WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY: Cowboys Nuggets

Welcome to WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb continue to put up historical numbers, as both entered different records books in Sunday’s win over the New York Giants. Here are some thoughts (2,500+ words worth) on those performances, Brandin Cooks, Micah Parson’s let down, this week’s opponent and more. Let’s get to it.

WHAT’S UP WITH PRESCOTT’S PERFORMANCE?

Dak Prescott made his way into the Cowboys records book on Sunday afternoon by being the only quarterback in franchise history to have three games of at least 400 yards passing and four touchdowns.

He carved the Giants up for 404 yards passing on 26 of 35 passing, with touchdown passes to CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup and Jake Ferguson, on the way to a 49-17 win.

“Every game is different,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “The bye was good for us. It was very productive. A lot of things we looked back at we studied. But it’s just more of the feel that we have for our players – getting guys healthy, getting guys working together. We’ve been doing a lot of moving pieces around. We know we are a deep roster. We know we’ve got deep receivers. We know we’ve got deep running backs, tight ends, so we are moving guys around.”

Prescott looked for, and found, all his guys against the Giants. Lamb had a historical game, with another 11 catches for 151 yards and one touchdown, but Prescott was able to find five other receivers – Cooks, Jalen Brooks, Ferguson, Gallup and Jalen Tolbert, as he continued to spread the ball around.

It is the evolution of the offense that McCarthy installed during the offseason – where the quarterback oversees getting everybody involved in the game, including the big boys up front.

“Just like anything, every game plan you put together you come out and fit the run to the pass. But most importantly it starts with protection. This game, against the Giants, was by far our best protection performance. I know earlier in the year we were a little bit up and down – how we wanted to play as opposed to how we did play. But I think now what you are seeing this past month – we are hitting on all cylinders. We are getting through the run schemes that they are able to carry over to the action pass game. And we are doing a lot more in the third down part of it. This was a huge challenge for us with the amount of pressure we were up against (Sunday). I thought we took a good step in that area. I do think it is the product of us hitting our stride a little bit.”

As for Prescott, he’s in that rare zone few quarterbacks every reach, and he’s been there twice before.

“Every time a quarterback drops back to pass, there’s a footwork grade, there’s a decision grade and there’s an action grade,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s really seeing the field well. He’s going through his progressions. He’s being decisive. He’s not putting the ball in harm’s way very often. The decisions and the way he’s seeing it is just very clean.”

Prescott did it for the first time on Sept. 8, 2019, in a 35-19 win over the Giants, when he completed 25 of 32 passes for 405 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Michael Gallup had the big day with seven catches for 158 yards, while Amari Cooper had 106 yards receiving and one touchdown, as seven different receivers caught passes from Prescott that afternoon.

His second time came in a 49-38 loss to Cleveland on Oct. 4, 2020, when he completed 41 of 58 throws for 502 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He completed passes to nine different receivers, including 12 for 134 yards and one touchdown to Cooper and five for 79 yards and two touchdowns to Lamb.

The one constant in all three, is the ability of Prescott to locate the right guy at the right time.

“There’s one ball,” Schottenheimer said. “Whether it’s Brandin or MG, whoever, just keep running. Dak’s gonna find you. Dak’s gonna go through his progression, and if you’re the first open guy that gets it, guess what you’re going to get the football.”

WHAT’S UP WITH PARSONS’ PRODUCTION?

For the first time this season, Cowboys do-everything defender Micah Parsons was, for the most part, held off the stats sheet.

A frustrating day for the NFL Defensive MVP candidate.

“It’s hard on him, it’s hard on anybody in that space,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “What you are capable of is exceptional, and so when someone is really trying to say you are not going to ruin the game, we’ll live with that. And that can be hard for any competitor. So, I imagine there are times it’s easier to deal with and times it is not. And (Sunday) was one, I would imagine, would be harder.”

Parsons, who finished with just four hurries and no tackles, was the clear target of the blocking portion of the Giants gameplan last Sunday.

New York left tackle Andrew Thomas was lined up across from Parsons most of the afternoon but was never left to block him alone. Thomas regularly had help double teaming Parsons from tight ends Daniel Bellinger and Lawrence Cager or pulling guards Justin Pugh or Ben Bredeson. If they weren’t double teaming Parsons, they were chip blocking him with running back Saquon Barkley and anybody else the Giants decided to move into the backfield before the snap.

Parsons played 27 of his 39 snaps on the edge at right outside linebacker, with 10 coming inside the box – the area on the defense between the offensive tackles and within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

Their focus on Parsons allowed others on the Cowboys defense to shine, as they recorded five sacks – one each from Neville Gallimore, Sam Williams, Dorance Armstrong, DeMarcus Lawrence and Dante Fowler. As well as two more quarterback hits and 19 pressures, and more importantly just five missed tackles.

“Sometimes, his impact is other people’s chances to get things because of the attention that goes his way,” Quinn said. “Any competitor can get frustrated with games like that, and there have been games like that and there will be more like that. But, when his moments – you leave him once or you don’t give him help, those are the times he really makes you pay.”

It is just the second time that Parsons has spent 10 or more plays in the box, the other coming against the Rams when he found himself there on 15 snaps.

The Rams game was his second most unproductive game of the season, behind only the Sunday’s Giants game at AT&T Stadium. Against the Rams, Parsons played 31 of 48 snaps at left outside linebacker and was credited with 1 tackle, a sack, two hits and three hurries.

He bounced back from that game with a two sack, three quarterback hurry game against the Eagles, and that can only bode well for the Cowboys this week in Carolina.

“As any competitor goes, it can get frustrating at times, Quinn said. “But sometimes those things are out of your control, and you have to keep attacking. And knowing that, if this keeps happening there have to be opportunities for other people and other players. That was a pretty good example of that (Sunday).”

WHAT’S UP WITH ANOTHER NFL RECORD

CeeDee Lamb is on the mother of all heaters.

The Cowboys dynamic receiver posted his third straight game with at least 10 catches and 150 yards, when he caught 11 passes for 151 yards – nine for 142 yards from Dak Prescott and two for nine yards from Cooper Rush, in the win over the Giants.

That is an NFL record.

“I told CeeDee after the game, while we were waiting for the clock to wind down, I said, ‘I hope they ask for your shoes in Canton,’” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “I mean, it’s never happened before.”

No other player in the history of the game has had a three-game stretch like Lamb has had in his run against the Rams (12 for 158), Eagles (11 for 191) and Giants.

“We had a great group up there in Green Bay, they all had their moments, but I don’t know that I have seen it at this level,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said when asked if he has ever seen anything like what Lamb has done the last three weeks. “Obviously it’s an NFL record, so obviously not. CeeDee is in a unique spot, and I think the big thing for us is we just got to keep working – A, to make sure we keep giving him opportunities and more importantly the individuals around him benefit and take advantage of the opportunities he is creating for them.”

However, this historic run for Lamb really started with his 7-catch, 117-yard performance in the Cowboys win over the Chargers.

“He’s just amazing,” Schottenheimer said. “He came out and said, ‘hey, I want the ball.’ We gave him the ball, and then they started doubling him and we still gave him the ball.”

This run began after he had just four catches for 49 yards in the loss to San Francisco and a quick discussion with Prescott, McCarthy and Schottenheimer about getting him the ball more.

He followed that up with a week of rest, before his one-game ramp up to history.

“I think he’s a little healthier,” McCarthy said. “Like anything, these guys get banged up. … I think he’s in a groove. He’s feeling much better.”

He has a chance to make four against the Panthers, who gave up 112 yards on six catches to Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf in Week 3 and 163 yards on six catches by Miami’s Tyreek Hill in Week 6.

WHAT’S UP WITH MORE BAD INJURY NEWS?

The Cowboys got double the bad news on Tuesday, when linebacker Leighton Vander Esch and cornerback/special teams ace C.J. Goodwin were ruled out for the rest of the season.

Vander Esch injured his neck against San Francisco and has been on the injured list in hopes of returning this season. But the decision was made that it would be best to shut him down for the rest of the season.

LVE had neck surgery in early 2020 to deal with his cervical spinal stenosis diagnosis after being injured in Week 7 of the 2019 season against Philadelphia. He was advised by doctors then that if he reinjured his neck and needed another surgery his football career might be over.

Goodwin, who tore his pectoral muscle against the 49ers, went the rest and see route, but in the end the injury did not respond, and he has opted for surgery and a return to action next season.

WHAT’S UP WITH COOKS EMERGENCE?

The Cowboys wanted wide receiver Brandin Cooks because he gave the team a true deep threat they had been lacking.

Cooks, who is just 5-foot-10 and 189 pounds, has speed to burn and the Cowboys found a way to use it to their benefit on Sunday afternoon.

“You feel his speed out there,” Schottenheimer said. “I’ve been around a lot of fast guys. This guy has different speed. … He’s a guy that you can throw it to him long, you can throw it to him underneath because of his explosive speed. He’s got big time play making ability.”

Cooks caught nine passes on 10 targets, including on the first play of the game, and gashed the Giants defense for 173 yards and a touchdown on Sunday afternoon.

“Brandin has always been somebody we’ve tried to get the ball to,” Schottenheimer said. “Sometimes the game goes different. Each game is very different. The thing that was cool about (Sunday) was to get him off to a good start. Most receivers are that way. You get them a couple balls early; they feel it and get into a rhythm. It just kind of helps them calm down and settle into the game. … It slows the game down for them – they see things very well.”

Cooks, who now has 338 yards in eight games, more than doubled his season output with his big day against the Giants.

It took them nine weeks, but the Cowboys brain trust finally figured out how to use him.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE RUN GAME PHILOSOPHY?

You can look at the numbers the running game is producing and conclude that the Cowboys must be struggling in this area.

They have repeatedly gotten off to a slow start running the football, averaging just 56.8 yards in the first half of games this season.

But that is not a surprise for head coach Mike McCarthy, who understands that yards gained is not the most important stat when gauging the success of a rushing attack.

“I might be in the minority, but I think the most important part of the run game is attempts,” McCarthy said. “Marty Schottenheimer used to say it all the time, ‘one and two yards in the first quarter, two and three in the second, three and four in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter you knock the door down.’ But it’s a little different today than in the 90s of how you run the ball – there’s more space, more formation utilization and the movement pass game, volume and creativity, is up some. So, you factor all those things in.”

It is working for the Cowboys, who have rushed for 512 yards on 113 carries in the first half of games this season, including 129 yards on 18 totes last week against the Giants.

It is an average of 56.8 yards and just over 12.5 carries in the opening 30 minutes, with 61.1 yards on 16.3 carries coming in the second half.

But if you take away the Giants game, the Cowboys are averaging just 47.8 yards in the first half and just over 70 in the second half.

The only game where the Cowboys had more carries in the first half than the second, was their loss in Philadelphia where they ran the ball 11 times in the first half and just 10 in the second.

NEXT OPPONENT: WHAT’S UP WITH THE PANTHERS?

The Carolina Panthers are the worst team in the NFL this season, with just one win so far.

They are starting a rookie quarterback Bryce Young and are living with the growing pains that come with that. The Panthers offense has talent with running backs Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders and wide receivers Adam Thielen, D.J. Chark and Jonathan Mingo, but the offensive line is dreadful and Young spends a lot of the time running for his life.

The offensive line has given up 29 sacks and 18 hits, and Young has been hurried a league-leading 113 times and pressured 132 times in 363 pass plays. He has the lowest passer rating, 47.1, of any quarterback that has started at least eight games this season.

On defense, the Panthers are the seventh best defense in yards allowed, but they are giving up almost 27 points per game, which is better than only Washington (27.4) and Denver (27.6).

Linebacker Frankie Luvu leads the way with 73 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Former Cowboys safety Xavier Woods starts at free safety. He has played in six games this season for Carolina, and has recorded 29 tackles, two passes knocked down and one fumble recovery.

These teams are trending in opposite directions and that trend should continue Sunday.