Photo Courtesy: Keith Allison
Brought to you by: Big Shucks
For the first time in franchise history, the Dallas Cowboys have won ten straight. This 31-26 win against their longtime rivals is their first Thanksgiving win since 2013. The Cowboys are 10-1 for the first time since 2007 and they’ve swept Washington for the first time since 2013.
A Look at How They Did It
Offense: Dak Prescott threw for one touchdown and season-low of 195 yards and rushed eight times for a season-high of 39 yards and a touchdown, his fifth rushing touchdown this season. Dez Bryant, Cole Beasley, and Jason Witten combined for 13 catches for 161 yards. Terrance Williams had just one catch for ten yards and a touchdown. Ezekiel Elliot had an additional two catches for 23 yards. Elliot had 20 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns, thus having his fourth multi-touchdown game of the season. Offense had over 350 yards of total offense. When the defense failed make stops, the offense was able to keep the game in Dallas’ favor. Jason Witten is now #8 all-time on the NFL’s reception list with 1,072. He’s just six catches shy of moving up to 7th. Witten also holds the record of most receiving yards on Thanksgiving Day. Offense deserves an A+ for staying focused and for bailing out the defense.
Defense: Absolutely terrible. Allowed over 500 yards of total offense. They couldn’t force turnovers, they couldn’t sack Kirk Cousins, they couldn’t even force any real pressure on Cousins. They’ve now gone four consecutive games without forcing a turnover. Cousins was able to complete a career-high 41 of his passes for nearly 450 yards and three touchdowns. Defense was very sloppy. They’re very lucky the offense was able to respond to Washington’s touchdowns. Defense gets an F. No turnovers, no sacks, no pressure, and allowing more the Redskins to have over 500 yards is unacceptable.
Next week the Cowboys will travel to Minneapolis to take on the Vikings. The biggest thing that the Cowboys need to work on is defense. They can’t extend their turnover-less streak to five games. Defense needs to be ready. Minnesota has won one of their last six games, but Dallas needs to be ready regardless.
