The Cowboys did not make it easy on themselves in Washington, but managed to pick up their first win of the year and move to a 1-1 record.
After Doug Free recovered an Ezekiel Elliott fumble in the fourth quarter, the rookie’s second of the game, Dak Prescott took over and kept the team moving toward the endzone. Alfred Morris scored the touchdown to put Dallas up 27-23.
Unable to stop Washington for most of the game, the Cowboys defense finally stepped up in the final moments. Justin Durant broke up a 4th-down pass inside of two minutes to stop Washington’s best attempt at winning the game.
Along with Elliott’s two fumbles, Dallas allowed Prescott to be sacked four times. They gave up 364 yards to Kirk Cousins and could’ve surrendered more if not for a few overthrows. Washington was arguably the better team today, but Dallas made the plays in key moments to hang on for the win.
Other Notes
- The fumbles were particularly ugly, but even without them Elliott was not impressive. He had a few solid runs but still appeared to be indecisive and lacking some explosion. A much bigger day was expected after what the Steelers did against Washington last week. So far, Morris has looked more comfortable in his limited opportunities.
- Dak Prescott got his first win and was as good as ever. He completed 73% of his passes for 292 yards, but was particularly good overcoming pressure.
- After much discussion this week, Dez Bryant was back in the spotlight with 102 yards on seven catches. Cole Beasley was also an important target and had a key third-down conversion before the game-winning touchdown.
- The officials had quick whistle on two of the Dak sacks. Prescott had stayed up and thrown the ball away but they were still counted as sacks due to the effort to protect quarterbacks. Player safety can be a double-edged sword.
- Morris Claiborne emerged as the Cowboys best cornerback today. He broke up passes and also made big tackle on Vernon Davis in the flat. Orlando Scandrick got burned on a touchdown catch by Jamison Crowder and has yet to look like the same player from before the knee injury.
- Justin Durant may have needed some time to get into playing shape after sitting out the offseason as a free agent. His veteran experience showed in that key 4th-quarter drive. If he is starting to get into form, Durant could go a long way to making up for the loss of Rolando McClain.
- Crawford & Crawford registered a sack each. Tyrone’s was particularly special; he rushed from the strong side edge like a defensive end and made a clutch play on Washington’s final drive.
- With a win over New Orleans, the New York Giants moved to 2-0 today. The Eagles play on Monday night at Chicago. Washington drops to 0-2.
I’m wondering if it’s going to take Ezekiel Elliot some time to get used to running in the NFL. After the Seattle game in the preseason, I thought this kid has it. But the first two weeks of the season have led me to think that it’s going to take a bit for him to emerge.
I thought he was ok aside from the fumbles. He can be better moving forward.
Right. He was definitely “okay” but not at all what we expected or what you’d want from a RB taken with the 4th-overall pick. Hopefully we see the guy from that Seattle game soon.
Let’s slow the roll a bit, Zeke is not Murray, he carries the ball correctly and not like a loaf of bread on a sprint home so mom can make PBJs. And fumbles in college
What’s been the hype since he was drafted, he’s a special player that is ready to play all 3 downs. And running behind the most dominant OL in the league, “McFadden sucks” and led the NFCE in rushing so he should easily get ROY, break the rook rush record and solidify “theTriplets meme” for the next decade. No pressure there rook, players never readwatch this stuff so it should be easy peasy.
As a coach I would have a hard time relying on a rook QB and a rook RB who never actually got any real playtime in the offseason together and turn him into a 3 down player right away, he’s still a rook on a team that doesn’t need Adrian Peterson production. Plenty of weapons on this team to deal damage, pick your poison without Zeke having to give you 251502TDs a game. I think MorrisDunbar would be better early, Zeke is still a rook with very little actual game time, he doesn’t have to start to put up ROY numbers, he’s avg. a TD a game and sooner or later teams will forget about the hype and go back to worrying about DezWittBeastly and he’ll flourish as teams choose how they want to be carved up.
As long as Garrett doesn’t keep shooting us in the feet and continue helping our rookie QB to death.
Good things in this game, if it keeps evolving Dallas can move on with or without Romodini, but relying on 2 rooks when you don’t have to, is just as bad as running draw plays at Snacks and GilbertBrown jr. last week, C’mon man, just a rook playimg with another rook. If Romo were healthy I’d expect better, but as of now I’d like for him to be coming into his groove around game 8 with healthy and fresh legs.
Sorry, but you don’t spend a 4th-overall pick on a RB and then feel good about waiting on him to develop. If he doesn’t hit the ground running then it calls in to question why you spent such a valuable pick. If guys like McFadden and Morris can come off the street and produce, that draft pick could’ve been better used on your struggling defense.