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By Jon Machota 4h ago
ARLINGTON, Texas — Monday night felt different. The Cowboys have played plenty of prime-time games at AT&T Stadium since the billion-dollar venue opened in 2009. But this one against the Philadelphia Eagles in the home opener seemed to have something a little extra.
It could have been that it was the first time the stadium was completely full since 2019. There were 93,267 in attendance, according to the press box announcement. No home game last year had more than 31,700.
It could have been because Jimmy Johnson, Drew Pearson and Cliff Harris were being presented their Pro Football Hall of Fame rings at halftime and 11 other Cowboys Hall of Famers were in the building.
It could have been because Dak Prescott was making his first start at home since a gruesome ankle injury ended his season last October.
It could have been that last season was such a disaster that the team and fans alike were just so eager to get things headed in a different direction.
Regardless of the reason, it all came together to produce one of the best environments AT&T Stadium has hosted. From Prescott’s pregame introduction, to the six-play, 75-yard opening touchdown drive, to the 20-7 halftime lead, to Johnson nearly causing an earthquake when he yelled his trademark “How bout them Cowboys,” to Prescott kneeling out the clock with the scoreboard reading: Cowboys 41, Eagles 21, it all felt different.
For anyone who wasn’t around when the Cowboys were routinely competing for championships, inside AT&T Stadium on Monday night provided a feeling of, “This is what it must have been like.”
The Cowboys are now 2-1 and sitting atop the NFC East standings. There’s a long way to go, but they appear to be the clear favorites to win the division for the first time since 2018.
Here are some of my observations from the win Monday night.
Dak Prescott is a legitimate MVP candidate. Yes, he had the bad sack-fumble in the end zone that led to Philadelphia’s first touchdown. He has to avoid those kinds of costly turnovers against better competition. But he rebounded well from that mistake, finishing the night 21 of 26 passing for 238 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 143.3 passer rating, which is the third-highest rating of his career. He is now 19-5 in games he has started and finished against NFC East opponents.
Prescott said after the game that he believes this is the best football he has ever played. He credited the playmakers he has around him, the offensive line protecting him and being in the same offensive system with Kellen Moore in his third year as Dallas’ offensive coordinator.
“To see (Prescott) in person and see him play and operate in person, he’s a heck of a football player,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Dak really did a good job of taking what our defense was giving him. Our goal is to limit big plays. … We played a lot of middle-of-field-open. We tried to limit the big plays and Dak took what the defense gave him. He was content taking the underneath routes. And they also did a good job of running the football with some of those softer boxes. They executed, we didn’t and hats off to them.”
Peyton Manning said on the ESPN 2 broadcast: “Good game by Dak. I’m telling you, everybody is talking about Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr. Dak Prescott, keep him in that conversation. He played well.”
Defense exceeding expectations. Just having everyone on the same page was going to be an improvement over last year. Through three games, there’s no questioning that this group has completely bought into what new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn has been installing. The most intriguing aspect is that he’s getting significant contributions from so many areas and from several rookies. The takeaways will get the most attention, as they should when you’re leading the NFL in that category. Just as a reminder, the Cowboys have eight takeaways in three games. In 2015, they finished with 11 in 16 games.
Rookie defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa had a breakout performance as he finished with a team-high 1.5 sacks and two quarterback hits. Rookie linebacker Micah Parsons continued to cause problems as an edge rusher. Starting outside cornerbacks Trevon Diggs and Anthony Brown each came up with an interception.
As a group, they came up with big stops, like the three-and-out they forced after what appeared to be a Prescott touchdown run was ruled down inside the one with the score tied 7-7 in the final minutes of the first quarter. And then there was Diggs’ interception return for a touchdown early in the third quarter.
“As soon as Diggs had that pick coming out of the half, I saw their whole energy low and the whole momentum shift,” Parsons said. “When you’ve got contagious energy, and everybody is excited to see each other make those type of plays, it’s hard to come back from that. That’s one thing that I like about this team. Everybody can eat. It’s not just one person out there making plays. There’s a whole bunch of people making plays. It’s just so contagious right now and I just like the momentum we’ve got going on. We’ve got to keep it going one week at a time.
“I heard all preseason that this defense was trash, and we just keep showing up every week, surprising people. And we’re going to keep surprising people.”
How good can Trevon Diggs be? How did he fall to the 51st overall pick in last year’s NFL draft? The Cowboys could have taken him with their first overall pick (17th overall) and no one would have had an issue. He has been better than Jeff Okudah, who went third overall. He has performed better than C.J. Henderson, the second cornerback drafted (ninth overall) who was traded to the Carolina Panthers on Monday.
Alabama coach Nick Saban on with Peyton and Eli Manning after Diggs’ interception: “We teach them all how to do that, but they all can’t make that play. He’s got great ball skills. He was a great receiver before he became a DB.”
Diggs now has an interception in each of Dallas’ first three games and six interceptions in 15 career games.
“I think a lot of these guys in the NFL, in the second year now they know what to expect,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said of Diggs. “I’d say his conditioning and all that, it was good last year, but he’s physically better prepared to play this year. He’s had a full offseason instructionally with the defenses, so I think he’s seeing it clean and the guy’s got phenomenal hand-eye coordination. Just the way he breaks on the ball. He’s got as fine of hands that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Smart decisions by Dak the runner. Prescott ran the ball nine times for six yards, but he was very cautious on several of the runs, often sliding well before taking a hit. It might not seem like much, but that was by design. Fighting for a few extra yards isn’t worth it when you’re potentially risking an injury.
“Over the last 11 months, just preparing and getting myself ready for this game, those are the things that I’ve thought about,” Prescott said. “Getting yards, getting back to the line, going down, just trying not to get a negative play, but knowing the whole risk versus reward.
“Even if I would’ve broken some of those tackles or tried to, I don’t know if the reward was worth it that much. Right? I mean, go back to the play when that happened when I got hurt. I was just trying to do too much, trying to impose my will. I think there’s a time and place for that, and there just wasn’t one tonight.”
No timeouts before halftime? It’s difficult to be too critical after a 41-21 win over a division rival. McCarthy and the coaching staff deserve a lot of praise for what took place Monday night. But there was a questionable moment before halftime that left many scratching their heads. Why didn’t the Cowboys use either of their two remaining timeouts while the Eagles were facing third-and-24 from their own 32-yard line with 1:46 left in the second quarter? Philadelphia got it to midfield on the next play, making it fourth-and-5 with one minute remaining. McCarthy chose not to use either timeout, leading 20-7.
“The decision was to take the lead going into halftime,” McCarthy said. “I was comfortable based on where the ball was at.”
Peyton Manning started to lose his mind around the 47-second mark on the ESPN2 broadcast.
“Dallas needs to call timeout! Call a timeout, Mike,” Manning added before sitting back in his chair and shaking his head in frustration. “Well, last week they couldn’t see the clock (against) the Chargers, so maybe tonight they can’t see it. They are playing at home, but I guess they’re going to be happy with 20-7.
“I’d like to give Dak the ball back. He’s hot, he’s playing well, making good decisions.”