News: BTB: A Cowboys win in Arizona, by the numbers

[NewsBot]

Let’s take a closer look at the Dallas win in Arizona, as always, By The Numbers.

Welcome to this week’s installment of By The Numbers here at BTB. I hope you brought snacks.

We do this every week, excluding last week (don’t ask questions just nod and move along), and we have a whole lot of fun with it (if you don’t just nod and move along).

The Cowboys moved to 2-1 on the season with a 28-17 win in Arizona, but there’s so much more to the story than those simple numbers would imply. Buckle up, and let’s dive in.

19/54: You may have noticed the cover image for this post is of Brice Butler and Jaylon Smith. The former wears #19, while it took the latter 19 months to play football again after suffering a catastrophic injury in this very stadium on January 1st, 2016. (Jaylon’s debut playing football again was August 26th, 2017 during the preseason game against Oakland).

3: This was the third game of the season for both the Cowboys and Cardinals. This is also the number of offensive plays Dallas ran in the first quarter. That is disgusting.

...it is also the number of consecutive drives to start the game which resulted in a punt. Also disgusting.

...it is also the number of rushing yards that Ryan Switzer had in this game (who wore #3 at North Carolina).

114: This is the number of seconds that the Cowboys possessed the ball for in the first quarter. That’s 1:54. That’s hard to fathom.

95: The Cardinals out-gained the Cowboys by 95 yards in the first half.

10:38: This is how much more time Arizona had the ball in the first half.

0: That is how many points the Cowboys were trailing (and/or leading) by after the first half. Pretty amazing all things considered.

4: It took the Cowboys four plays to score on their second possession in the second half. Three Ezekiel Elliott runs, and the Dez Bryant touchdown. Zeke, Zeke, Zeke, and Dak-Dez.

12: Arizona began all 12 of their possessions on their side of the field. This is an incredible attribution to Chris Jones’ punting skills and how well the Cowboys took care of the ball once they crossed midfield.

3: (bringing it back)... DeMarcus Lawrence had a hat trick’s worth of sacks in this game.

...also the Cowboys were in the redzone 3 times and converted all attempts into touchdowns.

2: Brice Butler caught two passes on the night (on three passing routes he was in for).

90: Butler’s two receptions went for 90 yards, an astonishing level of efficiency for him in the game.

22: Ezekiel Elliott had 22 carries in the game, perhaps an ode to Emmitt Smith who played for both teams in the contest.

16: Zeke scored his 16th rushing touchdown of his career in this game. It was also his 16th game as a professional with at least 80 yards rushing.

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