FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys are facing a unique opportunity to do something special, to experience a season to remember, with an offense that can explode by scoring points, as it has shown for periods this season. And a defense that seems to improve every week in almost every aspect of his game.
Now the big challenge will be to maintain consistency when “real football” kicks in, as Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday, less than 24 hours after the Washington Football Team was beaten on record magnitudes.
It was the first time in more than 41 years that the Cowboys scored at least 56 points in a regular season game.
The offense that seemed incompetent the most recent two months erupted with four touchdown passes from Dak Prescott in the first half, something no quarterback in franchise history has ever accomplished.
On defense, Trevon Digg took the opportunity to tie the record for intercepted passes in a single season, held by the legendary Everson Walls, who by the way was in the stadium to see his mark vanish, also four decades old.
That same defense pushes more and more consistently and you don’t even have to have a great memory to realize that it is the best the Cowboys have put on the field in many years, not only to stop the opponent or get balls for their offense. .
You can also put points on the scoreboard. They have five interceptions that return for a touchdown.
The Cowboys scored a touchdown with offense, defense and special teams Sunday against Washington.
Now, the Cowboys have to translate that success on both sides of the ball into postseason wins; something that has been in short supply for over a quarter of a century for an award-winning organization.
“We have to fully seize the opportunity that we have,” Zeke Elliott said. “We have already had great seasons that do not end in the championship. It is useless to have a great regular season, to be a divisional champion, if we do not transcend the playoffs.”
The Cowboys running back has experienced that firsthand. In his rookie year, six years ago, along with Prescott, he was part of a team that won 13 games, two more than any other club in the National Conference in a campaign that included 11 consecutive wins.
However, they were eliminated in the first playoff game, in the divisional round, by the Green Bay Packers, despite the fact that their offense, which was so successful all year, scored 21 points. But his defense accepted 34 …
“I’ve been the number one offense and it didn’t guarantee me a championship,” McCarthy said of his time as the Packers coach. “You want to see a team with more balance, that can play soccer and win with the three phases of the game. That is what we want to be. We want to be a soccer team that plays complete soccer.”
The Cowboys host their final home game of the season this Sunday, against the Arizona Cardinals, who are also already through to the playoffs but remain desperate in the competition for first place in the NFC West, which they dominated for 13 weeks before falling on a three-game losing streak.
Dallas is still competing, albeit less desperate, for the conference’s first seed, which would result in a first-round playoff layoff and host every home game.
You will have to remember that Arizona quietly came to AT&T Stadium last year to crush them 38-10, when quarterback Kyler Murray seemed unstoppable on pass and run, against a very poor Dallas defense all season. Very different from the current one …
“I said we were going to hit our peak,” recalled linebacker Micah Parsons. “I think we are reaching the peak at the right time.”
