Cowboys at Cardinals: Standouts, Notes, and Observations
By Reid Hanson
The Dallas Cowboys added another notch to the win column with their victory against the Arizona Cardinals. After re-watching the contest here’s what we think we learned…
Like every week, I took the time to re-watch the broadcast and put together some early evaluation. Here are the Cowboys’ standouts, notes, and observations from Week 3:
- The Dallas Cowboys offense ran three plays in the first quarter. Three. The slow start could have doomed the Cowboys but the offense kept working, eventually finding ways to move the chains.
- The biggest difference between this week and last week was the refusal to abandon the running game. Just like in Denver, Ezekiel Elliott was shut down early. But the Cowboys kept calling his number and it paid off. Mix in a couple QB keepers and some well executed passes downfield, and you had a much needed rebound for the Cowboys offense.
- I’ve often said the Cowboys need to use Dak Prescott more as a runner. 7-10 carries a game isn’t sustainable but giving the signal caller 4-6 opportunities opens the offense up. Especially when Zeke is bottled up. By making Dak a running option, it forces defenses to pause and play the option. Once Dak gets his passing mojo back, it makes the offense even more multidimensional.
- My preseason dream of seeing the Cowboys in “10” personnel came true when the Cowboys subbed out Zeke and lined Ryan Switzer up in the backfield. While I never want to take a ready-for-action Zeke out of a game, if he willingly taps out of a play (like he did in this case), I’d rather see that “10” personnel group than Alfred Morris. Keep watching for this in upcoming weeks because it could be a matchup nightmare for opponents.
Related Story: How the Cowboys can use Ryan Switzer in the running game
Why do we watch film and grade players based on that instead of stats? Because stats rarely tell the whole story and sometimes miss the story altogether. DeMarcus Lawrence essentially logged an additional two would-be sacks. One was called back because of an inconsequential hold in the secondary, the other he had a free shot at Palmer but was held by his opponent, drawing a flag.
Tank Lawrence’s game cannot be overstated. It was dominance pure and simple. But like I said on Sunday – his level of competition has been far below league average and what really matters is how he does against some of the NFL’s better tackles. Because they are who he’ll meet in the playoffs. With that said, holy crap he had a brilliant game!
As some speculated before,
got the start at RDE, with Tank firmly entrenched at LDE. Going against backup left tackle (and Cowboys practice squad castoff)
, the Cowboys needed to win those one-on-one matchups. Sadly, Crawford struggled early and it wasn’t until
entered the game at RDE, that Wetzel started falling apart.
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Later, Crawford would wear his opponent down and start winning battles. It will be interesting to see how he fits in when David Irving comes back because to me, Craw is the odd man out. Still, Tyrone had his best game of the season.
The matchups on that left side were key to the Cowboys/Cardinals success. That was the potential weak spot. That was the easiest route to stopping Palmer. Rotating in different plays really gave the Cards fits.
Next: Are Collins and Green the problem with the O-line?
- Carson Palmer came into the game with twice as many interceptions than touchdowns (4 INTs, 2 TDs) and a meager 54.8 completion percentage. This was largely because his offensive line’s pathetic play this season. As we could see last night, Palmer is still a very capable QB and if he was given the time, he was able to carve up the Dallas secondary