The Dallas Cowboys’ offense scored 37 points on Sunday, the magic number it seems the unit needs to hit this year to ensure victory.
The offense scored 40 in the win over the Giants, 38 in the tie with Green Bay, and 37 against the Jets. In the three losses, the offense has been held to 20 (Philadelphia), 14 (Chicago), and 27 (Carolina).
But what makes Sunday’s win more noteworthy was that this week, for the first time, the Cowboys’ defense showed up and made an impact on the game.
The much-maligned unit sacked Jayden Daniels twice, the second one ending his day early in the third quarter.
They added two more sacks of Marcus Mariota. The second sack of Daniels also forced a fumble, which the defense recovered.
For the coup de grâce, DaRon Bland picked off a Mariota pass 68 yards for a touchdown that sealed the game with Dallas up 41-15 with 17 minutes remaining.
Food For Thought
The defense still gave up a lot of rushing yards, 136 to be exact. But this is the type of performance they haven’t had all year.
This is the type of performance they need to repeat, more often than not, going forward.
Especially next week when they travel to Denver to play the Broncos. A team that just hung 33 points on the board against the Giants in a single quarter.
So what prompted this game from the defense?
Did Matt Eberflus finally see the light? Did the players finally get the memo?
Did the absence of Trevon Diggs, to a concussion suffered at home, change the chemistry of the defensive backfield enough to spark this performance?
Or was this the exception, rather than the rule going forward?
We’ll find out soon enough. But for one Sunday afternoon at least, things were looking a lot brighter inside of AT&T Stadium.
And it wasn’t because Jerry Jones left the curtains open.
By The Numbers
Dallas is now 80-49-2 all-time against Washington and are 44-18-2 when playing the Commanders at home.
When it comes to Week 7 contests, the Cowboys are now 33-28 overall.
They lost one Week 7 game to the 1982 strike and have had four bye weeks fall on Week 7 over the years.
Dallas is a very solid 22-5 when playing at home in the seventh week of the year. But they are only 2-5 when the Week 7 opponent is Washington.
Dallas’ lone victory prior to Sunday’s win in a Week 7 showdown came at home in 1999, a 38-20 win fueled by two Troy Aikman touchdown passes, an Aikman rushing touchdown, and a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown by Deion Sanders.
Scoragami #425
Sunday’s final score of 44-22 was the first time in franchise history that one of it’s 1,072 regular season and playoff games ended in that score.
It is the fourth time in seven games this season that the Cowboys have established a new Scoragami total. Aside from the Week 4, 40-40 tie against the Packers, the other three were Cowboys’ victories.
In Week 2, the Cowboys edged the Giants 40-37 for a new Scoragami, and in Week 5 they beat the Jets in New York, 37-33.
Was this helpful?
9 Comments