WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY: Cowboys Nuggets
Welcome to WHAT’S UP WEDNESDAY. Since coming out of the bye week, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has put himself in the middle of the NFL’s MVP conversation. He leads the NFL in two telling categories as the Cowboys ready for an NFC East showdown with Philadelphia on Sunday night. Here are some thoughts (2,100+ words worth) on his hot streak, the pass defense, December’s success, this week’s opponent and more. Let’s get to it.
WHAT’S UP WITH THE COWBOYS MVP CANDIDATE?
Nobody’s playing the quarterback position better than Dak Prescott.
With his play over the last six games, he has not only lifted the play of the Cowboys’ offense, but he has also inserted himself into the NFL’s MVP conversation.
Since the team’s bye in Week 7, Prescott has been one of the most consistent and productive quarterbacks in the NFL.
“It’s the level of productivity and the consistency of it,” Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said. “To be able to go out there week in and week out and put your team in a position, through production and performance, to win the game, he has obviously done that at an extremely high level here for the last six weeks.”
He has averaged 316.8 yards and 3.3 touchdowns per game, with an average quarterback rating of 123.3 and an adjusted QBR of 81.88.
That’s 1,901 yards passing and 20 touchdowns, with just two interceptions while leading the Cowboys to a 5-1 record.
“He is so comfortable,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “He’s comfortable with where he’s at as a player. He’s comfortable with the system. He’s comfortable with the guys that are playing around him. … It speaks to him as a worker, how he prepares. I’ve never been around another guy that works as hard has he does. He’s just constantly asking questions and constantly having reminders and tips for the group. The dialog has just been awesome – it’s been really fun to be around him during the week to talk about the flexibility, the scheme and how he wants to move and adjust.”
Over the full 12 games this season, Prescott has completed 288 of 411 passes for 3,234 yards, with 26 touchdowns and six interceptions. His QBR of 108.3 is second only to San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (116.1).
He is also tops in the NFL with 29 Big Time Throws, a metric by Pro Football Focus that counts the number of passes with excellent ball location and timing that is generally thrown further down field and/or into a tighter window. Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa and Buffalo’s Josh Allen are all tied for second behind Prescott with 27.
Prescott, along with Pittsburgh’s Kenny Picket, leads the NFL with just seven Turnover Worthy Plays, a metric by PFF that counts the number of passes that have a high percentage chance to be intercepted or the poor job the QB does of taking care of the football.
“On gameday, he’s the just the same guy; it doesn’t matter,” Schottenheimer said. “It doesn’t matter the score; it doesn’t matter the time of the game he’s just the same guy every day. And you appreciate that for a guy that has to play the position at a high level in this business.”
WHAT’S UP WITH SO MANY PASSING YARDS?
After holding all their opponents to 253 yards passing or less over the first 11 weeks, the Cowboys have given up 300-plus yards passing over the last two weeks.
They allowed Washington’s Sam Howell to throw for 300 yards on Thanksgiving Day, then followed that up by having Seattle’s Geno Smith look like an All-Pro while amassing 334 yards through the air, the most the Cowboys have given up since Philadelphia’s Gardner Minshew threw for 355 yards in the Cowboys’ 40-34 win over the Eagles in Week 16 last season. On that day, Minshew hit the Cowboys for seven pass plays of over 20 yards, including a 48-yard strike to A.J. Brown, and two others that went for 19 yards.
On Thursday night, the Seahawks stung the Cowboys quick with a 73-yard catch and run by DK Metcalf to open the scoring. It is the third time this season the Cowboys have given up a pass play for over 65 yards, including a 69-yard pass by Arizona’s Joshua Dobbs and a 68-yard touchdown strike by Zach Wilson in the Cowboys win over the Jets in Week 2.
The Seahawks also tagged the Cowboys for three more passing plays over 25 yards, including a 39-yard short pass and run to Zach Charbonnet and deep passes to Metcalf (34 yards), as well as completions for 18 and 17 yards.
“You never like to see the explosive plays, because all a sudden that can turn into where you were in good shape and then all of a sudden a big play comes and you add 30 or 40 yards on to a play,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said. “So having those and limiting those explosive plays, that’s a big piece. By in large, we have been stronger in that area, so to have the last couple weeks where we have given up some. So yes, it is definitely an area of focus for us.”
Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland was picked on by Seattle and he allowed eight catches on 12 targets for 169 yards and two touchdowns. Even though he snagged his eighth interception of the season, it was by far his worst game of 2023.
“The term I would use for him is resilient,” Quinn said about Bland. “He is tough as hell and he’s ready to battle back. Going towards the end of the game to have an interception, and maybe have a second one that he didn’t come down with. But to know that ‘hey, they are coming after me and I’m gonna stand up and fight for it.’ I thought that was a pretty good sign about who he is.”
On the other side, cornerback Stephon Gilmore gave up just two catches on four targets for 16 yards, but one went for a touchdown.
WHAT’S UP WITH BEING GOOD IN DECEMBER?
With arguably the toughest stretch of the schedule coming over the next four weeks, the Cowboys need to be playing their best football.
Good thing this team has been good in the month of December under head coach Mike McCarthy.
Since he arrived in Dallas to start the 2020 season, the Cowboys are 10-2 in the final month of the year.
“I think Mike’s got great, big picture long view,” Quinn said. “Sometimes as an assistant or a player, you stay into the moment of what you’re gonna do in this game or this matchup, and so for him laying out the whole thing of how we’re gonna go and how we’ll play it. He’s worked us a lot in terms of how we want to go and how we want to play and our play style to go so he never backs off of that. I think, as the season goes on, you can get caught up in a scheme here or a scheme there, but he stays very very consistent in terms of our play style -- offensively, defensively and special teams. I think it’s nice to always have something to go hang your hat on – this is how we get it on whether it’s September, October, December, and he’s excellent at that.”
McCarthy breaks the season into three segments, that he likes to call trimesters. The first six games, the six games following the bye week and then the last five games of the season, where every player and coach is expected to have multiple things they are working on getting better at. Each segment builds on the one before, which should have the Cowboys playing their best football by the final trimester and the playoffs.
WHAT’S UP DEFENSIVELY ON THIRD DOWN?
When the two teams meet in Week 9, the Cowboys defense struggled to get off the field on third downs.
Something not lost on Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
“We have got to have a chance to get the football back to the offense,” he said. “One of the things that really make them who they are is how strong they are on third and fourth downs. They were right around 50-percent, which is right around what their average is, so we have got to be stronger in that spot knowing that some of these are going to turn into fourth downs.”
The Eagles converted seven of 14 third downs, as well as going two-for-two on fourth downs, in the first meeting with Dallas. Both above the Cowboys season averages of allowing success on 36.9-percent third downs and 48.1-percent on fourth downs.
This season, Philadelphia is finding success on 47.9-percent (78 of 163) of third downs, currently third best in the NFL, and a whopping 73-percent of fourth downs (14 of 19), which tops the league.
WHAT’S UP WITH THE SOPHOMORE TIGHT END?
Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson has taken that next step.
After a first season that saw him grab 19 of 22 targets for 174 yards and two touchdowns, he has more than doubled his production in his second season.
“Jake has taken that big step that, I think, everybody was anticipating,” McCarthy said. “It was something you could see signs of last year. You see it on the practice field consistently, so there is no surprise internally to see him have this type of success.”
This season has really been two – the six games before the bye week and the six games after, when it comes to Ferguson’s production.
In that first block of games, when the Cowboys went 4-2, he caught 21 of 29 targets for 190 yards and one touchdown. That includes a seven catch, 77-yard outing in the win over New England.
Since coming out of the bye, the Cowboys have gone 5-1 and Ferguson has caught 25 of 37 targets for 308 yards and four touchdowns. That includes a run of three straight games – against the Rams, Eagles and Giants, with a touchdown.
“We’re young, that’s really what’s cool about that room,” McCarthy said. “(Tight ends coach) Lunda (Wells) does an excellent job. But also, we need that room to take another step here in this final stretch.”
Ferguson has clearly become a favorite target of quarterback Dak Prescott. He is now second on the team in receptions with 46, in yards with 498 and in touchdowns with five.
WHAT’S UP WITH MOVING PAST MOORE?
After 12 games, the Cowboys offense is playing at its highest level of any point in the Mike McCarthy era.
They are tops in the NFL in scoring, averaging 32.3 points per game. They are averaging 380.4 yards per game, good enough for fifth. The Cowboys are 9-3, second in the NFC East, tied for second in the NFC Conference and a chance to move up in both standings with a win over Philadelphia on Sunday night.
It is exactly what McCarthy envisioned when he decided to part ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore in the offseason, hire Brian Schottenheimer as the new O.C., install a new passer friendly offense and take over the play calling this season.
The Cowboys are averaging 4.8 more points and 25.5 more yards per game this season, while also dropping their turnovers by 0.5 a contest.
The Chargers, who snatched up Moore as their offensive coordinator the day after he was let go by Dallas, are just 5-7, tied for last in the AFC West and currently two games out of a playoff spot in the AFC. They have the 19th ranked offense, which is averaging 338.6 yards and 22.9 points per game.
NEXT OPPONENT: WHAT’S UP WITH THE EAGLES?
The Philadelphia Eagles are coming off just their second loss of the season, which put the Cowboys back in the race for the NFC & NFC East titles. Led by quarterback Brock Purdy, San Francisco’s offense did to the Eagles what they had done to the Cowboys defense in Week 5 – made them look ordinary. So, the Eagles roll into Dallas on Sunday night for looking to bounce back from the loss. The Eagles will be led again by Jalen Hurts, who has taken a step back this season. Still lethal with his legs, rushing for 430 yards and 12 touchdowns (3rd most in the NFL), Hurts has struggled in the passing game. With A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Julio Jones and Quez Watkins at wide receiver, Hurts has completed 206 of 403 passes for 2,995 yards, good enough for just 12th in the NFL, with 19 passing touchdowns (11th in the league). He is also currently 12th in quarterback rating (93.8), 9th in adjusted quarterback rating (61.3) and tied for third in interceptions (10). With Philly winning the Shaq Leonard sweepstakes, the Eagles defense gets a much-needed boost at a position of need – linebacker. With Zach Cunningham out, Leonard immediately steps into the starting lineup beside Haason Reddick and Christian Ellis. With Jordan Davis, Fletcher Cox, Josh Sweat, Jalen Carter and Brandon Graham manning the defensive front, the Eagles now have one of the toughest front-seven in the game. They are averaging 2.8 sacks per game and had four against the Cowboys in the first meeting of the season. Like the last time these two teams met, this game should come down to the final possessions.