Dallas Cowboys vs Baltimore Ravens: Standouts, Notes, and Observations

The Dallas Cowboys set a franchise record of nine straight wins when they took down the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Here are the standouts, notes, and observations.

As the game progressed, Dak got red-hot. We’ll see if Dak has slow starts in the future. If so, they may need to find a way to get him a rhythm BEFORE the game starts.

I want to be upset with the play-calling but the truth is, if Dak hits his targets, it’s an entirely different game in the first half. This just proves that it’s easy to criticize play-calling when things don’t work out and players don’t execute.

Dak doesn’t always pull the trigger on deep passes in time, but he knows when the DB has his back turned, he’s easy to take advantage of. Even poorly timed and inaccurate passes have a chance when the defender is turned (usually in man coverage). Dak takes advantage of this allowing the Dallas Cowboys to deal with his deep ball growing pains.

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The Ravens running game started exactly how the Cowboys running game usually starts. No gimmicks, just making blocks and neutralizing defenders on the line and at the second level (LBs). The Cowboys couldn’t shed blocks and the Ravens ran all over them.

The Dallas Cowboys responded like they always do when a team finds success running. They play single high safety utilizing a 1-gap attack. Needless to say – it worked.

The Dallas Cowboys pass-rush picked up once Dallas took the lead but it can’t be ignored how ineffective they were in the first half. This continues to be the biggest weakness of the Cowboys this season.

• Rod Marinelli played pretty vanilla on the defensive line as well. The Cowboys didn’t appear to stunt as often as they have in the past and on numerous occasions they only rushed three players, daring Joe Flacco to beat the coverage. Mixed results but worth mentioning since it was a departure from what they have been doing.
• Brice Butler made some big and very difficult plays on the ball. He’s still not great at run-blocking on the line, but with a future on the outside, that’s probably not imperative. At this point I believe the Dallas Cowboys are much more inclined to re-sign him this offseason than starter Terrance Williams. He’ll also probably come at a fraction of the price.

Next: How the Cowboys are building for the future

• Gavin Escobar also made some key plays for the Cowboys, stepping up when the Cowboys needed him to. He could have even had a TD catch had Prescott delivered a higher pass to the 6’6″ TE. Escobar should be playing extra motivated since he’s a free agent at the end of the season. I’ll be interested in reviewing his blocking with the coaches film but it appeared to be better than it has in the past.