Driving Dallas:
Amid some doubt, Dak Pescott delivers and proves he’s capable of leading the Cowboys’ playoff charge.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS It was hard to tell if the Dallas Cowboys’ top rookies were fooling around on a playground or competing in a pressure-packed prime-time affair lathered in playoff implications.
Running back Ezekiel Elliott played a game of hide-and-seek in a gigantic Salvation Army kettle and quarterback Dak Prescott beamed with joy at the sight of his high school coach as the pair were reunited for the first time Sunday since the former Mississippi State star’s NFL draft party in April.
Oh, and the rookie duo helped the Cowboys get back on track.
Elliott, despite drawing a penalty flag for his celebration, rumbled for 159 rushing yards, the most during his debut season, and a touchdown, while Prescott was dazzling behind center during the Cowboys’ 26-20 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at AT&T Stadium.
“We’re at our best when we’re having fun,” Elliott said.
The naysayers waited three months to say, “I told you so,” after the Cowboys’ 10-7 road loss to the New York Giants in Week 14. Even Cowboys fans seemed uneasy after the team’s first defeat in 12 games.
After Prescott’s dismal effort (17-for-37, 165 yards, two interceptions) against the Giants, many fans and national pundits suggested Tony Romo, the Cowboys’ $108 million backup who hasn’t played in 13 months, should get his job back.
At one point last week, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responded to a question about the possibility of switching quarterbacks by borrowing a famous phrase once used by a Supreme Court justice about pornography, saying, “You’ll know it when you see it.”
Jones took a lot of heat for that remark, as many suggested he didn’t fully support his rookie quarterback as he also romanti- cized about Romo getting to be a hero on a championship drive.
In one sense, though, Jones might have just been brutally honest in assessing what can happen when performance lags.
Prescott’s response was nearly perfect. He completed 32 of 36 passes — 11-for-11 in the second half — for 279 yards and added a rushing touchdown against the Buccaneers.
“He’s shown he can do what you hope a quarterback can do — come back when he didn’t play as well as he wanted to play,” Jones said. “He’s sure not worried about anything that’s being said peripherally about him. He’s going to go to work, go to town. So we can quit worrying about that kind of stuff.”
Prescott led the Cowboys to their fifth fourth-quarter comeback victory of the season.
“I spent less time on social media,” Prescott said of how he spent his free time leading up to Sunday.
With all the negative noise surrounding the Cowboys, it’s hard to imagine they have a 12-2 record — tied for the best in the NFL and two games better than anyone else in the NFC.
“It was a tough loss last week, but it shows a lot about this football team,” Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. “It was a really, really good performance by Dak. It’s key at that position to bounce back and play that way. It says a lot about who he is as a person and a player.”
With two games left in the regular season, Dallas is one victory from corralling the NFC East, the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the corresponding first-round playoff bye. The Cowboys host the Detroit Lions (9-5), the leaders of the NFC North, in a Monday night game the day after Christmas.
However, the Philadelphia Eagles (5-9) could gift-wrap all of those perks for Dallas should get they take down the Giants (10-4) on Thursday.
If that happens, talk regarding Romo and playing time to get him reps would be legitimate.
In addition to the continued success of the rookie tandem on offense, Sunday’s game was highlighted by another impressive effort from a hodgepodge Dallas defense void of superstars.
“We’ve had a lot of confidence in our defense throughout the year,” coach Jason Garrett said. “They’ve shown up at a lot of different times. Hasn’t always been perfect, but they’ve done a really good job over the course of the season of keeping the scores down, which is ultimately the sign of a good defense.”
Sunday, the Cowboys forced four turnovers and sacked Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston four times.
“It’s just coming together,” said Cowboys defensive lineman David Irving, who recorded two sacks against the Bucs. “We’re focusing on the ball. It’s not going to come out all the time, but if you focus on it enough, it’s bound to come out.”
The Cowboys held the Bucs scoreless in the final 15 minutes as their defense stuffed a pair of potential game-winning drives in the waning moments.
“We’re trusting our defense to go do something,” Garrett said. “They rose up to the situation.” Prescott did, too. When Prescott walked into the end zone with his sixth rushing touchdown of the year, the Cowboys took a two-touchdown lead midway through the second quarter and he passed Don Meredith for the team record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a season.
“He’s someone that’s handled every situation,” Garrett said. “He handles success well, adversity well — he’s the same guy. The guys follow him.”
Only one player (Ben Roethlisberger) in NFL history has more victories (13 in 2004) under center as a rookie than Prescott’s 12.
“He’s amazing,” Winston said of his counterpart. “He’s taking care of the football. He won the turnover battle against me tonight — that’s how you win games.”
Sunday’s victory came on the heels of the release of Prescott’s first national television advertisment. In the co-branded spot for a shoe company and sports retailer, Prescott says: “Go ahead, doubt me. I’ll just work harder. This is my moment and I’m ready.”
The victory against the Bucs won’t eradicate the doubters, though Prescott has many reasons to smile, including when he was surprised by his high school (Haughton, La.) coach, Rodney Guin, before the game and after he’d changed out of his No. 4 and into a bow tie.
“It was all you,” Prescott told Guin, also his fishing buddy, as the two embraced outside the Cowboys locker room.
“You get you that Super Bowl and we’ll go catch some more,” Guin said.
“He’s shown he can ... come back when he didn’t play as well as he wanted to play.” Jerry Jones, Cowboys owner, on rookie quarterback Dak Prescott
Announcers: Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden, Lisa Salters
About the Lions: The finger that had Lions fans worried held up fine. It turns out the Lions have a lot more to worry about. While QB Matthew Stafford wasn’t razorsharp in last weekend’s loss to the New York Giants, the injured middle finger of his throwing hand didn’t seem to affect his passing. He will again be expected to carry the offense during this week’s visit to his Dallas-area roots. He has had help from a defense that has allowed fewer than 21 points in eight consecutive games, the longest such Lions streak since 1961.
About the Cowboys: All that talk of an offensive slump is gone after Dallas rolled over the NFL’s hottest defense in a home victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Cowboys rang up 449 yards against a Bucs D that had allowed fewer than 300 a game over the previous five weeks. They did it behind rookie of the year candidates QB Dak Prescott and RB Ezekiel Elliott, WR Dez Bryant, TE
Jason Witten and perhaps the game’s best offensive line and dispelled the concerns that followed three subpar outings.
Matchup to watch: Stafford vs. Prescott. Detroit’s MVP candidate is coming off a less-than-stellar performance, but he has shown talent, leadership and grit and has come up big all year, especially when the Lions are trailing at crunchtime. Prescott had been borderline awful in a three-week stretch in which he’d posted a combined 73.0 rating before looking again like an MVP when he completed 89% of his passes for 279 yards. Player to watch: Cowboys LB Sean Lee.
The often-injured veteran has managed to stay on the field this season, and the results have been phenomenal. Lee manages to range from sideline to sideline, making tackles in the run game and providing strong pass coverage. His 90 solo tackles and 140 combined stops are second most in the league. He’s the driving force behind a Dallas defense that ranks first in the league against the run. Number crunching: .894. Dallas K Dan
Bailey missed two field goal attempts last week — from 56 and 52 yards — dropping his season percentage to .833. It dropped his career percentage to .894, which allowed Baltimore’s Justin Tucker (.896) to pass Bailey as the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history. Detroit’s Matt Prater, meanwhile, has made 19 consecutive attempts. For his career, Prater is 25-for-25 on tying or go-ahead field goal tries in the fourth quarter.
KEYS TO THE GAME
1. Air and ground: No team runs the ball more than the Cowboys, whose 32.0 rushing attempts a game lead the league and 154.5 ground yards a game rank second behind the Buffalo Bills. Detroit, meanwhile, relies on Stafford’s arm, while its defense will have to find a way to stop Elliott and force Dallas to win with Prescott’s arm.
2. Find a pass rush: Dallas has struggled to put heat on opposing passers for most of the season, but last weekend the Cowboys swamped Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston with four sacks and nine QB hits. The biggest boost came from second-year DE David Irving, a part-time player who entered the game with 11⁄ career sacks but surpassed that total with 2 two Sunday. A fluke? Perhaps, but if Dallas can find a way to get consistent pressure, it would be a huge plus going forward.
3. Keep it close: That has been the Lions’ strategy all season. Keep it close and get to the fourth quarter, then let Stafford and Prater work their magic. The result has been eight comeback wins this season, an NFL record.