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By Jon Machota
Oct 9, 2022
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Given a choice among Jerry Jones, Mike McCarthy and Dan Quinn, you’d have been hard-pressed to pick who was the most excited as they made their way to the visitor’s locker room at SoFi Stadium on Sunday evening.
The Cowboys had just defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, 22-10, in the same building where the Rams won the Super Bowl eight months ago.
“(We) beat a tough team,” Jones said, “a team that actually was prepared for us and thought they had us fenced in. To our credit, our players responded on defense, but can’t say enough about that offense, either. They knew how to make those plays, our running backs ran inspired, our line blocked well. We played a good game against a great home crowd — however, I’m not so sure about half of it wasn’t Cowboys fans out there.”
The most impressive aspect was that the Cowboys got the job done even as Cooper Rush threw for only 102 yards on 10-of-16 passing. Somehow, a team that lost starting quarterback Dak Prescott to a thumb fracture in the season opener has gone from losing that Week 1 game 19-3 against Tampa Bay to rattling off four consecutive wins, two of which were against the defending AFC and NFC champions.
Most of the credit goes to Quinn’s defensive unit. For the fifth time this season, the Cowboys allowed their opponent only one touchdown and held it to fewer than 20 points. Couple that with three takeaways, five sacks and 11 QB hits and you have a group that believes it has become the NFL’s best defensive unit.
“We’re for real,” said Cowboys LB/DE Micah Parsons. “We’re going to keep proving this every week. … One thing I’ve learned about us is that we’re tougher and we’re better than we thought we were. That says a lot. We thought we were going to be really good, but it’s one thing to talk about it and another thing to do it. And we’ve been doing it.”
Parsons injured his groin in the first half. He limped to the locker room, returned to the sideline, rode a stationary bike and eventually returned to the game. He said the thought of not playing in the second half never crossed his mind.
A notable matchup entering the game was Rams DT Aaron Donald, the NFL’s best defensive player for the past eight years, and Parsons, last year’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Many believe Parsons has the potential to have a run of dominance similar to Donald’s, even though they don’t play the same positions.
On Sunday, each had two sacks. Donald’s pair came in the first half. The two for Parsons came in the second.
“There’s only one best rusher in the league,” Parsons said. “To me, it’s a competition between me and him. Even with the respect, I want to potentially be the best player in this league, so with Aaron taking the cake right now, I’m just pushing. I’m climbing. Someone’s always coming.”
Parsons has 19 career sacks, the second most through a player’s first 21 games, trailing only the Chargers’ Joey Bosa, a four-time Pro Bowl DE who had 20.
Cowboys defensive end Dorance Armstrong set the tone early, sacking Rams QB Matthew Stafford on the third play from scrimmage. The ball came out, was scooped up by DE DeMarcus Lawrence and returned for a 19-yard touchdown. Dallas had a lead before its offense ever took the field. On the following possession, Armstrong blocked the punt, setting up the Cowboys to add to their lead with a field goal.
The Rams took their first lead with 9:31 left in the second quarter when Stafford found star wide receiver Cooper Kupp on a short throw that turned into a 75-yard touchdown.
But as has happened in several of Rush’s starts, after the opponent jumped out front, the offense answered right back. Three plays later, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard scored on a 57-yard run.
Pollard now has all three of the Cowboys’ longest plays this season, a 45-yard reception against the Bengals in Week 2, a 46-yard run against the Giants in Week 3 and Sunday’s TD. Dallas outgained Los Angeles on the ground, 163-38, as Pollard had 86 yards on eight carries and Ezekiel Elliott had 78 yards on 22 attempts.
Other defenders who stood out included DT Osa Odighizuwa (sack, four QB hits, two tackles for loss), DE Sam Williams (QB hit, one tackle for loss, one fumble recovery) and S Malik Hooker (fourth-quarter interception).
The Rams’ second-half offensive possessions consisted of two punts, a missed field goal attempt, an interception and a fumble recovery on Parsons’ second sack.
“They’re definitely the straw that’s stirring this drink,” McCarthy said of the defense. “They’re just playing lights out.”
The Cowboys improved to 19-7 in their past 26 regular-season games with McCarthy dating to Week 14 of the 2020 season. That’s tied for the second-most wins in that span. Dallas entered the game as a 5.5-point underdog. When McCarthy was told that line last week, he responded with “We’re nobody’s underdog.”
The Cowboys are expected to be underdogs again next week as they travel to Philadelphia to face the undefeated Eagles (5-0) on “Sunday Night Football.”
“They’re the only undefeated team in the league,” Parsons said. “We got to come to play. We got to keep doing what we’re doing. They have a really explosive offense, but we got a really explosive defense. We got to show it next week. It’ll be a true test.”
One of the biggest storylines this week will be the health of Prescott, who is scheduled to see his doctor again Tuesday. McCarthy would like to see Prescott go through a full week of practice before he returns to play in a game. That might be a little too much to ask after he did not practice at all last week.
“I’m day by day,” Prescott said. “There’s a lot of growth right now. We’re uphill, things are happening fast. Taking it day by day, when I can do more than the next day, we’ll just keep pushing like that.
“At this point, it’s all about just gaining strength and comfortability. And that’s happening more and more each day.”
Jones made it clear after the game that Prescott will continue to be the starter whenever he is healthy. Being on a four-game winning streak with Rush under center is great, but Prescott is the team’s franchise QB for a reason. He’s the key to reaching their full potential.
Elliott was asked after the game how disrespectful it is to question if Prescott is still the starter when he’s healthy.
“We’re the Cowboys, we’re used to the disrespect,” Elliott said. “People always got something to say about us. F— ’em. All we care about is what’s in this locker room, what’s in our building. We don’t really care about the outside noise.”
