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The Morning After, Week 9 - The Game of Inches
Cowboys unable to find one last play to grab the victory in the Philadelphia showdown.
BOB STURM
NOV 6, 2023
What a game.
Two teams that have no love for each-other are battling it out in a setting that seems made for the spectacle. Two teams that have high levels of quality and countless excellent players were locked in the middle of the ring going toe-to-toe for three hours.
It was a fantastic football game that probably demonstrated to the rest of the world why we get so caught up in this sport we love so much.
Back-and-forth action with dramatic moments in each direction. It was all on full display on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
In the end, the Dallas Cowboys came up short. We could say by a few yards or by a few inches, but in the end, it was probably the outcome that most people expected. The home team won by one play, because that is what the odds tell us about games like this, in places like this.
Most people reading this will say that I should use the word “again” at the end of suggesting “the Cowboys came up short,” I’d wager. That makes it easier to consume for all involved if we would just admit that they remain stuck and are not making any progress towards the goals of 2023. And there are times when we can all agree that this is a true statement. In October the Cowboys went to San Francisco and got smashed so badly that it looked like everything was a lost cause.
I just have a very hard time feeling that a 28-23 loss in Philadelphia was anything close to a lost cause. I thought that Dallas played an impressive game on Sunday and had every right and opportunity to that game. They didn’t get it and that is what will truly matter in the standings. We get that. I am not selling you on a moral victory, because there are no such things.
But, it would be crazy not to see massive progress in trying to figure out the true quality of this football team.
In the end, they lost this showdown game because they couldn’t make the last play. In somewhat typical Cowboys fashion that now spans several decades, they set themselves up beautifully after a series of events to a spot on the field where you actually now felt they had percentages in their favor.
First-and-five from the 6-yard line with 27 seconds left in the game.
You get four shots from the six-yard line and you should have more than enough time to run them all. This seems like a great time to spread out the defense and pick a matchup to isolate and attack. What is even more exciting about this possibility is that Dak Prescott has already shown that in the red zone he will throw it to anyone and give them a chance to make a play. Kavontae Turpin caught his second career touchdown. Jalen Tolbert caught a touchdown for the first time in his career. We thought Luke Schoonmaker caught his second career touchdown, too. Apparently not.
The point is that Prescott is definitely “feeding the stud” in terms of formulating a fantastic relationship with CeeDee Lamb. It has taken a major step forward in the last month while making sure you cover everyone. It is not forcing the ball to one guy, but empowering everyone to make a play at the moment of truth. It is exactly how you design an offense to work, frankly. You have your franchise QB playing well and then trusting his guys to do their part and help.
But, here is how this whole thing works against a QB. You want him to trust his teammates, but you also want him to not trust his teammates when they fail. You want him to make plays late in the down because that is where he is best, but you also don’t want him to try to make plays late in the down because when it doesn’t work, he held the ball too long. In short, you don’t want him to throw reckless mistakes, but you also don’t want to take any sacks, while not committing any grounding penalties.
They should have run the touchdown play again, clearly. Because when they didn’t, they allowed defeat to overtake their victory plans.
Back to our story…
First-and-five at the 6-yard line with 27 seconds to go. Right before the snap, Tyler Smith commits a bit of a touchy false start penalty.
First-and-10 at the 11-yard line with 27 seconds to go. This, of course, will be the big one that damaged the plans. There is a brief moment when Prescott has a chance to throw with anticipation to Turpin again to simply get the ball out, but he assumes he has a better opportunity if he can again stay alive for a brief moment and allow his guys to win their routes. In retrospect, that assumption bit him because he made the mistake of trusting Terence Steele to be able to deal with Josh Sweat.
It had been mostly Haason Reddick that terrorized Steele all day long, so when he lined up over Tyron Smith, you can understand Prescott thinking he has to peek towards his left and try to trust his right tackle can hold his own. Now, of course, people will say that this is folly because Steele has been pretty poor throughout 2023, but when it comes down to the last few plays of a game, a QB can not do eleven jobs. The public and the media demands that, but that simply reveals how little we know about the job description. A QB is trying to track five receivers in route and maybe the main pass rush threat, but online, we want him doing it all in real speed.
This may feel a bit like rationalizing taking a sack at that spot. There is no rationalizing it. In retrospect, Prescott will be the first to tell you that he couldn’t take that chance and should have just thrown it in the general direction of Turpin when he had the chance to live for second down.
Of course, he would have had to do that BEFORE Steele gets a chance to prove he could hold up on that fateful play, because once Steele fails, the fate has been decided. So, it is definitely a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. Imagine taking a grounding penalty there, losing the yardage and the down. And, If he doesn’t get the ball in the end zone in this spot, we ask why he doesn’t trust the third-highest paid right tackle in football and just stand tall in the pocket and deliver. But, if he does take the sack, we wonder why he was silly enough to trust his right tackle in the first place.
Ah, the joys.
So, now, as Josh Sweat sacks Prescott, the clock continues to tick. It is now second and 21 from the 22-yard line and we are inside 15 seconds and counting. The TV guys were looking for a spike here, but Prescott doesn’t want to waste a down. I get it, but they end up wasting the down anyway, as there is nothing close to open and a hopeful pass to the corner of the end zone is out of bounds and there is now just five seconds left.
It is difficult to say why they suffered a delay of game, but we can assume with players sprinting to the end zone while exhausted combined with no timeouts and general frantic chaos, it was another mistake that falls on the process of the offense. And that, of course, will get more pointing at the QB in this hour of scrutiny.
So, now, the final roll of the dice is not quite a Hail Mary, but third-and-26 from the 27-yard line has zero good plays. There is no great solution for this problem and your grave is pretty much dug. But, in reviewing the film, this play wasn’t far from working. They had the two inside receivers running a post and a corner, allowing Lamb to head across the goal-line and for a moment he is actually available right in front of the Eagles wall at the line. Once he caught it, he was mobbed, but you can see a scenario where maybe he could back in if they started the play five yards closer.
Instead, the game ends like the legions always knew it would. This is a weird week around here, where the Cowboys next-door neighbors, the Texas Rangers won it all — it still feels weird to type those words, but it is true.
And in doing so, the timing of a Cowboys close-call failure against a bitter rival is not lost on the enthusiasts who follow both franchises and their narratives. For most, it seems like the events of the last week left them numb in getting too invested in the Cowboys outcome this week – other than to say, “see, same old Cowboys!”
In a way, that is more than fair. In other ways, the kind that I will continue to drill down on, it demonstrates that the Cowboys are making major strides. The narrative for me begins after getting pounded by the 49ers. How would that loss inform the rest of their journey this year? And how would that serve to tell them if there is any future at all with Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott as their leaders?
I will tell you that most of the reports are very optimistic moving forward. I am sure there is a big segment of the audience that won’t want to hear it, but I also assume most of them won’t be reading this far into a column written by me. Here, we offer measured opinions and remember that the journey from July to January is about building your armor and resolve for the playoffs so you can make that one final play at that one final moment to get you over the hump.
I will also say that if the Rangers taught us anything, it is that the midseason disappointment to a bitter rival turned out to be a strengthening exercise that would come back as a chapter in the book of how it was all sweeter because of being battered and bruised along the way. Nothing comes easy in our sports on the paths to championships and if I may use another corporate cliche, today it would be to “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”
Yesterday was very good. Two really good teams were going at it nicely, in a way that entertained America. It should surprise nobody to find that this game might have had more eyeballs than any game in the entire NFL season.
And in this game, I thought Dak Prescott maybe played the best game of his career. He was confident, precise, and highly competitive. It extended to a month now where Prescott and Lamb appear to be capable of heights we have not seen from them. They racked up 400 yards on the Eagles defense in Philadelphia and we know they were not capable of this before they made important changes. Jake Ferguson appears to be better than first thought and Jalen Tolbert took a big step forward. The only thing that hurt the offense yesterday appeared to be a few bad breaks – Schoonmaker’s fall an inch on the wrong side of the goal-line and Prescott’s inexcusable step on the sideline – and Terence Steele looking like half the man we know he can be. Otherwise, most every grade is a good one.
Defensively, it was much more of a mixed bag. Impressive numbers from the defense on a per-play basis, but they just didn’t make THAT play at THAT moment. Third down conversions and 4th down conversions were too often successful. The Eagles cashed every trip to the red zone into a touchdown and the Cowboys defense never took the ball away once. I bet you can guess which three games this year do not feature an interception from this defense.
Arizona, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. 0-3.
In fact, the defense has also been able to generate just one fumble recovery in those three games total.
So, again, this is a great defense that plays hard as heck, but until they can make those plays at those moments, we would have to judge them with the same standard that the QB gets judged, right? Lots of stats and lots of fame, but can you make that one play and get that one inch?
The Mike McCarthy offense has yet to break through. The Dan Quinn defense has about the same track record with no takeaways or moments of stopping a 4th down in the same way.
Are they closer than they have been? I think so. But, that is a subjective measure. The objective measure is that they have lost a key game again.
There are no moral victories in this sport. There are ugly wins and courageous losses. I don’t mind calling this one a courageous loss that was enjoyable to see and a sign of potential great things to come. But, let’s not sugarcoat it. It was a loss. To them.
There is plenty of football to be played and I left that game liking way more than I didn’t, but close won’t make many forget that in a big spot, you came up short again.
Perhaps just a few inches. But, short.
Back to the drawing board, they go.
Cowboys unable to find one last play to grab the victory in the Philadelphia showdown.
BOB STURM
NOV 6, 2023
What a game.
Two teams that have no love for each-other are battling it out in a setting that seems made for the spectacle. Two teams that have high levels of quality and countless excellent players were locked in the middle of the ring going toe-to-toe for three hours.
It was a fantastic football game that probably demonstrated to the rest of the world why we get so caught up in this sport we love so much.
Back-and-forth action with dramatic moments in each direction. It was all on full display on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
In the end, the Dallas Cowboys came up short. We could say by a few yards or by a few inches, but in the end, it was probably the outcome that most people expected. The home team won by one play, because that is what the odds tell us about games like this, in places like this.
Most people reading this will say that I should use the word “again” at the end of suggesting “the Cowboys came up short,” I’d wager. That makes it easier to consume for all involved if we would just admit that they remain stuck and are not making any progress towards the goals of 2023. And there are times when we can all agree that this is a true statement. In October the Cowboys went to San Francisco and got smashed so badly that it looked like everything was a lost cause.
I just have a very hard time feeling that a 28-23 loss in Philadelphia was anything close to a lost cause. I thought that Dallas played an impressive game on Sunday and had every right and opportunity to that game. They didn’t get it and that is what will truly matter in the standings. We get that. I am not selling you on a moral victory, because there are no such things.
But, it would be crazy not to see massive progress in trying to figure out the true quality of this football team.
In the end, they lost this showdown game because they couldn’t make the last play. In somewhat typical Cowboys fashion that now spans several decades, they set themselves up beautifully after a series of events to a spot on the field where you actually now felt they had percentages in their favor.
First-and-five from the 6-yard line with 27 seconds left in the game.
You get four shots from the six-yard line and you should have more than enough time to run them all. This seems like a great time to spread out the defense and pick a matchup to isolate and attack. What is even more exciting about this possibility is that Dak Prescott has already shown that in the red zone he will throw it to anyone and give them a chance to make a play. Kavontae Turpin caught his second career touchdown. Jalen Tolbert caught a touchdown for the first time in his career. We thought Luke Schoonmaker caught his second career touchdown, too. Apparently not.
The point is that Prescott is definitely “feeding the stud” in terms of formulating a fantastic relationship with CeeDee Lamb. It has taken a major step forward in the last month while making sure you cover everyone. It is not forcing the ball to one guy, but empowering everyone to make a play at the moment of truth. It is exactly how you design an offense to work, frankly. You have your franchise QB playing well and then trusting his guys to do their part and help.
But, here is how this whole thing works against a QB. You want him to trust his teammates, but you also want him to not trust his teammates when they fail. You want him to make plays late in the down because that is where he is best, but you also don’t want him to try to make plays late in the down because when it doesn’t work, he held the ball too long. In short, you don’t want him to throw reckless mistakes, but you also don’t want to take any sacks, while not committing any grounding penalties.
They should have run the touchdown play again, clearly. Because when they didn’t, they allowed defeat to overtake their victory plans.
Back to our story…
First-and-five at the 6-yard line with 27 seconds to go. Right before the snap, Tyler Smith commits a bit of a touchy false start penalty.
First-and-10 at the 11-yard line with 27 seconds to go. This, of course, will be the big one that damaged the plans. There is a brief moment when Prescott has a chance to throw with anticipation to Turpin again to simply get the ball out, but he assumes he has a better opportunity if he can again stay alive for a brief moment and allow his guys to win their routes. In retrospect, that assumption bit him because he made the mistake of trusting Terence Steele to be able to deal with Josh Sweat.
It had been mostly Haason Reddick that terrorized Steele all day long, so when he lined up over Tyron Smith, you can understand Prescott thinking he has to peek towards his left and try to trust his right tackle can hold his own. Now, of course, people will say that this is folly because Steele has been pretty poor throughout 2023, but when it comes down to the last few plays of a game, a QB can not do eleven jobs. The public and the media demands that, but that simply reveals how little we know about the job description. A QB is trying to track five receivers in route and maybe the main pass rush threat, but online, we want him doing it all in real speed.
This may feel a bit like rationalizing taking a sack at that spot. There is no rationalizing it. In retrospect, Prescott will be the first to tell you that he couldn’t take that chance and should have just thrown it in the general direction of Turpin when he had the chance to live for second down.
Of course, he would have had to do that BEFORE Steele gets a chance to prove he could hold up on that fateful play, because once Steele fails, the fate has been decided. So, it is definitely a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario. Imagine taking a grounding penalty there, losing the yardage and the down. And, If he doesn’t get the ball in the end zone in this spot, we ask why he doesn’t trust the third-highest paid right tackle in football and just stand tall in the pocket and deliver. But, if he does take the sack, we wonder why he was silly enough to trust his right tackle in the first place.
Ah, the joys.
So, now, as Josh Sweat sacks Prescott, the clock continues to tick. It is now second and 21 from the 22-yard line and we are inside 15 seconds and counting. The TV guys were looking for a spike here, but Prescott doesn’t want to waste a down. I get it, but they end up wasting the down anyway, as there is nothing close to open and a hopeful pass to the corner of the end zone is out of bounds and there is now just five seconds left.
It is difficult to say why they suffered a delay of game, but we can assume with players sprinting to the end zone while exhausted combined with no timeouts and general frantic chaos, it was another mistake that falls on the process of the offense. And that, of course, will get more pointing at the QB in this hour of scrutiny.
So, now, the final roll of the dice is not quite a Hail Mary, but third-and-26 from the 27-yard line has zero good plays. There is no great solution for this problem and your grave is pretty much dug. But, in reviewing the film, this play wasn’t far from working. They had the two inside receivers running a post and a corner, allowing Lamb to head across the goal-line and for a moment he is actually available right in front of the Eagles wall at the line. Once he caught it, he was mobbed, but you can see a scenario where maybe he could back in if they started the play five yards closer.
Instead, the game ends like the legions always knew it would. This is a weird week around here, where the Cowboys next-door neighbors, the Texas Rangers won it all — it still feels weird to type those words, but it is true.
And in doing so, the timing of a Cowboys close-call failure against a bitter rival is not lost on the enthusiasts who follow both franchises and their narratives. For most, it seems like the events of the last week left them numb in getting too invested in the Cowboys outcome this week – other than to say, “see, same old Cowboys!”
In a way, that is more than fair. In other ways, the kind that I will continue to drill down on, it demonstrates that the Cowboys are making major strides. The narrative for me begins after getting pounded by the 49ers. How would that loss inform the rest of their journey this year? And how would that serve to tell them if there is any future at all with Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott as their leaders?
I will tell you that most of the reports are very optimistic moving forward. I am sure there is a big segment of the audience that won’t want to hear it, but I also assume most of them won’t be reading this far into a column written by me. Here, we offer measured opinions and remember that the journey from July to January is about building your armor and resolve for the playoffs so you can make that one final play at that one final moment to get you over the hump.
I will also say that if the Rangers taught us anything, it is that the midseason disappointment to a bitter rival turned out to be a strengthening exercise that would come back as a chapter in the book of how it was all sweeter because of being battered and bruised along the way. Nothing comes easy in our sports on the paths to championships and if I may use another corporate cliche, today it would be to “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.”
Yesterday was very good. Two really good teams were going at it nicely, in a way that entertained America. It should surprise nobody to find that this game might have had more eyeballs than any game in the entire NFL season.
And in this game, I thought Dak Prescott maybe played the best game of his career. He was confident, precise, and highly competitive. It extended to a month now where Prescott and Lamb appear to be capable of heights we have not seen from them. They racked up 400 yards on the Eagles defense in Philadelphia and we know they were not capable of this before they made important changes. Jake Ferguson appears to be better than first thought and Jalen Tolbert took a big step forward. The only thing that hurt the offense yesterday appeared to be a few bad breaks – Schoonmaker’s fall an inch on the wrong side of the goal-line and Prescott’s inexcusable step on the sideline – and Terence Steele looking like half the man we know he can be. Otherwise, most every grade is a good one.
Defensively, it was much more of a mixed bag. Impressive numbers from the defense on a per-play basis, but they just didn’t make THAT play at THAT moment. Third down conversions and 4th down conversions were too often successful. The Eagles cashed every trip to the red zone into a touchdown and the Cowboys defense never took the ball away once. I bet you can guess which three games this year do not feature an interception from this defense.
Arizona, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. 0-3.
In fact, the defense has also been able to generate just one fumble recovery in those three games total.
So, again, this is a great defense that plays hard as heck, but until they can make those plays at those moments, we would have to judge them with the same standard that the QB gets judged, right? Lots of stats and lots of fame, but can you make that one play and get that one inch?
The Mike McCarthy offense has yet to break through. The Dan Quinn defense has about the same track record with no takeaways or moments of stopping a 4th down in the same way.
Are they closer than they have been? I think so. But, that is a subjective measure. The objective measure is that they have lost a key game again.
There are no moral victories in this sport. There are ugly wins and courageous losses. I don’t mind calling this one a courageous loss that was enjoyable to see and a sign of potential great things to come. But, let’s not sugarcoat it. It was a loss. To them.
There is plenty of football to be played and I left that game liking way more than I didn’t, but close won’t make many forget that in a big spot, you came up short again.
Perhaps just a few inches. But, short.
Back to the drawing board, they go.