Gambling, gift-wrapped glory

[erod]

Dallas got outplayed last night. It was evident. And let's be honest, if the tables were turned, we'd be livid beyond reason, and ready to hang our coaching staff from Jerry's big TV.

Doug Pederson and his staff did about everything they could to giftwrap a chance for Dallas to steal a victory, and the Cowboys rightly obliged. Prescott went full Romo late, and the Cowboys gambled to a great win.

Why Pederson passed on a that 53ish yard field goal was bizarre. Why he stopped running the ball when the Cowboys were getting gashed to pieces was weird. Why suddenly Smallwood entered the game late with Sproles, Matthews, and Varner warmed and ready was stupid. Philly wanted to toy with this wounded animal before eating it, but found it playing possum instead. Oops.

Philly had the ball up 23-13 and marching into Dallas territory with gut-punch runs right through the heart. The resistance was less than inspiring. I was prepping for a 30-13 game the wrong way, and a tough week 'round these parts.

A field goal later after Smallwood's fumble, and there's a puncher's chance down a score. But down the field Sproles and the Eagles went again. Not looking good. But then, Lee blows up another quick screen (that play hadn't worked all night), mixed with other unnecessary pass plays downfield, and suddenly, I see a punter. What? Why? What have we here?

Well, thank you kindly, Mr. Pederson.

Pederson then saw what we saw, the Cowboys offense woke up from a groggy three-quarter slumber. Beasley finally surfaced, Zeke got going, Williams got involved, and Yeti Brice caught a ball. Dez capped it, and what in the world? We're tied? Are you serious?

In fact, as greed set in, overtime shouldn't have been required. How did Wentz hold on to Scandrick's attempted strip sack? It defied physics. Dallas had three defenders right there ready to pick it up and score, looking around the like somebody lost their contact lens. The dadgum ball never appeared. Amazing.

Overtime by the grace of God.

Garrett then coached like he was playing craps with stolen money. He wasn't taking no as an answer, and he wasn't interested in seeing his defense take the field. A Romo-like jab, duck, spin, and rollout, and there stood Witten, getting mobbed by all 53.

Stack wins. Take them. Outplayed or whatever. These are the games help make seasons special and keep players off of airplanes in January. There's plenty to dissect and consider, but I'd rather just wear this smile for today.

Thanks, Philly. We gladly accept your generosity.

 

[65fastback2plus2]

not kicking a field goal you had already made twice was simply insane.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

I saw a different game. The Eagles play dink and dunk offense and Dallas plays bend-don't-break defense,,, the optical illusion was that the Eagles were doing whatever they wanted and yet one look at the box score (and the final score) tells a different story. The Cowboys tightened up the defense in the second half and shut those guys down, 16 unanswered points with the Eagles dinking and dunking and eventually punting. There's no doubt that Dak had an ugly game, the Eagles defense had him dazed and confused and the many horrible passes he threw gave the illusion that the Cowboys offense couldn't do anything,,, and yet one look at the box score shows they stacked up 400 yards of offense before overtime,,, and the Eagles had less than 300! Why did they stop running? Multiple tackles behind the LOS is why. Why didn't they throw deeper down field? Bend don't break baby. We give you the short stuff, then make the tackle. Pederson's decision to punt? Bad decision, no doubt, in hindsight anyways,,, he was gambling that Dak would go three and out, which was a 50-50 shot really.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Gifted wrapped Wins count the same as any other Win. We could win out with gift wrapped wins and it wouldn't bother me one bit.

 

[Nightman]

not kicking a field goal you had already made twice was simply insane.

running a negative play before not kicking the FG was a gift too....great read by Lee

 

[Eddie]

I went to bed at 11pm. I missed an exciting finish.

I hope Dak takes last night as a learning experience. The Iggles had him dazed for 3 quarters. But in the end, he did what he had to do to win.

 

[erod]

I saw a different game. The Eagles play dink and dunk offense and Dallas plays bend-don't-break defense,,, the optical illusion was that the Eagles were doing whatever they wanted and yet one look at the box score (and the final score) tells a different story. The Cowboys tightened up the defense in the second half and shut those guys down, 16 unanswered points with the Eagles dinking and dunking and eventually punting. There's no doubt that Dak had an ugly game, the Eagles defense had him dazed and confused and the many horrible passes he threw gave the illusion that the Cowboys offense couldn't do anything,,, and yet one look at the box score shows they stacked up 400 yards of offense before overtime,,, and the Eagles had less than 300! Why did they stop running? Multiple tackles behind the LOS is why. Why didn't they throw deeper down field? Bend don't break baby. We give you the short stuff, then make the tackle. Pederson's decision to punt? Bad decision, no doubt, in hindsight anyways,,, he was gambling that Dak would go three and out, which was a 50-50 shot really.

Dallas tightened up nothing. Philly was running for 9 yards a pop, and simply stopped doing it. They'd get tricky and run these quick screens, and Dallas had those sniffed out all night. The Cowboys had no answer to Sproles.

Then, then they had a chance to ice the game basically with a field goal they'd already made twice, they opted to punt. It was weird.

Losing teams OFTEN have more yardage than winning teams. That's not that big of a deal.

 

[jazzcat22]

So Dak and the team did not put 2 drives together to WIN this game.
One to tie it up, and then the D makes FOUR straight stops in the 4th quarter,
Then Dak makes a game winning OT drive.....so now we get excuses of wht we won...give me a freaking break. We played sloppy, but stayed in the game...then WON it.....

play a sloppy poor game until the last half of the 4th quarter and OT, yes...but we still WON, it was not a gift......

 

[Silver N Blue]

Dallas got outplayed last night. It was evident. And let's be honest, if the tables were turned, we'd be livid beyond reason, and ready to hang our coaching staff from Jerry's big TV.

Doug Pederson and his staff did about everything they could to giftwrap a chance for Dallas to steal a victory, and the Cowboys rightly obliged. Prescott went full Romo late, and the Cowboys gambled to a great win.

Why Pederson passed on a that 53ish yard field goal was bizarre. Why he stopped running the ball when the Cowboys were getting gashed to pieces was weird. Why suddenly Smallwood entered the game late with Sproles, Matthews, and Varner warmed and ready was stupid. Philly wanted to toy with this wounded animal before eating it, but found it playing possum instead. Oops.

Philly had the ball up 23-13 and marching into Dallas territory with gut-punch runs right through the heart. The resistance was less than inspiring. I was prepping for a 30-13 game the wrong way, and a tough week 'round these parts.

A field goal later after Smallwood's fumble, and there's a puncher's chance down a score. But down the field Sproles and the Eagles went again. Not looking good. But then, Lee blows up another quick screen (that play hadn't worked all night), mixed with other unnecessary pass plays downfield, and suddenly, I see a punter. What? Why? What have we here?

Well, thank you kindly, Mr. Pederson.

Pederson then saw what we saw, the Cowboys offense woke up from a groggy three-quarter slumber. Beasley finally surfaced, Zeke got going, Williams got involved, and Yeti Brice caught a ball. Dez capped it, and what in the world? We're tied? Are you serious?

In fact, as greed set in, overtime shouldn't have been required. How did Wentz hold on to Scandrick's attempted strip sack? It defied physics. Dallas had three defenders right there ready to pick it up and score, looking around the like somebody lost their contact lens. The dadgum ball never appeared. Amazing.

Overtime by the grace of God.

Garrett then coached like he was playing craps with stolen money. He wasn't taking no as an answer, and he wasn't interested in seeing his defense take the field. A Romo-like jab, duck, spin, and rollout, and there stood Witten, getting mobbed by all 53.

Stack wins. Take them. Outplayed or whatever. These are the games help make seasons special and keep players off of airplanes in January. There's plenty to dissect and consider, but I'd rather just wear this smile for today.

Thanks, Philly. We gladly accept your generosity.

Could not agree more.

 

[romothesavior]

Dallas got outplayed last night. It was evident.

Not sure I agree with that. We outgained them, and the defense played pretty good considering the position they were put in. Aside from the QB and special teams, I thought we looked like the much better team.

Totally agree with you re: the 53 yard field goal. He should have kicked that, because if he had made it that would have just about put the game out of reach.

 

[Seven]

Dallas tightened up nothing. Philly was running for 9 yards a pop, and simply stopped doing it. They'd get tricky and run these quick screens, and Dallas had those sniffed out all night. The Cowboys had no answer to Sproles.

Then, then they had a chance to ice the game basically with a field goal they'd already made twice, they opted to punt. It was weird.

Losing teams OFTEN have more yardage than winning teams. That's not that big of a deal.

Dallas gave them a ton of yards on stupid penalties and a very possible score on a 60yd run that was called back on a Fredbeard phantom hold.

Not to mention the field position Dallas afforded them.......all night.

They ran well between the twenties - Game plan.

This game went both ways as far as gifts.

Whitehead gift wrapped a couple presents personally...................

 

[DFWJC]

I'll take 6-1 all day long...any way we can get it.

But yes, from Philly's perspective, I'm sure they think they let one go. They had that game in the bag, let Dallas stick around, and watched it slip away.
Sweeeeet

 

[Ranching]

We outgained them 460 yards to 291. Pretty good gift, I'll take it.

 

[erod]

So Dak and the team did not put 2 drives together to WIN this game.
One to tie it up, and then the D makes FOUR straight stops in the 4th quarter,
Then Dak makes a game winning OT drive.....so now we get excuses of wht we won...give me a freaking break. We played sloppy, but stayed in the game...then WON it.....

play a sloppy poor game until the last half of the 4th quarter and OT, yes...but we still WON, it was not a gift......

I'm certainly not criticizing Dallas' execution down the stretch.

But there should never have been the opportunity. Pederson made some horrific decisions. But it happens. Dallas still has to get it done, and they did.

I guarantee you Dak will see that defensive approach moving forward. Not that other teams can do it as well as Philly. He was horrible for three quarters.

 

[erod]

We outgained the 460 yards to 291. Pretty god gift, I'll take it.

Losing teams routinely outgain winning teams in yardage. That's not really the point.

Philly had the ball all night until late.

 

[Ranching]

Losing teams routinely outgain winning teams in yardage. That's not really the point.

Philly had the ball all night until late.

I get it. We did not play well, bad clock management, bad play calling, Dak's accuracy was way off and to many penalties. Winning a game where you were outplayed by a good team is a great sign. These are the games where a rookie QB and an average defense could have folded, but they didn't. They rose to the occasion. Great win!

 

[erod]

I get it. We did not play well, bad clock management, bad play calling, Dak's accuracy was way off and to many penalties. Winning a game where you were outplayed by a good team is a great sign. These are the games where a rookie QB and an average defense could have folded, but they didn't. They rose to the occasion. Great win!

No, there was nothing wrong with the playcalling (you can always question a couple), and clock management was fine. Dak was just flustered, and Philly was playing great.

Until the fourth quarter. Philly did dumb things.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Dallas tightened up nothing. Philly was running for 9 yards a pop, and simply stopped doing it. They'd get tricky and run these quick screens, and Dallas had those sniffed out all night. The Cowboys had no answer to Sproles.

Then, then they had a chance to ice the game basically with a field goal they'd already made twice, they opted to punt. It was weird.

Losing teams OFTEN have more yardage than winning teams. That's not that big of a deal.

I'm just going off of what I saw in the second half and what the players said about half-time adjustments,,, the statistics were meant to show you that the offense/defense wasn't bad at all, just inconsistent, mostly because of rookie QB play. You don't rack up that many yards if you're getting curb stomped. That end zone interception was a killer.

 

[Ranching]

No, there was nothing wrong with the playcalling (you can always question a couple), and clock management was fine. Dak was just flustered, and Philly was playing great.

Until the fourth quarter. Philly did dumb things.

For the most part you are right about play calling and clock. I just couldn't understand why they would throw on first and second and goal at the end of the half. Run the ball, if you don't score on first down, you run the clock so that they don't have time left to do anything. Oh well, it worked out. We did dumb things early and they did them late.

 

[Nightman]

Losing teams routinely outgain winning teams in yardage. That's not really the point.

Philly had the ball all night until late.

We gained more yards and gave up less yards than all games this season.....Philly didn't dominate anything but the scoreboard til late......we had 3 trips inside the 5 and got 6 pts