Cowboys? Is that You?

Well, here we are. Tuesday afternoon. Victory Tuesday.

The Dallas Football Cowboys have won a playoff game. Incredible.

Bask in glory ,my friends, for the next few days, and then prepare yourselves for an absolute bout with the San Francisco 49ers this coming Sunday the 22nd.

The Lead-up

The final week of the 2022 regular season for the Cowboys was a familiar sight to many fans. A Cowboys faceplant against one of, if not the most dilapidated team in the league, The Washington Commanders.

I will be transparent in saying that I am one of the fortunate few who did not bear witness to a single second of this atrocity of a game, so I will be unable to provide any actual football analysis of what the hell happened.

What I can provide, however, is an analysis of the reaction by the media and Dallasites alike.

The Cowboys got schlacked in their Week 18 matchup against the Commanders. Pure and simple. The Commanders started a third-string rookie QB and played missing a majority of their starters, essentially it was the Cowboys at full strength playing the Commanders B team.

Well, unsurprisingly to this Cowboy fan, the team managed to lose that game 26-6. This was alarming, to say the least.

The Cowboys had been touted as one of the stronger teams in the league but losing to a Commanders team that isn’t even playing its starters, went far in erasing that narrative quickly.

And so, it did.

The narrative that I found most prevalent in the week following the abysmal loss at the hands of a very stinky team was, the Cowboys will get upset by Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in their first matchup of the playoffs.

In truth, fair point media moguls. How could you believe anything else? It’s a pretty common script that the Cowboys have greatly enjoyed running during my time as a fan. Start hot, stay hot mid-season, taper off slowly at the end of the season, and bow out of the playoffs in the first round.

So, inevitably when the Cowboy seemed to have begun their collapse in the Washington game, most of the media seemed to believe that a Cowboys upset at the hands of the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers was already written on the wall.

Well, how’d that turn out, fuckers? ( I am sorry for my language dear reader, it’s not often I get to gloat a bit in playoff times.)

Pre-Game

In the lead-up to the game, I found myself uncharacteristically pumped up, listening to the Dallas Cowboys Pride Song (Click here to Listen), texting fellow Dallasites furiously, and just generally being excited about the game.

This is a bit different from my norm before a Cowboys playoff game.

I have been conditioned in my 20+ year fandom to be pessimistic heading into a playoff game, something I had seemed to abandon for this specific matchup.

I cannot quite place my finger on what caused this rather sudden and dramatic shift in attitude, especially with the Cowboy’s usual script seeming to begin to play out again. But I welcome the shift and will continue to hold onto it as long as I can.

Cowboys 31 Buccaneers 14

The game started slowly for the Cowboys as they have tended to do throughout this season. The lethargy I mentioned in previous Cowboy articles was not present, however. It instead looked to me more like usual playoff yips.

Playoff football is completely different from the regular season, the stakes are much higher. If you wish for evidence to this claim, take a look at the scores from this week’s playoff matchups, and take a look at the predicted scores and narratives that surrounded many of those games before kickoff. None of them resulted in what the “experts” predicted. In fact, many of them were incredibly close games that I would encourage any fan or semi-fan to watch highlights off, it was a very fun weekend to be a football fan.

So, the Cowboys coming out looking a bit out of sync was not cause to sound the alarms just yet.

The Cowboy’s first drive was an impressively quick three and out, no yards gained, and no positive plays called.

The Buccaneers proceeded to do much the same and gave the ball back quickly to the Cowboys.

Now, I am mentioning this streak of early drives to highlight the second Cowboy’s drive.

After choosing to throw on all three of the Cowboy’s first three plays attempted in the first drive the genius coaching staff of the Cowboys came up with the unpredictable and masterfully prepared run up the straight up the middle…

I mean, maybe I am being ridiculous here but really?

How predictable can you get?

As a couch coach who has the bird's eye view, the benefit of hindsight, and an impeccable and unquestionable football IQ, I would’ve run play action, or aired it out in that situation.

Trust me here, I’m right.

This is about where my criticism ends. Following that second drive the Cowboys awoke, controlling the game from the second failed drive onward.

Concerns going into the game seemed most often to target Dak’s end-of-season performance and his increasing number of interceptions. While this criticism does have pure hard stats backing its claims, I must say that as someone who has watched many of the Cowboys games this year many of them seem to have been no fault of Dak's.

In yesterday’s game, he made great strides in separating himself from that newish narrative. Beyond the first two drives, Dak looked good. Really good. He seemed in sync with his receivers and made quite a few impressive throws.

One I would like to highlight was the first touchdown of the game to Dalton Schultz. While you are watching I would like you to notice how well Dak is protected by the offensive line, and how spread out the Buccaneer's defense looks at the end of the play. Watch the Throw Here.

That right there is a beauty of a play.

Dalton Schultz was extremely impressive last night. He seems to have evolved into one of Dak’s favorite targets. Throughout this season it has been a bit of a on and off connection between the two. Injuries to both this season seemed to cause their connection from last year dwindle at the start of the season. In recent weeks and especially last night, Dalton Schultz proved he is very impressive and is a weapon that Dallas needs to utilize.

The key to the Cowboy's fantastic success against the Buccaneers came down to one group of men, the offensive line. The boys up front who most often get overlooked by football fans. I cannot even begin to press upon you the importance of the offensive line in a successful football team, just know, it is incredibly important.

Earlier in the article I highlighted the protection that Dak received on a touchdown throw to Dalton Schultz (Watch the Throw Here), I did this to hopefully give some context to how well the O-Line played. That entire play depends entirely on the offensive line being able to weather the attack of the Buccaneers for a long enough time so that the play can develop fully. Keeping Dak comfortable enough that he believes he has time to stand in there and throw the ball to Dalton at the perfect moment.

In the example provided, and throughout the game against the Buccaneers, the Cowboy’s line dominated the Buccaneers. Dak was given more than ample time, and it showed in his gameplay. He looked comfortable and in a rhythm from the third drive onward.

The success of the offense starts with the O-Line, and if the Cowboys hope to continue their playoff run they will need the O-Line to keep up its impressive form.

Defensively the Cowboys played well. Taking the ball away from Tom Brady has always been an extremely difficult thing, the Cowboys made it look quite simple. Breaking Brady’s long-time streak of no interceptions in the Red Zone, and stealing another away from him later in the game.

These uncharacteristic mistakes can certainly be attributed to the Cowboy’s pass rush we have covered in previous articles. I will save the rest of my defensive analysis for the game preview section of this article. (Pure lie, I never talk about them again)

What to take away from the Cowboy's Victory

Now, while Tom Brady is a name that strikes fear into all football fans it is important to note that this Brady and this Brady Team was more than likely the least vicious beast he has ridden into the playoffs with.

The Buccaneers did not have a good season, ending at 8-9 overall. Brady himself had one of his worst statistical seasons and as many fans know, was dealing with some unique off-the-field distractions.

I mention this to tell that the Cowboys SHOULD have beaten the Buccaneers. So, I caution any fan that is overly excited about this victory. The true test comes next week. The 9ers.

Take the positives from this week’s victory and realize that these positives will need to be built upon by the team and taken into the next week. This is a fantastic confidence booster for the team but it is only the first hurdle in a long and arduous path to a championship.

A Short Preview for the Upcoming 49ers Game

I won’t sugarcoat it. The 49ers may very well be the best team in the league this season. They are a juggernaut and represent the most difficult test any team still in the playoffs could face.

Well, lucky for the Cowboys, we get em next.

The 49ers are an extremely well-built team, so well in fact, that it seems to not matter who plays quarterback for them.

The 9ers have started three different quarterbacks throughout their season, Trey Lance who was injured in week 1, Jimmy Garoppolo who went down to injury in week 13, and now they are running with Brock Purdy the absolute final pick of the 2022 draft (Mr. Irrelevant).

Brock Purdy has been difficult to avoid as an NFL fan. Since Week 13 the 49ers have not lost, and the dude who seemed to be a total afterthought just a few months ago is now being discussed as one of the better quarterbacks left in the playoffs. I mean if this continues the 49ers may need to seriously consider Brock as their starter moving forward, regardless of the health of their other two, something I don't believe many people predicted when Purdy first suited up for the 49ers.

This success comes as a result of the lethal weapons placed around Brock.

The first is Deebo Samuel, one of the fastest people in the league, an incredible runner and wide receiver. The 9ers use him well and have designed many plays to assist his skill set. He is a freak hybrid of a wide reciever and running back, making him very difficult to scheme againist.

That’s a common theme you’ll see here. The 9ers players are match up nightmares and the coaching staff is privy to this fact. In response to this knowledge the 49ers coaching staff does the best job of any staff in my opinion in playing to their rosters strength. Utilizing Deebo and the following two players strengths to their advantage, constantly.

The second, Christian McCaffrey, was acquired from the Carolina Panthers mid-season. Not much need be said about him, he has been, when healthy, one of if not the absolute best running backs in the league. His ability to catch passes out of the backfield is second to none. Again, the 9ers are well aware of his strengths and utilize them often.

The third is George Kittle, one of the best tight ends in the league. He is the best blocking tight end in the league, which benefits Deebo and Christian greatly, but he is also one of the most dangerous vertical threat tight ends in the league as well. He can burn a defense with surprising quickness, and he is a constant miss match, as many tight ends are, with his size. This makes him one of the most difficult people in the league to account for.

So how do the Cowboys stop them?

Pressure. Brock Purdy is a rookie, he is young and inexperienced, something no other team has yet been able to expose. The Cowboy’s key to success in stopping the electric 49ers offense is applying constant pressure on Purdy. He needs to feel rushed back there so that the 49er's creative and innovative play calls cannot develop fully.

The name of the game is to make Purdy uncomfortable, something I believe the Cowboy’s defense is well-equipped to do.

Now, this article is already too long but quickly I will mention the 9er's defense.

It’s elite. It’s a problem. They’re good. Cowboys are in for a tough battle, etc.

Depending on the positions of the stars, I may write up a full-on preview article before Sunday’s game and if I do, I promise I will have a better analysis of the 9ers' defense.

With that,

Go, Cowboys

Written by Cole B Hirschhorn

hirschhorncole@gmail.com

1/17/2022