.
 

Genghis Khan

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We've had ONE bad game on offense all season long and it came against an elite defense who we're facing in our 3rd game in 11 days.

People need to relax.

If it happens again next game, then yes, start sounding the alarm. But I don't understand all the fuss over one singular game.
It won't happen next game because the giants don't have the ability to stifle our offense like that.

What I'm worried about is down the line if we face another elite defense, like Seattle.
 

Cowboysrock55

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I also wouldn't worry about clinching HFA next week, there is about a 4% chance that Carolina can win at Seattle, so even if we beat the Giants we'd still need to win a game or have Seattle lose one to clinch HFA.

Best case scenario is we have everything wrapped up going into the Detroit game, and even then I think you play the starters that week as if it's for real. Then against the Eagles you play them for a half, three quarters or whatever.
I wouldn't put it past Carolina to beat Seattle. While Carolina has shit themselves this year they still have the talent to beat anyone. Their secondary just sucks so bad that any team can beat them as well.
 

Simpleton

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I wouldn't put it past Carolina to beat Seattle. While Carolina has shit themselves this year they still have the talent to beat anyone. Their secondary just sucks so bad that any team can beat them as well.
If it was at Carolina, sure, but Seattle is a different team at home and coming off an embarrassing loss I can't see them losing to a Carolina team without Kuechly and starting like a 4th string center.
 

Cowboysrock55

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If it was at Carolina, sure, but Seattle is a different team at home and coming off an embarrassing loss I can't see them losing to a Carolina team without Kuechly and starting like a 4th string center.
Also if the Packers beat them next week it would have the same impact for us. Allowing us to clinch.
 

UncleMilti

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Don't you think the penalties and turnovers were in large part caused by their defense giving us problems?
I think the Vikings D gave us a few bouts of trouble, but lets be honest...I don't care what their D ranking is, I've watched 3-4 Vikings games and the D is not as dominant as the ranking suggests.

I expected Dallas to struggle a bit, but I was a little unnerved that Garret and Linehan couldn't find a way to get the offense in sync. Of course, the holding calls and ticky tack calls didn't help, but I thought the overall game plan sucked.
 

Simpleton

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Also if the Packers beat them next week it would have the same impact for us. Allowing us to clinch.
True, that could happen, although it'd also take a loss from both Detroit and Atlanta, which is possible considering who they play this week but I still think alot has to happen and it probably isn't worth worrying about.

If it did happen I don't think Garrett would rest anybody until the last game of the year. Elliott's carries might get ramped down from 20-22 per game to about 15 but that's all I could imagine.
 

Genghis Khan

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Yeah, because of penalties. And frankly a Lucky Whitehead fumble should concern no one. He touches the ball one a game at most. It's not like he is a meaningful piece to the offense.
3 fumbles (1 lost )from centerpieces Dak and Zeke also though.

And, all it takes is one touch to fumble, and obviously that Whitehead jet sweep isn't going away.

I'm not alarmed and I do think we're capable of playing better against elite defenses. But it wasn't good last night and it raises an eyebrow at least.
 
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