With Dak Prescott sidelined post-finger surgery, all eyes have been on Cooper Rush and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys to – at the least – keep the boat above water in his absence.
Well, since that debacle in Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas’ offense hasn’t been anything near pretty or efficient. However, they’ve done enough to get by after defeating the New York Giants for their second-straight win, 23-16, on Monday Night Football in New York City.
Dallas is 2-1. Many wrote Dallas off after Week 1, but they’ve shown promise the previous two weeks. Here are a few things that stuck out in their Monday night win.
Does Dallas have a respectable defense?
It’s not great, but the Cowboys’ defense is why Dallas is 2-1 rather than 1-2 or potentially winless, considering their circumstances. Through their first three games, teams are only scoring 17.3 points against them, and they lead the league in sacks with 14 already.
Against the Giants, they gave up some big plays, let Daniel Jones get loose in some unideal junctures of the game, but still recorded five sacks on Jones and allowed only 336 total yards and a below-average passing game from Jones.
Also notable, Trevon Diggs recorded his first interception of the 2022 season after tying a record 11 last season…and Micah Parsons is incredibly fast.
Cooper Rush isn’t half bad!
Expectations haven’t been exceptionally high for Rush in his three NFL starts, but he’s 3-0 in those starts, and this season, he hasn’t been a liability for Dallas, which is all the team and fans can ask for.
Against the Giants, Rush completed 67.7% of his passes for 215 yards and one beautifully thrown touchdown to CeeDee Lamb in the corner of the endzone for his only touchdown pass.
Dallas’ had a throwback rushing performance
Tony Pollard has been a hidden crowd favorite for a while now, and nights like tonight are the reason why. Pollard rushed 13 times for 105 yards, including one impressive 46-yard run.
Ezekiel Elliot looked dually as impressive, rushing 15 times for 73 yards (4.9 yards per carry). Though he didn’t go on a near-50-yard run, he was the constant for Dallas while also scoring the Cowboys’ only rushing touchdown.
