Despite the relatively low score, it was a showdown between two young guns. Quarterback who are forever bound by the 2016 Draft, Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams was selected first overall and Dak Prescot of the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round.
And both were impressive with Prescott completing 64.1% of his passes for 266 yards and one touchdown for a 92.5 passer rating. For his part, Goff was good on 64.5% of his attempts for 275 yards and an interception, a mark of 79.4.
However, both callers were aided by a running attack. Ezekiel Elliott led the way with 96 rushing yards for Dallas, with the Cowboys totaling 136 rushing yards as a team. Meanwhile, the Rams’ throwback by the committee’s approach nibbled 153 rushing yards.
And if the loss itself wasn’t bad enough, there was even more bad news to the night’s festivities. With off-season training and preseason games canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the delayed and possibly altered training camp, there were concerns that injuries were an issue. And of course, the Cowboys suffered from it.
Leighton Vander Esch, who missed six games last year with a neck injury, left early in it with what has been described as an injured collarbone. This disappointing news was followed later by tight end Blake Jarwin and offensive tackle Cam Erving who started in the second quarter, both appearing to have suffered knee injuries.
But when it comes to the Rams’ offense, they made the exit relatively easy, as they hit the red zone on each of their first five full possessions of the game. The only time they failed was in the dying seconds of the first half.
It all started when they took the kickoff and walked 75 yards on seven plays for a quick seven points, with rookie Cam Akers taking the honors with his first NFL score. This was then followed by three consecutive trips to the shooting range for the Rams. And while kicker Samuel Slomen slammed his first attempt on the left upright, he followed that up by converting 35 and 31 yards on his next two downs.
Funny thing is, at the halfway point, the Cowboys were in the lead, 14-13.
Regardless of how the Cowboys defense struggled for the first 30 minutes, Prescott was more than willing to take on Goff. Prescott led an eight-game, 80-yard practice early in the second quarter, completing his five passing attempts for 67 yards. Elliott, however, would really provide the highlight of the practice after making a swing pass along the straight sideline and then working his way through at least four Los Angeles defenders to the end zone. .
As new kicker Greg Zuerlein pushed a 50-yard field goal attempt to the right in the team’s next set, no good, Prescot regained control late in the second quarter. Starting from their own 27-yard line with 1:52 to go, the Cowboys went the distance with Elliott getting his second touchdown of the night on a one-yard bull run.
But it was Prescott who put the team in that position, as he was again 5-for-5 on his passing attempts, this time for 56 yards, while finding four different receivers. He then broke away on a 12-yard run to the 1-yard line, which established Elliott’s score with just under 20 seconds left in the half.
Even though Dallas had momentum and possession to start the third quarter, the team couldn’t capitalize. The Cowboys had to start their first set of the second half and then once again were unable to stop the Rams’ offense, who used 11 plays and struck at 5:51 off the clock running 90 yards. towards the end zone. The blow came on a 30-yard pass to Robert Woods with Goff topping it off with a 17-yard finish to Josh Reynolds to regain the lead, 20-14.
But Dallas took a break when an interception by cornerback Chidobe Awuzie ultimately led to a 33-yard Zeurlein basket to bring the Cowboys down to under three. Then, after finally forcing the Rams off, Dallas had a chance to straighten things out early in the fourth quarter.
Prescott led his team to the Los Angeles 11-yard line, but in fourth and third, McCarthy made the decision to be aggressive and go forward instead of just the basket. And although Prescott managed to pass CeeDee Lamb in the middle, the rookie was stopped before the scorer as the Cowboys returned the ball on the lows.
They never had another chance. The Dallas offense took the field two more times, the last with 2:28 left in the game, and Prescott looked to have a huge 47-yard finish at Michael Gallup that would have given the Cowboys the ball at 19 yards. Rams. line. But a questionable offensive pass interference call to Gallup called off play.
And with that, the Cowboys’ hopes were dashed.
