Machota: Four takeaways and a dominating defense - Cowboys overcome ‘frustrating’ offense to win third in a row

Cotton

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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - DECEMBER 19: Trevon Diggs #7 of the Dallas Cowboys reacts after intercepting a pass in the endzone that was intended for Kenny Golladay #19 of the New York Giants during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium on December 19, 2021 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

By Jon Machota Dec 19, 2021

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense lost Sunday. Not on the scoreboard, but to their defensive teammates. Prescott and the offense made a friendly wager with DeMarcus Lawrence and the defense: offensive touchdowns vs. defensive takeaways.

Cowboys defense 4, Cowboys offense 2.

“The defense is kicking our ass,” Prescott said after Sunday’s 21-6 win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. “They obviously won this one, but we’ll make sure it carries over.”

What’s the payoff on the bet?

“We’ll keep rolling it over, so we’ll figure it out at the end of the year,” Prescott said while laughing. “Great celebration, hopefully.”

The wager was made Saturday before the team boarded its flight for New Jersey.

“Credit to them,” Prescott said, “but this thing is ongoing. We’ll catch up.”

Before answering another question, Prescott quickly jumped in to finish his thought.

“Hopefully not,” he said. “Hopefully we don’t catch up, honestly. I hope they keep rolling them like that.”

The Dallas offense continued the pace it had been on for most of the previous seven games, struggling to score touchdowns, even after the defense provided favorable field position. The Cowboys’ longest passing play went for only 19 yards. Their longest last week at Washington was 24 yards. Their longest in Week 11 at Kansas City was also only 19 yards. This is from an offense that was consistently turning in multiple passing plays over 30 yards per game earlier in the season.

Three passes hit the hands of wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and fell to the ground. He finished with six catches on nine targets for 50 yards.

“I played terrible, to be honest,” Lamb said. “I had three drops, something like that. I feel like I could’ve played better.”

Prescott, who completed 28-of-37 passes for 217 yards with one touchdown and a 98.6 passer rating, was hit from behind and fumbled while trying to make a big play happen midway through the fourth quarter. The Cowboys quarterback saw wide receiver Amari Cooper being defended by a safety. Instead of targeting wide receiver Michael Gallup on a shorter throw and picking up the first down, Prescott wanted more. He was drilled from behind by Giants edge rusher Lorenzo Carter.

“When you’ve got the guys that we’ve got outside, (opposing defenses) are going to put a cap on it,” Prescott said. “They’re not going to let you get throws over the top, so you’ve got to take the underneath throws and hopefully you can get some run after the catch.”

Fortunately for Prescott, the Cowboys were up 21-6 at the time and the Giants were showing no signs of putting together any type of comeback. But it is the second consecutive game that Prescott made a head-scratching fourth-quarter decision. Last week, he threw a pick-six to Washington linebacker Cole Holcomb with just over four minutes remaining.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” he said of not converting more of those defensive takeaways into touchdowns. “The defense is doing a great job giving us the ball in plus territory. We’ve got to find a way to get it in the end zone, simple as that. I’m sure we’ll do that. We’ll get back to practice, watch the film, make some corrections and find a way to convert these into touchdowns.”


Prescott was playing like an MVP candidate during Dallas’ first six games. But he hasn’t been as effective since returning from an October calf injury. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he liked what he saw from his franchise quarterback Sunday.

“I thought he had his best game in probably four or five weeks,” Jones said. “I sure did.”

As expected, Jones was very pleased with a defense that forced four takeaways for the third consecutive game, the first time the Cowboys have done that since 1994. Cornerback Trevon Diggs intercepted his 10th pass of the season. Diggs, who said he believes the Cowboys have the NFL’s best defense, had targeted 10 interceptions as his goal for the entire season. The Cowboys have three games remaining for him to match the franchise record of 11, set by Everson Walls in 1981.

Dallas sits atop the NFL with 23 interceptions and is tied for the league lead in takeaways with 31.

The other three turnovers were forced by a Lawrence pass deflection that was intercepted by cornerback Jourdan Lewis, an interception by safety Malik Hooker and a Lawrence forced fumble that was recovered by defensive tackle Carlos Watkins.


Jones was not familiar with the team’s offense-vs.-defense bet but was completely on board after it was explained to him.

“I love that,” he said. “I’ve seen some of the most productive growth in teams when they’ve been doing a little wagering. Deion (Sanders) and Michael (Irvin) and the defense and the offense used to bet $50,000 a practice on two-minute drills as to who won that practice. We had to stop that. (But) it’s why they could say it was tougher out there at the two-minute practice than it was in the game.”

There’s plenty to feel positive about despite the offense’s struggle to get back on track. With the Cowboys sitting at 10-4, a playoff spot is basically guaranteed. It’s likely that the Cowboys will win the NFC East and host at least one playoff game. The Arizona Cardinals’ surprising 30-12 loss at Detroit and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 9-0 loss to the Saints on Sunday did two things for the Cowboys. One, it bumped Dallas from the No. 4 playoff position to No. 2 in the NFC. Two, it showed why no one should take any three-game winning streak for granted.

Jones is usually an optimist when it involves the Cowboys. He didn’t hesitate after Sunday’s game when he said this is the best Cowboys team he has seen in a while.
“I just see that they are in sync, but I don’t see anybody thinking that we’re where we need to be to really give us the best chance,” he said. “And I don’t see anybody that’s going to take anything for granted. I do see a lot of competition to get reps on that field. All of those things that are in play here will help make this team get better.”
 

Shiningstar

DCC 4Life
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Mar 10, 2020
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959
I think people need to realize Lamb is not a great receiver. I think a lot of people got a dose of reality on some players. Some are doing better than expected and some arent just that good.

I think some coaches need to step up and do their jobs, and i think the OL carousel should come to an end and play the best player at their position.
 

ZeroClub

UFA
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Jun 17, 2021
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There's a brief postgame interview of Lamb posted on DallasCowboys.com

He knows he screwed up, didn't pretend otherwise, and didn't duck the camera. I can respect that.

So once he get his cataracts fixed, we should be good.

j/k
 

p1_

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Apr 10, 2013
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To be fair, as Simp noted earlier, Lamb gave a shitty block on Carter that got Dak drilled on the fumble.
 
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