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Who shined and who faltered in Week 3? Let’s take a look.
Winners
Dak Prescott - It’s starting to become routine. He just makes plays. Prescott stands tall in the pocket, doesn’t ever get happy-feet, and generally throws very accurate passes. If he needs to run, he does, but he’d rather make his reads and hit his receivers. Going 19 for 24 for 248 yards, throwing one touchdown, running for another and a quarterback rating of 123.6? Can’t be a rookie. Just can’t be.
Ezekiel Elliott - Finally, the much-hyped rookie running back has his breakout night. It wasn’t just his 140 yards on 30 carries, although that was outstanding with a 4.7 average per carry. It showed he can be the workhorse, that he won’t be fumbling, plus he can catch out of the backfield. But what about his ability to pick up the pass rush? Watch him save Dak Prescott on this play when La’el Collins gets blown up by a blitz.
Olha isso, Ezekiel Elliott salvou a cara do La'el Collins. pic.twitter.com/4GJHZfPUIt
— oQuarterback (@oQuarterback) September 26, 2016
That was just one of a few great jobs in blocking the blitz. The kid is a talent, to be sure.
Cole Beasley - Dak Prescott might turn Cole Beasley into a Pro Bowl receiver at this rate. Another big night for the diminutive receiver, seven catches on seven targets, 73 yards and finally a catch over 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. Beasley already has 20 catches through three games. That would project to around 105 catches on the year.
Morris Claiborne - The renaissance continues for the Cowboys corner. He’s now become a dependable corner who can cover, but he’s also become a sure-tackler. He had six tackles and only really got beat for a long pass one time, a fantastic catch by Kevin White. Side note: Brandon Carr is doing a nice job, too.
Cowboys Safeties - One week after coming up with the big turnover to help seal a win, Barry Church was a tackling machine. He led the Cowboys with nine tackles. J.J. Wilcox has started to play better as the Cowboys have started to limit his snaps. Last night he produce a couple of hard hits, one forced a fumble. Byron Jones got beat for a touchdown, but overall his play was solid. The trio of safeties are playing well and the Cowboys seem to have found the formula for each player's snap counts.
Losers
Dan Bailey - It was one of the most stunning moments of the game. Dan Bailey actually missed a field goal. It was a 47-yard field goal which is usually a chip shot for the uber-accurate Bailey. No worries, he’ll be back to form next week.
Cowboys Pass Rush - We have a problem. The Bears had given up eight sacks in their first two games but the Cowboys barely touched Brian Hoyer. Only towards the end of the game did Dallas start generating anything that resembled a standard NFL pass rush. The move of Tyrone Crawford to end didn’t help in the pass rush (although he did get a couple of TFL’s in the run game). Two notes that may be encouraging. One, only one more game until DeMarcus Lawrence returns. Two, Ryan Davis showed some ability in his limited playing time at the end of the game. He may be someone the Cowboys can work with.
Terrance Williams - Last week the Cowboys number two receiver was MIA. This week, he was actually having a good game, he ended up with four catches for 88 yards, that yardage led the Cowboys. But, he made the crucial fumble that almost tipped the momentum of the game. The Bears actually could have gotten back in it had things gone a little different. It was good to see Williams back to form, but between his Week 1 gaffe at the end of the game, his Week 2 no-show, and his Week 3 fumble, he’s having a rough season.
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