After a surprising commerce on the eve of the NFL common season, all eyes have been on the Dallas Cowboys protection and the way they might carry out with out defensive finish Micah Parsons towards the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
After a shoddy begin, the Cowboys’ protection truly held their very own in a 24-20 loss to the defending champion Eagles. Dallas’ offense, alternatively, was arguably way more chargeable for the staff falling to 0-1 to begin the yr.
Within the first half of Thursday’s sport, the Cowboys gave the impression to be following the script most anticipated for them after Parsons — one of many sport’s elite go rushers — was traded to the Inexperienced Bay Packers on Aug. 28: The offense was buzzing whereas the protection was getting sliced up. Dallas scored on every of its first 4 possessions towards Philadelphia, however the protection surrendered three touchdowns on three drives, placing the Cowboys at a 21-20 drawback at halftime.
The second half was a special story.
Dallas surrendered solely three factors within the closing half-hour, and made up for an absence of go rush by sending extra frequent blitzes to stress Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. With a stout secondary, the technique finally paid dividends.
For the sport, the Cowboys held Hurts to solely 152 yards passing, held star operating again Saquon Barkley to solely 60 yards speeding (a complete that would have been his second lowest final season), and held wideouts DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown to solely 24 yards receiving mixed.
The sturdy defensive effort gave Dallas’ offense 4 alternatives to take the lead within the second half, however Dak Prescott and Co. faltered every time.
On the Cowboys’ first drive of the third quarter, they managed to get contained in the Eagles’ 15-yard line earlier than a Miles Sanders fumble gave the ball again to Philadelphia.
On Dallas’s subsequent possession, the staff punted following a drop by star receiver CeeDee Lamb on third down — a possible conversion that as an alternative went proper by means of Lamb’s fingers.
Then, after either side traded punts, the Cowboys had the ball trailing 24-20 with 3:02 to go, however turned the ball over on downs after solely seven performs. Lamb as soon as once more dropped an ideal go from Prescott throughout the drive, and on Dallas’ closing offensive snap, Lamb couldn’t make a troublesome diving play on a 4th-and-3 deep shot down the left sideline.
Prescott began the sport on fireplace, finishing 12 of his first 17 passes for 127 yards. However within the second half — partially because of the essential drops — he accomplished solely 9 of 17 makes an attempt for 61 yards.
The protection held up its finish of the discount in crunch time, permitting Philadelphia solely 86 yards of offense within the second half.
After all, if the Cowboys might have stopped the Eagles within the first half, maybe their margin of error would have been bigger within the third and fourth quarters. However contemplating how extensively Dallas was criticized for transport away Parsons, its protection truly gave the staff loads of alternatives to win Thursday evening.
For one sport, not less than, it was the offense that was missing within the sport’s greatest moments.
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