Plankton
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“The thing with (David) Irving is that he is the quintessential tweener. His body type screams LDE, but he's not fast enough to finish from the outside. His long arms allow him to contribute at DT, and he has good initial quickness for a guy as long as he is. The problem is that he lacks the heft to slug it out inside regularly. If you spot his snaps, he can be effective, but I don't think he's more than a rotational player.”
- Plankton Thursday 12/15
Now, there are misses, and there are misses.
The assessment of above of one David Irving sounded a lot better than it looked on Sunday night, and it was huge for the Dallas Cowboys.
With no DeMarcus Lawrence in uniform tonight, the Cowboys figured to be hurting from the edge when it came to the pass rush against the Buccaneers. With a QB as dangerous as Jameis Winston is, this lack of rush from the defensive end position looked to be problematic and could open up a barrel full of issues for a Cowboy team coming off of a difficult loss to their archrival, the Giants.
Enter David Irving.
When the game was in the balance, and the Cowboys appearing to be tottering a bit, Irving took over the game from the defensive side of the football. In the fourth quarter, the second-year player from Iowa State put his large imprint on the game. Irving contributed two sacks, one batted pass, one forced fumble, five QB hits and forced the Buccaneers to switch right tackles in an effort to combat his charge. When the offense was unable to finish the Buccaneers off, giving the ball back to Winston at their own 11-yard line with 1:32 remaining in the game, Irving helped slam the door shut. Irving hurried Winston into an incomplete pass following a Buccaneer first down. On the next snap, Irving forced Winston from the pocket, where he was sacked by Maliek Collins, and fumbled the ball, robbing Tampa of precious time on the clock. On third down, Irving was involved again, forcing an incomplete pass from Winston. On the decisive fourth down, Winston threw one up for grabs, and was intercepted for the third time on the night by Orlando Scandrick to finally close the game out.
In this game, the Cowboys were their own worst enemy. Time and time again, they failed to make plays when it counted, or committed a stupid mistake to kill promising drives:
But, the biggest and most important player tonight was a largely forgotten about second year player, who turned a rolling Buccaneer offense into a turnover and error plagued mess in the fourth quarter.
And, this reemergence of David Irving came at the right time. This could be the best gift that this Cowboy team will see this holiday season. With a dangerous Lion team next on the docket, the Cowboys will need more efforts like this from Prescott, Elliott and David Irving to clinch the division title and lock up home field throughout the playoffs.
Other notes on tonight’s game:
- Plankton Thursday 12/15
Now, there are misses, and there are misses.
The assessment of above of one David Irving sounded a lot better than it looked on Sunday night, and it was huge for the Dallas Cowboys.
With no DeMarcus Lawrence in uniform tonight, the Cowboys figured to be hurting from the edge when it came to the pass rush against the Buccaneers. With a QB as dangerous as Jameis Winston is, this lack of rush from the defensive end position looked to be problematic and could open up a barrel full of issues for a Cowboy team coming off of a difficult loss to their archrival, the Giants.
Enter David Irving.
When the game was in the balance, and the Cowboys appearing to be tottering a bit, Irving took over the game from the defensive side of the football. In the fourth quarter, the second-year player from Iowa State put his large imprint on the game. Irving contributed two sacks, one batted pass, one forced fumble, five QB hits and forced the Buccaneers to switch right tackles in an effort to combat his charge. When the offense was unable to finish the Buccaneers off, giving the ball back to Winston at their own 11-yard line with 1:32 remaining in the game, Irving helped slam the door shut. Irving hurried Winston into an incomplete pass following a Buccaneer first down. On the next snap, Irving forced Winston from the pocket, where he was sacked by Maliek Collins, and fumbled the ball, robbing Tampa of precious time on the clock. On third down, Irving was involved again, forcing an incomplete pass from Winston. On the decisive fourth down, Winston threw one up for grabs, and was intercepted for the third time on the night by Orlando Scandrick to finally close the game out.
In this game, the Cowboys were their own worst enemy. Time and time again, they failed to make plays when it counted, or committed a stupid mistake to kill promising drives:
- Vince Mayle committed a holding penalty on the opening drive, robbing the Cowboys of a first down, followed by a sack by William Gholston. It forced the Cowboys to settle for a 56-yard field goal attempt by Dan Bailey, who missed it short.
- On the ensuing possession, with the Cowboys driving for a potential touchdown, Doug Free committed a facemask penalty, costing the Cowboys 15 yards, and killing the drive, resulting in another Bailey FG attempt.
- On the late drive in the first half, Ron Leary committed a holding penalty, wiping out a 10-yard pass to Dez Bryant, and leading to a 52 yard FG attempt by Bailey, who missed again.
- On the Bucs first drive of the second half, on a third and one, Winston heaved a ball deep for Aaron Humphries. Brandon Carr, in perfect position to defend the pass, rather than intercepting or batting it down, batted it up instead, with the ball coming to rest in Humphries arms for a touchdown.
- On the subsequent drive, with the Cowboys facing a 3rd and 2, the coaching staff got too cute for their own good. They called for a reverse, with Ezekiel Elliott attempting to hand the ball to Lucky Whitehead. The exchange was botched, and the drive was killed.
But, the biggest and most important player tonight was a largely forgotten about second year player, who turned a rolling Buccaneer offense into a turnover and error plagued mess in the fourth quarter.
And, this reemergence of David Irving came at the right time. This could be the best gift that this Cowboy team will see this holiday season. With a dangerous Lion team next on the docket, the Cowboys will need more efforts like this from Prescott, Elliott and David Irving to clinch the division title and lock up home field throughout the playoffs.
Other notes on tonight’s game:
- This was a game that the Cowboys controlled, but they left a lot of points on the field. The errors noted above contributed greatly, but they literally were able to do what they wanted offensively with little resistance. Without those mistakes, this game was a blowout, but somehow, the outcome was in doubt down to the last drive of the game. Lots of items related to discipline need to be cleaned up.
- Carr was awful in this game, and gave his detractors plenty of red meat to chew on with his performance. He was a step slow all night long, and when he was in position to make a play, he instead turned it into a touchdown. The only positive for Carr next week is that Calvin Johnson has retired.
- Congratulations to Byron Jones for his first career interception. He took a scary fall onto his arm on the second Tampa touchdown, but he was able to finish the game.
- Tonight, a terrific defensive effort by another Cowboy defensive end was completely overshadowed by Irving’s play. Benson Mayowa played his best game of the season. He was active against the run, and had two tackles for loss, five tackles, and a couple of pressures. He appeared to hurt his left biceps in the fourth quarter, but he returned for the last play of the game. Mayowa has been coming on of late, and it’s at a very good time.
- Interesting note (perhaps only to me): Buccaneer RT Gosder Cherilus, starting due to Demar Dotson being in the concussion protocol, was a former first round pick. He was selected by Matt Millen, which explains a lot.
- Zack Martin, Travis Frederick and Leary were outstanding tonight (the one penalty on Leary, notwithstanding). Gerald McCoy, one of the top three DTs in the game, put up a bagel on the stat sheet. McCoy was absolutely dominated by the Bermuda Triangle in this game.
- Prescott seemed to focus much of his efforts in the pass game in getting the ball out of his hands quickly, but also in looking for Dez Bryant and Jason Witten. 20 of his 36 attempts went to the two stalwarts, with 18 of them being completed. Bryant became a larger factor as the game went on.
- Was it me, or were there more annoying commercial interruptions than usual tonight at the end of the first half? Absolutely irritating, and I work in the business for crying out loud.
- The NFL is WAY too uptight with the rules against celebrations. Elliott's leap into the kettle was a fun, harmless, spur of the moment celebration, and the league continues to act like Dean Wormer. To quote Enos Cabell in The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training, "Let them play.....let them play...."
- This was a much-needed win for the Cowboys, and should settle some of the noise around the team. A difficult test awaits on Boxing Day, with Matthew Stafford presenting a significant challenge to this defense.
- Merry Christmas to all Zoners, and my hopes for a calm week ahead.
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