Cowboys Prey on Panthers
The Dallas Cowboys (7-3) defense dominated, racking up six sacks and holding the Carolina Panthers (1-9) to just 187 yards of total offense in a 33-10 NFC conference win at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
PARSONS ON THE HUNT
From the opening drive, Cowboys linebacker/edge rusher Micah Parsons was hunting the football. It resulted in the first three sack game of his career.
Parsons had Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young running for his life most of the afternoon, recording multiple quarterback pressures in both halves with relentless pressure.
He finished with six tackles, including his barrage of sacks for a negative 26 yards.
Parsons got off to a good start, accounting for two solo tackles and an assist on the Panthers opening drive. He sacked quarterback Bryce Young for a nine-yard loss on third and six from the Dallas 37 that knocked them out of field goal range.
Second Carolina possession, same story – another Parsons 9-yard sack to ruin the drive. His only tackle on the series and it came on third and seven from the Panthers 48.
After the pick-six for DaRon Bland blew open a close game, Parsons got back on the stat sheet with his third sack of the day. He beat left tackle Ikem Ekwonu to the hole vacated by the center, and it was a straight shot at Young for an 8-yard loss.
STILL A STRUGGLE FOR POLLARD, RUN GAME
Despite what was probably his best run of the season, Tony Pollard and the Cowboys still struggled to run the football with any consistency.
Pollard had an amazing 22-yard touchdown run to give the Cowboys breathing room in early in the fourth quarter, just his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Other than that run, Pollard gained just 39 yards on 11 carries for a 3.5 yards per rush average.
He did catch four passes for 19 yards, to finish with 80 yards on 16 touches.
As a team the Cowboys rushed for 110 yards on 24 rushing plays, including 23 yards on eight carries for Rico Dowdle and one carry each from KaVontae Turpin for 13 yards and CeeDee Lamb for seven yards.
But it looked promising early for Pollard.
In a first half where the Cowboys ran 40 plays, 12 of them went to Pollard – nine rushing and three through the air. He finished with 48 yards.
Pollard’s first carry of the game came on the second drive – a middle run, where he pinballed for nine yards. He finished the drive with three carries for 34 yards and one catch for 12 yards. Pollard accounted for 46 yards on that 83-yard drive that ended with Luke Schoonmakers’s second touchdown of the season – an 18-yard pass from Prescott.
LAMB BOXED IN BY PANTHERS
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb made the plays when the Cowboys offense needed him to most, but for the most part he was kept in check by the Panthers defense.
After three straight games with more than 10 catches and 150 yards, Lamb was held to six catches for 38 yards on nine targets and one touchdown – a 5-yard pass from Dak Prescott to close out the first half.
His longest catch of the day was just a 10-yard grab late in that final drive of the first half.
Lamb was all but absent in the first half, until the final 30 seconds when he caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Prescott. He finished the opening 30 minutes with just five targets, with three catches for 20 yards and the score.
PRESCOTT’S PERFORMANCE GOOD ENOUGH
It wasn’t his best performance, but Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott did enough to keep the offense moving.
The Cowboys eventually built a big enough lead that Prescott came out with half the fourth quarter left to play. Cooper Rush finished off the xx-point victory.
But while he was in there, Prescott completed just 25 of his 38 passing attempts for 189 yards. He did throw two touchdowns, but even more important he didn’t turn the ball over.
Prescott was harassed by a decent Carolina pass rush but was able to escape by using his legs for six yards on two carries. He avoided being sacked for the second straight game.
His touchdown pass to open the scoring in the game was a thing of beauty, firing an 18-yard dart to Luke Schoonmaker.
He had a 5-yard TD pass to CeeDee Lamb to finish off the first half.
Prescott, who found nine different receivers, finished with a 95.2 quarterback rating.
Rush finished two of three for 15 yards.
COWBOYS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF STUPID PENALTIES
When the game was close, the Panthers found a way to allow the Cowboys offense to find its footing behind some crucial penalties.
In the first half, the Panthers defense committed three separate personal foul penalties that kept the Cowboys drive alive.
The first on former Cowboy Xavier Woods, who committed a facemask and horse collar against Cowboys wide receiver Brandin Cooks on the same play, kept the Dallas drive alive with the penalty on the third-down play. This Cowboys drive ended with 30-yard field goal from Brandon Aubrey.
On the final drive of the opening half for the Cowboys, Panthers linebacker Amare Barno was called for an unnecessary roughness call after hitting quarterback Dak Prescott who was clearly sliding down. It resulted in a first down on a 3-yard run on what was a third and 10 at the Carolina 41. Then on third and 16 at the Carolina 29, Panthers defensive end DeShawn Williams hit Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin after CeeDee Lamb was stopped after a 10-yard catch and run. The Cowboys ended the drive with a 6-yard TD pass to Lamb.
The Panthers were flagged eight times for 90 yards, while Dallas was penalized 45 yards on five calls against.
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BIG HUGE GIANT MONSTER Play of the Game
After the Cowboys had just stretched their lead to two scores, DaRon Bland struck for the fourth time this season. On the first play of the Panthers drive, quarterback Bryce Young tried to throw a 6-yard out to Jonathan that Bland laid out for and intercepted. He jumped off the ground and returned it 30 yards, with just one cut to void a tackle, for the touchdown. It is the fourth interception return for Bland, a 2021 fifth round pick out of Fresno State, this season to tie the NFL record owned by the Eagles Eric Allen (1993), Chiefs Jim Kearney (1972) and the Oilers Ken Houston (1971). Bland’s other three touchdowns this season came in Week 1 against the Giants, Week 4 against New England and Week 8 against the Rams.
UNSUNG Play of the Game
With the score 10-0 and Carolina driving to get into the game midway through the second quarter, Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence decided it was time to meet Bryce Young for a quick hug. On third and 14 at the Dallas 17, Lawrence used an inside stunt to beat Carolina center Bradley Bozeman with a quick shove and was then on top of Young in two steps. It was a seven-yard loss, leading the Panthers to settle for a field goal. The Cowboys answered 1:32 later with a touchdown for a 17-3 lead.