I saw an interesting tweet from Tad Prescott (Dak Prescott’s brother) in which he said, “Sometimes you have to be slapped in tha mouth to remember who you are”. That’s a fitting way to characterize how the Dallas Cowboys bounced back in their 43-3 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Dallas Cowboys didn’t forget who they were in Week 9. They just forgot how to play their brand and style of football. Thankfully, their amnesia was short-lived and they played more true to form to what we’ve come to expect. Speaking of the Prescotts, the Dak Prescott led-offense was efficient and capitalized on their red-zone scoring drives.
The unit that deserves as much praise, if not more, is Dan Quinn’s defense. Much of the headlines leading up to Week 10 surrounded Quinn facing his former team; how would he be able to stifle his former quarterback, Matt Ryan. To Quinn’s credit, he spoke nothing but kind words about the Atlanta organization leading up to the game. Yet, there was nothing kind about how his unit dominated the Falcons from start to finish. Since the game was over by the intermission for all intents and purposes, let’s trace this murder by the numbers by using only statistics from the first half.
3.08 – Atlanta’s First Half Yards Per Play
If Dan Quinn had no hard feelings towards his former club, you’d never know considering how the Dallas defense attacked Atlanta. The overarching number is 3.08 yards per play, but it’s deeper than that.
The first thing that comes to mind is how well the Dallas secondary played. Matt Ryan only passed for 66 yards (5.5 YPA) in the first half, and there was hardly anywhere to go with the ball. Atlanta started their six first-half possessions on average at their own 26-yard line. If you feel like Atlanta was hardly on the field in the first half, you’d be right.
The Falcons only possessed the ball for 10:58, versus Dallas at 19:02. That’s critical because Dallas held Atlanta to 12 yards per offensive possession. Maybe the most stunning number from this first half is that Atlanta had a net of 77 yards of offense. The reason I want to illustrate the net yards instead of the cumulative yards, is because Atlanta totaled -22 yards on their last three possessions. For a defense that was much maligned after their last showing, this was exactly what they needed. Although he’ll never admit it publicly, it was exactly how Dan Quinn wanted.
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265 – Dallas’ Total First Half Yards on Offense
How the Dallas offense performed last week is more of an anomaly than who they truly are. They proved that against Atlanta.
The offense fired on all cylinders from the opening whistle. Dallas tallied 265 total yards of offense (more than tripling the Falcons output) and picked up 16 first downs to remain on schedule. A key component to that was CeeDee Lamb.
In the assortment of weapons the Dallas Cowboys have, CeeDee Lamb is arguably the one the Cowboys can’t do without. Last week, the Cowboys seemed out of sync on offense. Lamb was the first to admit the prior week’s practice was not as sharp as it needed to be.
The difference between this week and last week was night and day. There weren’t any drops or mental lapse, as he was on the same page as Dak Prescott, striking early and often. Lamb and Prescott connected for 6 catches on 7 targets, resulting in 94 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Finally, the most important number is the Cowboys’ red zone efficiency. Dallas entered the red zone four times in the first half. They converted all four chances. If Dallas can maintain that efficiency inside the 20s, there’s no limit to what this offense can do.
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9.5 – Dak Prescott’s First Half Yards Per Attempt
As mentioned in the opener, Tad Prescott stated that the Cowboys needed to be reminded of who they are. However, there’s no doubting who Dak Prescott is. He’s an elite quarterback. When he’s on top of his game, he can perform at the caliber of an MVP. If there was any concern whether Prescott was back to full health, it’s safe to say that’s no longer a question. He was mechanically sound and moved well in the pocket.
The increased yards per attempt has become a frequent occurrence with Prescott under Mike McCarthy. Prescott is happy to oblige, carving up defenses. On Sunday, he hit his groove early and didn’t look back; Throwing for 219 yards in the half and completing 78% of his 23 pass attempts. If Prescott continues to perform at this rate, it’s hard not to envision the Cowboys as a true contender come the postseason.
