Prescott Struggles, Cowboys Defense Saves the Day.
Sunday December 12th, the Dallas Cowboys headed to Washington for an NFC east showdown. Many positives and negatives from this game from the Cowboys standpoint. The positives started with the Cowboys defense.
Trevon Diggs most likely had one of the best coverage games he has had all season until his former college teammate, Cam Sims, rose up and got the best of Diggs in the endzone. Diggs held Terry McLaurin to zero catches for zero yards for an entire half before he was ruled out of the game with a concussion earlier in the 3rd quarter. Leighton Vander Esch appeared on only 41% of the defensive snaps, which is the 3rd lowest on the season for him but he made the most of it. He played a terrible game against New Orleans not recording a single solo tackle on 56% of the defensive snaps, it is a good decision to minimize his play time as much as possible.
Diggs shows great coverage skills, runs McLaurin’s route for him.
The best for last, Micah Parsons. He has been the heart and soul of this defense all season. Micah recorded 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 3 solo tackles, 2 QB hits, and 1 tackle for loss. This brings his totals on the season to 12 sacks, 57 solo tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, and 27 QB Hits for the hybrid pass rusher/linebacker. Micah Parsons is incredibly special because he can generate pressure from anywhere on the field and has an amazing closing speed (4.39 40) when he is near the quarterback. He is the DROY lock and should be a front runner for DPOY along with Myles Garrett. We witnessed what Randy Gregory, Demarcus Lawrence, and Micah Parsons look like when they play together. Randy Gregory recorded his first career INT as well as a sack and a fumble. Neville Gallimore had a very impressive bull rush early 4th quarter where he bulldozed Washington’s center and sacked Taylor Heinicke and Dorance Armstrong scored a touchdown on a fumble. It is very strange that the Cowboys defense has been the light of this team the past few weeks considering last seasons struggles on defense. It is safe to say that Dan Quinn has turned this defense from water to wine.
Micah Parson’s sack that leads to a touchdown.
With all positives there are bound to be negatives. Of recent, the Cowboys negatives have been on their offense. The experiment of attempting to replace Connor Williams at LG with Connor McGovern has not worked out and it has been awful decision. Center Tyler Biadasz had too many terrible snaps, often snaps were too high and he even put one on the ground. Wide Receivers were dropping passes and did not seem to be on the same page as Dak Prescott. Ezekiel Elliott is still hurt, and the Cowboys missed Tony Pollard’s presence. Without Pollard the Cowboys run game appeared average at best.
Lastly, Dak Prescott has not been as successful as he was before he injured his calf. Over the last 6 games Dak Prescott is completing 63% of his passes, 6 Y/A, 8 TD passes, 6 INTs, 1568 passing yards, with an 82.8 passer rating. His numbers prior to the calf injury, completed 73% of his passes, 8 Y/A, 16 TD passes, 4 INTs, 1813 passing yards, with a 115.0 passer rating. This past Sunday Dak Prescott sailed many passes, including one that was intercepted earlier in the game. This issue comes from quarterback mechanics, specifically from footwork. The Cowboys were leading late in the 4th quarter 27-14 with 4:15 left to play when Dak Prescott rolled out and threw a crucial pick six to Cole Holcomb that put The Football Team back into the game. Dak Prescott’s struggles have been very concerning but look for Dak to get back in rhythm this Sunday versus a struggling Giants team.
“I’m not playing my best ball... I wouldn’t say it’s slump material, but I’m definitely not up to my standards or expectations...”