ARLINGTON, Texas — The Cowboys put together their most complete game of the season so far and the result was a dominant 37-10 victory over division rival Philadelphia. The Cowboys snapped a three-game losing streak and took over sole possession of first place in the NFC East. Here are five things to know about the Cowboys big win.
Tone-setting turnovers
The Cowboys defense set the tone with a pair of turnovers on the Eagles' first two possessions.
Less than two minutes into the game Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smith smacked Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, forcing him to cough up the football. Maliek Collins recovered giving the Cowboys the ball at the Eagles 45-yard line. The next time the Eagles had it, Cowboys defensive end Demarcus Lawrence beat his man and tallied a strip-sack that Antwaun Woods recovered. The defense ended the game with four turnovers, showing what can happen when both the offense and defense play complementary football.
Short field success
Both of those turnovers allowed the Cowboys to start drives in Eagles’ territory. It was a first for the season, with the Cowboys becoming the last team in the league this season to start a drive in their opponent’s end of the field. The Cowboys first drive took just six plays and little over three minutes to cash it in. The final play of the first drive coming on a nifty play-action, misdirection option-play with receiver Tavon Austin taking the pitch and going 20 yards for the game’s first score. The Cowboys made even quicker work on their next drive, needing just two plays, both Zeke Elliott runs to cover 14-yards for a 14 to nothing lead.
Aggressive Offense
The early turnovers and touchdowns will be what this game is remembered for, but there’s another point to be made about what happened after that. After the Eagles closed the deficit to 14-to-7 in the second quarter the Cowboys faced a fourth down and one from midfield. Jason Garrett put the ball in the hands of quarterback Dak Prescott on a naked bootleg and he hit running back Zeke Elliott to easily convert the first down. The decision paid off six plays later when Prescott ran another bootleg to find a wide-open Blake Jarwin for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead, and the Cowboys never looked back. They were aggressive again near the half, using their timeout to get the ball back with just 22 seconds left in the half. But Prescott completed three straight passes to tight end Jason Witten. Then kick Brett Maher kicked a 63-yard field goal with time running out in the half. Maher becomes the first kicker in NFL history with three made kicks of 60 or more yards.
Defensive Injuries
Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch was forced to leave the game late in the second quarter. He was down on the ground not moving for a minute before getting up and slowly leaving the field. After the game Vander Esch said he suffered a minor stinger and said he wanted to return to the game. Defensive end Robert Quinn suffered a rib injury in the first half after picking up his team-high sixth sack of the season.
UP NEXT
Cowboys have a week off to enjoy their confidence-boosting dominant win over their biggest rival. They return to action on November 4th against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Monday Night Football. The Giants fell to the Cardinals Sunday 27-21 to drop New York’s record to 2-and-5. They’ll kick that game at 7:15 pm central time.
