Plankton
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Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
- George Santayana – The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905)
While yesterday’s barnburner between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles felt new, fresh and exciting, if it had a feeling of familiarity to it, well, it should have.
Just two years ago, these two teams in this very same stadium played a game that went to overtime, with a winning score of 29-23.
In that game, the Cowboys entered the game with a one game lead over the Eagles in the division, same as yesterday.
In 2016, the Cowboys were coming off of a bye week. Yesterday, they were coming off of a 10-day break courtesy of playing last Thursday against the Saints.
In both games, the Cowboys fumbled the opening kickoff, and retained possession both times, albeit in a dubious manner yesterday.
In both games, the Cowboy offense was sluggish, and off schedule in the first half.
In both games, Dak Prescott had some alarming moments of poor pocket presence, inaccuracy and ball security issues.
In both games, Doug Pederson had a chance to make a bold, decisive, game-winning decision in the fourth quarter, and took the conservative route.
In both games, in overtime, Jason Garrett passed up kicking a go-ahead field goal to go for it on fourth and short, and kept the drives alive.
In both games, the winner of the coin toss in overtime went on to win the game on the opening possession.
In both games, the Cowboys emerged as the winners, and took a stranglehold over the NFC East.
And, most of all, Pederson didn’t learn his lesson from two seasons earlier.
In a game yesterday where the Eagles’ season was on the line, and where they hung around in a game that they had no business being in, Pederson did not take the temperature of where the game was going, and as a result, he allowed his team to lose the game without his offense taking the field.
The game was in a tie in the fourth quarter as a result of Eagle placekicker Jake Elliott missing his first extra point of the season. In a quarter where the Eagles managed to rally from behind on three occasions despite being badly outplayed for most of the game, and with its defense on the field for an ungodly 37:28 in regulation, Pederson, lauded just a season ago for having the instincts of a riverboat gambler, did not go for two following Darren Sproles’ nifty six yard touchdown catch and run that brought the Eagles within one point with 1:39 remaining in the game. This, despite his kicker missing an extra point earlier in the contest. This, despite the very real fact that if the game went to overtime, he would be relying on a coin toss to determine his fate.
Pederson made another blunder, perhaps more benign, in allowing the clock to run out at the end of the fourth quarter following a sack of Prescott on a third down play, not using his final timeout to force the Cowboys to punt the football to Sproles, who can be electric in the open field.
Pederson went conservative, and it bit him in the rear end.
Just like in 2016.
In that game, with the Eagles leading the Cowboys 23-16 with 7:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Eagles faced a fourth and 14 from the Cowboy 36-yard line. His placekicker, Caleb Sturgis, had hit from 55 yards earlier to close out the first half. Rather than kick the field goal to make it a two-score game, with a kick well within Sturgis’ range, Pederson chose to punt the ball to the Cowboys. The Cowboys took this gift, and scored the game tying touchdown that eventually sent the game to overtime.
Where Pederson’s Eagles lost the coin toss, and ultimately, the game.
Just like yesterday.
Once the Cowboys won the coin toss, as in 2016, they were determined to end the game with their possession being the only one of the extra session. The Cowboys methodically drove the ball down the field, only to be faced with a 4th and one situation well within field goal range. They faced an identical situation in 2016, with a 4th and 1 situation well within Dan Bailey’s field goal range. Jason Garrett, thought of as unimaginative by many, stubborn by more and conservative by even more than that, stayed true to his convictions, and trusted his offensive line and players to keep the drive alive.
Ezekiel Elliott, with a two-yard gain, had his best carry of the night, ducking and extending to make the necessary yardage despite the Eagles stoning the Cowboy offensive line on the play. Garrett’s decisiveness in wanting to end the game without the Eagles seeing the football was the difference between winning and losing.
Just like in 2016.
Now, it can certainly be argued that it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. In watching the game winning play, that argument would seem to hold true. On a third and eight play from the Eagles 15, Prescott threw a slant to Amari Cooper, and the play was anticipated by Eagle corner Rasul Douglas, who had anticipated an earlier Prescott to Cooper throw to the end zone that resulted in a game swinging interception. Douglas was able to stick his hand in to deflect the pass. Unfortunately for him, the ball went up into the air, and seemed to hang for an eternity. Cooper capped a career best 217 yard receiving performance by snaring the deflection for his 10th reception and third touchdown of the game to put an end to the contest, and in all likelihood, the Eagles’ season.
Prescott ran the gamut in this game in terms of moments that would have his greatest supporters pointing to his play in the fourth quarter and overtime, but gave his greatest detractors plenty of ammunition in his unfocused play for the first three quarters. He had moments of inaccuracy, ball security problems, locking onto targets and missed opportunities on offense. But, when it mattered the most, he showed up. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Prescott completed 17 of 20 for 243 yards and all three of his touchdown passes to Cooper. While the final pass wasn’t exactly Montana to Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII, it will go down as a game winning touchdown pass.
In a week where Eagle linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill dropped the gauntlet on the Cowboys with his taunt about choking, the Cowboys didn’t exactly come out like a team poised to shut him up. The Cowboys were sloppy on offense, and wasted a strong defensive effort for three quarters. They continue to struggle in the red zone on offense, and continue to pile up injuries, with Zack Martin going down again with a knee injury. But, Grugier-Hill’s comments were misplaced, and focused on the wrong target.
The proper target was his head coach, Doug Pederson.
The man who didn’t learn from his past mistakes in 2016, and suffered the same result.
Other observations from yesterday’s game:
- George Santayana – The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905)
While yesterday’s barnburner between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles felt new, fresh and exciting, if it had a feeling of familiarity to it, well, it should have.
Just two years ago, these two teams in this very same stadium played a game that went to overtime, with a winning score of 29-23.
In that game, the Cowboys entered the game with a one game lead over the Eagles in the division, same as yesterday.
In 2016, the Cowboys were coming off of a bye week. Yesterday, they were coming off of a 10-day break courtesy of playing last Thursday against the Saints.
In both games, the Cowboys fumbled the opening kickoff, and retained possession both times, albeit in a dubious manner yesterday.
In both games, the Cowboy offense was sluggish, and off schedule in the first half.
In both games, Dak Prescott had some alarming moments of poor pocket presence, inaccuracy and ball security issues.
In both games, Doug Pederson had a chance to make a bold, decisive, game-winning decision in the fourth quarter, and took the conservative route.
In both games, in overtime, Jason Garrett passed up kicking a go-ahead field goal to go for it on fourth and short, and kept the drives alive.
In both games, the winner of the coin toss in overtime went on to win the game on the opening possession.
In both games, the Cowboys emerged as the winners, and took a stranglehold over the NFC East.
And, most of all, Pederson didn’t learn his lesson from two seasons earlier.
In a game yesterday where the Eagles’ season was on the line, and where they hung around in a game that they had no business being in, Pederson did not take the temperature of where the game was going, and as a result, he allowed his team to lose the game without his offense taking the field.
The game was in a tie in the fourth quarter as a result of Eagle placekicker Jake Elliott missing his first extra point of the season. In a quarter where the Eagles managed to rally from behind on three occasions despite being badly outplayed for most of the game, and with its defense on the field for an ungodly 37:28 in regulation, Pederson, lauded just a season ago for having the instincts of a riverboat gambler, did not go for two following Darren Sproles’ nifty six yard touchdown catch and run that brought the Eagles within one point with 1:39 remaining in the game. This, despite his kicker missing an extra point earlier in the contest. This, despite the very real fact that if the game went to overtime, he would be relying on a coin toss to determine his fate.
Pederson made another blunder, perhaps more benign, in allowing the clock to run out at the end of the fourth quarter following a sack of Prescott on a third down play, not using his final timeout to force the Cowboys to punt the football to Sproles, who can be electric in the open field.
Pederson went conservative, and it bit him in the rear end.
Just like in 2016.
In that game, with the Eagles leading the Cowboys 23-16 with 7:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Eagles faced a fourth and 14 from the Cowboy 36-yard line. His placekicker, Caleb Sturgis, had hit from 55 yards earlier to close out the first half. Rather than kick the field goal to make it a two-score game, with a kick well within Sturgis’ range, Pederson chose to punt the ball to the Cowboys. The Cowboys took this gift, and scored the game tying touchdown that eventually sent the game to overtime.
Where Pederson’s Eagles lost the coin toss, and ultimately, the game.
Just like yesterday.
Once the Cowboys won the coin toss, as in 2016, they were determined to end the game with their possession being the only one of the extra session. The Cowboys methodically drove the ball down the field, only to be faced with a 4th and one situation well within field goal range. They faced an identical situation in 2016, with a 4th and 1 situation well within Dan Bailey’s field goal range. Jason Garrett, thought of as unimaginative by many, stubborn by more and conservative by even more than that, stayed true to his convictions, and trusted his offensive line and players to keep the drive alive.
Ezekiel Elliott, with a two-yard gain, had his best carry of the night, ducking and extending to make the necessary yardage despite the Eagles stoning the Cowboy offensive line on the play. Garrett’s decisiveness in wanting to end the game without the Eagles seeing the football was the difference between winning and losing.
Just like in 2016.
Now, it can certainly be argued that it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. In watching the game winning play, that argument would seem to hold true. On a third and eight play from the Eagles 15, Prescott threw a slant to Amari Cooper, and the play was anticipated by Eagle corner Rasul Douglas, who had anticipated an earlier Prescott to Cooper throw to the end zone that resulted in a game swinging interception. Douglas was able to stick his hand in to deflect the pass. Unfortunately for him, the ball went up into the air, and seemed to hang for an eternity. Cooper capped a career best 217 yard receiving performance by snaring the deflection for his 10th reception and third touchdown of the game to put an end to the contest, and in all likelihood, the Eagles’ season.
Prescott ran the gamut in this game in terms of moments that would have his greatest supporters pointing to his play in the fourth quarter and overtime, but gave his greatest detractors plenty of ammunition in his unfocused play for the first three quarters. He had moments of inaccuracy, ball security problems, locking onto targets and missed opportunities on offense. But, when it mattered the most, he showed up. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Prescott completed 17 of 20 for 243 yards and all three of his touchdown passes to Cooper. While the final pass wasn’t exactly Montana to Taylor in Super Bowl XXIII, it will go down as a game winning touchdown pass.
In a week where Eagle linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill dropped the gauntlet on the Cowboys with his taunt about choking, the Cowboys didn’t exactly come out like a team poised to shut him up. The Cowboys were sloppy on offense, and wasted a strong defensive effort for three quarters. They continue to struggle in the red zone on offense, and continue to pile up injuries, with Zack Martin going down again with a knee injury. But, Grugier-Hill’s comments were misplaced, and focused on the wrong target.
The proper target was his head coach, Doug Pederson.
The man who didn’t learn from his past mistakes in 2016, and suffered the same result.
Other observations from yesterday’s game:
- Can we go a week without an officiating controversy in a Cowboy game? Another week, another disaster. Clete Blakeman’s crew nearly made the efforts of Walt Anderson’s crew look textbook. From making a horrible call on the opening kickoff, to inserting himself in seemingly every play in the fourth quarter and overtime, Blakeman’s team had a very rough game, and butchered calls for both teams. Elliott penalized for lowering his head? Goedert penalized for offensive pass interference? Gregory penalized for roughing the passer for tackling Carson Wentz by his legs when he had no other choice? The crew very nearly took an exciting game and ruined it, and the league has got to figure these issues out before they legitimately cost a team a game when it really matters.
- People have pointed to the addition of Cooper as being the turning point for the Cowboy offense and season. It certainly has helped, but the increased focus on Elliott on offense has been just as big. Elliott handled the ball for 40 of the Cowboys 99 plays yesterday, and caught a career best 12 passes. They are certainly running a good portion of the offense through number 21, and his increased work rate has come conveniently since the debacle against the Titans. Elliott is probably in dire need of the cold tub today, but without his contributions, the Prescott to Cooper connection may not even matter.
- The offensive line had some breakdowns yesterday, and not from where you would expect. Tyron Smith struggled in his first game back from his stinger issue, getting called for three holding penalties. Zack Martin, prior to leaving the game with an aggravation of his left knee sprain, allowed two sacks of Prescott. Even Joe Looney, who had been quietly effective in his fill-in role for Travis Frederick, committed a holding penalty as well as having some issues with shotgun snaps. Not the cleanest game for this unit, but they logged a lot of snaps yesterday where they played well.
- Defensively, the Cowboys made some nice adjustments to limit Zach Ertz' impact on the game. They rotated Byron Jones, Anthony Brown, Jeff Heath and even Leighton Vander Esch in an effort to slow him down. After Ertz victimized the Cowboy secondary for 14 catches for 145 yards and two touchdowns in Philadelphia, the Cowboys limited the standout tight end to five catches for an ineffectual 38 yards. This change in performance was a big reason why the Eagles were one for nine on third downs in the game.
- For whatever reason, when you give the Cowboys extra time off, they do not come out sharp. You can look at the Titan game, where they played like they were in a coma, or the Packer playoff game from 2016, or even yesterday. The Cowboys, especially Garrett, need to look at how they approach a non-standard week with extra time off, because whatever they are doing isn’t working as well as it does on a standard work week.
- When your quarterback throws the ball 55 times, and completes 42 of them, it would stand to reason that a lot of players got involved in the passing game. Yesterday was the most effective game for the tight end position in 2018 for the Cowboys. Blake Jarwin and Dalton Schultz both made some key catches yesterday, and on the heels of the rumor that Garrett allegedly asked Jason Witten on multiple occasions to make a comeback, it stands out. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come, because they need to have other options beside Cooper and Elliott in the passing game.
- Speaking of which, for whatever reason, Prescott and Michael Gallup are just not in sync when it comes to deep throws. Prescott has missed three deep throws to Gallup in the last two games, all of which would have went for touchdowns. One of them yesterday was on Gallup due to him not finishing his route, but those two need to spend some extra time on the practice field to get in sync. Those missed opportunities are not helping an offense that already struggles to score. Fixing this will also further open up the field for Elliott and Cooper.
- Right now, the Cowboys are in a position that if they win just one of their final three games, they guarantee themselves the NFC East title. It will be difficult to be anything more than the #4 seed in the NFC, especially following the Bears takedown of the Rams last night. May be high time to give some guys, such as Tyron Smith and Zack Martin, a rest to ensure that they are 100% for the playoffs.
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