Cowboys show new brand of resilience
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The blows came long before the Cowboys arrived at SoFi Stadium or even boarded their flight to Southern California.
Wide receiver Michael Gallup strained his calf in their Sept. 9 season opener. Safety Donovan Wilson reaggravated a groin injury. The next morning, right tackle La’el Collins was suspended five games for violation of the league’s substanceabuse policy. Then came defensive end Randy Gregory’s positive COVID-19 test and DeMarcus Lawrence fracturing his foot on a routine practice pass-rush.
Five starters had withered in rapid succession.
What else could go wrong ahead of the Cowboys’ second consecutive road game?
“Just constantly moving and churning,” head coach Mike McCarthy said from the SoFi Stadium bowels Sunday evening. “I hope I don’t have any more weeks like we did this week.”
But the Cowboys beat the Chargers, 20-17. And therein lies the beginning of a departure from 2020 wallowing.
Adversity is not new for a Cowboys team that played 11 games without quarterback Dak Prescott last season, at times also missing 80% of their starting offensive line. Injuries have smothered Mike McCarthy’s 18 games as Dallas’ head coach. Suspensions have been something of a Cowboys regularity through Jerry Jones’ decades of
ownership.
But the team’s strong play within the division had kept the Cowboys relatively competitive in recent years. Prescott, since ascending quickly as a fourth-round rookie in 2016, has fared 19-6 against NFC East opponents.
But it took Sunday’s victory to lift him to .500, now 9-9, against the AFC. It took Prescott’s 16th career game-winning drive and a pair of Cowboys interceptions, including one in the end zone as the third quarter waned, to avoid the dreaded 0-2 season start. It took Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein booting a 56-yard field goal as time expired–a week after missing from 31 and 60 in addition to botching an extra point. It took resilience. “After everything that happened to us this week to be able to come out here and get a win, a road
win, against a good team, is special,” Prescott said after completing 23 of 27 passes for 237 yards and an interception. “It’s a building block. It’s the first win of many and it was hard to get. “That was a fight.” The Cowboys entered this fight with a drastically different offensive plan than a week ago, when Prescott threw for 403 yards on 58 heaves upon returning from ankle and shoulder injuries. The Cowboys managed just 60 rushing yards against a loaded Tampa Bay defensive front.
Not this week. The Cowboys gashed firstyear coach Brandon Staley’s defense for 198 yards on the ground, averaging 6.4 yards per carry.
The first quarter set the tone.
Dallas raced to a whopping 13 first downs in the period, setting a franchise record and ty
ing the NFL mark for most first downs in a first quarter. Each of the Cowboys’ top two running backs, Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, found the end zone to mount an early 14-0 lead by end of the first quarter. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore schemed a misdirection play in which the defense bit on Elliott’s threat as Pollard danced 4 yards around the right edge. Elliott burst up the middle for a 5-yard touchdown the following drive.
Closing out the game wouldn’t be as straightforward as the early lead teased.
The Cowboys failed to score the following two periods, 2020 offensive rookie of the year Justin Herbert tormenting Dallas’ defense with his powerful arm and athletic play creativity.
Even with 12 penalties, the Chargers tied the game at 14 points and soon after at 17.
A pass rush was sorely needed. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch had closed in to sack Herbert on one third-andlong, but Herbert had otherwise repeatedly burned a Dallas defense that coordinator Dan Quinn describes as “onthe-way-up” rather than “already-there.” Lawrence and Gregory’s absences were noticeable. Rookie Micah Parsons thought back to Quinn’s message after Lawrence’s Wednesday X-ray revealed the Cowboys’ best defender was expected to miss six to eight weeks.
“After practice Coach Q came up to me and said, ‘Man we’re going to need you to step up big this week,’” Parsons recalled. “I said, ‘All right, coach. Let’s play.’”
He notched two tackles, four quarterback hits and a key sack for a loss of 18 yards with 5:35 to play.
The rookie who had a week ago been a middle linebacker was now coming off the edge more than he had since high school. A defense missing key pieces was adapting just enough. Resilience. “Shoot, some people had a long day out there,” Parsons said of the offensive linemen tasked with warding him off. “(I was) manipulating matchups and taking advantage of the matchups we got out there. That’s what makes good football teams great.
“I really wanted Herbert. I finally got to him. I was happy about it.”
And the Cowboys were happy, albeit measured, to emerge with the win.
No doubt Dallas’ sights are set far higher than a lone September victory against a team that committed 12 penalties, including two that wiped out would-be go-ahead touchdowns. But lessons garnered this week should transfer. Dallas showed its ability to game plan around an elite pass rusher in Joey Bosa, even with second-year undrafted right tackle Terence Steele needing to replace Collins. The team proved that its draftweekend effusiveness about Parsons’ versatility and ability to pressure were not merely wishful thinking. The Cowboys demonstrated a perhaps borderline obsessive emphasis on 2-minute and similar situational work in training camp – “Hard Knocks” viewers will recall McCarthy’s “Mojo Moments” – actually are preparing this team for games that come down to the wire. They can even do so without an onside watermelon kick.
Prescott said securing the team’s first win was “huge” to launch the Cowboys’ continued growth.
“We needed it,” McCarthy added. “We needed the confidence that goes with this win.”