What we learned in Dallas Cowboys electrifying 43-20 blowout of Los Angeles Rams
A rested and at-home Dallas Cowboys team under coach Mike McCarthy seemingly can’t lose, at least not in the regular season.
The Los Angeles Rams found that out in brutal fashion Sunday at AT&T Stadium as the Cowboys celebrated the Ring of Honor induction of Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware with an electrifying 43-20 blowout victory.
“We’ve had times when we could be critical of our play,” owner Jerry Jones said. “To me, as you saw, it was every phase of it. Give our coach coaching staff, give them their due on that. So I can’t say enough about how well we played and we did it at the rams expense.”
The Cowboys extended their home winning streak to 11 games, dating back to to 2022. It’s the longest active home streak in the NFL. The last time the Cowboys won 11 straight games was in 1991-1992 at Texas Stadium.
The Cowboys have been especially dominant at home in 2023 as their two previous wins came also came in blowout fashion — 30-10 and 38-3 victories over the New York Jets and New England Patriots, respectively.
Dallas has outscored its three opponents by a combined score of 111-33. The Cowboys are the only team in the NFL over the last 15 years to win each of their first three home games by 20-plus points.
The Cowboys are 8-3 coming off a bye week over the past 11 seasons, which is tied for fifth-best record in that span. McCarthy is 12-5 coming off a bye as a head coach, the fifth-most such wins since his NFL debut in 2006.
Most important is how the Cowboys played against the Rams (3-5), fashioning their most complete performance of the season as they moved their record to 5-2 heading nto the Nov. 5 showdown at the NFC East leading Philadelphia Eagles, who beat Washington on Sunday.
Jones, however, refused to forecast any impact from the Rams game on the matchup against the Eagles.
“I think we just need to call it for what it is, we played a good game today,” Jones said. “We got to do it again next week. we got our work cut our for us.”
The Cowboys got sterling performances in all three phases as they jumped out to a 33-3 second-quarter lead.
Quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver CeeDee Lamb led the way on offense. Prescott completed 17 of 21 passes for 225 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, while Lamb added nine receptions for 122 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cowboys blew the game open during a three minute span the end of the first quarter to the 12:45 mark of the second quarter when they turned a 10-3 game to 26-3.
It started with cornerback Deron Bland’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Defensive end Sam Williams blocked a punt for a safety and receiver KaVontae Turpin followed with a 63-yard return on the free kick to set up a touchdown, the first of Prescott’s two touchdown passes to Lamb.
The Cowboys simply cruised on the second half after knocking out Rams quarterback Matt Stafford with a thumb injury.
Jones said he didn’t want to talk about the Eagles game because of what happened in the 42-10 blowout loss against the San Francisco 49ers after he called it a measuring stick game for his team.
Jones said he learned his lesson and didn’t want to poke the bear.
Prescott couldn’t believe Jones said that and said he’s no worried about a bear or is looking forward to playing the Eagles.
“If you see me and a bear in a fight, pour honey on me,” Prescott said.
What we learned in Dallas Cowboys blowout of Rams:
Dak Prescott and passing game on fire
The day started badly for Prescott and the Cowboys offense.
He was sacked on two of the first three plays and a third sack that would have forced a punt was negated by a illegal contact penalty on the Rams defense.
“Thank God for that,” Prescott said.
From that point on it was a different game.
Prescott completed 6 of his next 7 passes en route to 17 of 21 completions in the first half.
The opening drive was concluded by a perfect throw to tight end Jake Ferguson for an 18-yard score.
He added touchdown passes of 10 and 22 yards to Lamb.
The only hiccup was a red zone interception in the second quarter on a pass that was tipped at the at the line of scrimmage.
Prescott made plays with his arm and his legs, as he scrambled for first downs and extended passing plays for completions.
Prescott added a 25-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brandon Cooks in the fourth quarter as he finished with 25 completions on 31 passes for 304 yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
The 49ers had given up just four passing touchdowns all season.
It was his first 300-yard game of the season and lifted him to a season-high 133.7 passer rating.
He gave way to backup QB Cooper Rush with a 43-17 lead in the fourth quarter.
“There’s no question that some of those throws he made were just so so accurate and so if you will timely,” Jones said. “To me, this was maybe one of Dak’s best games.”
Jones said Prescott has had two of his best games the past two outings against the Chargers and Rams.
Said Prescott: “Let’s make it three next week. I’m in a rhythm.”
Offensive line, running game remain issues
The Cowboys got some bad news before the game when left tackle Tyron Smith was ruled out with neck stinger he suffered in practice on Thursday.
The Cowboys were optimistic that Smith would play, but he was inactive.
It’s the third missed game of the season for Smith, who has missed at least three games every season since 2015 due injuries.
Chumu Edogo started in his place and seemingly held up well after a rough start when he allowed a sack on the opening play of the game.
Edoga left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, forcing rookie Asim Richards to finish the game.
It puts the position in question heading into next week’s game against the Eagles.
“Actually, We all thought Tyron was gonna go until the last second,” Jones said. “The better part of valor was to not play him today. I hate to keep saying it, but if it was Superbowl might have been a different story. But we didn’t want him to get another stinger out there on top of what he’s had. But he’ll work through that, as he always had all this career. Not so sure about Edogo’s injury, so I’m not sure what kind of shape we are going to be here in numbers.”
The Cowboys have had their starting offensive line on the field for just two games since the end of the 2021 season.
After Smith started the past two games, the Cowboys were looking for the unit to gel and gain some chemistry against the Rams to bolster their inconsistent rushing attack.
The Cowboys didn’t run it much against the Rams as they leaned on Prescott and the passing game early.
CB DeRon Bland leads strong defense with pick-six
There was initial concern about the Cowboys secondary when All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
But Bland has put those worries to rest with his scintillating play and showed why against the Rams with his interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter to help blow the game open.
“Yes, that’s why I said he’s that guy,” Prescott said. “Not a lot of guys been able to move positions like that and make the impact that he’s been able to make. Obviously, when you lose a guy like like Trevon, people wonder. Then when a guy like that steps in and he says, ‘Hey, I’m here and I’m here to play.’ That’s important. That’s huge.This guy knows what he’s doing. He’s confident himself. He trusts breaking, breaking at the right time making the right plays, and he’s only going to get better. He’s been impressive and this is only the beginning.”
Bland has a team-leading four interceptions on the season.
He made history against the Rams by recording his third pick-six of the season, a single-season record for the Cowboys and the most by a player in a season since Marcus Peters had three in 2019.
The NFL record for pick-sixes in a single season is four.
Bland also led the Cowboys with seven tackles and had a couple of pass deflections as he highlighted a Cowboys defense that shut down a potent Rams passing attack.
Bland has proven he has belonged since he showed up as a fifth-round pick in 2022.
“He showed quick he’s had a lot of work, but he’s deserves it,” Jones said. “And he’s just what we see. And he’s made big plays for us so far. He’ll make big plays in my mind the rest of his career.”
Getting the ball CeeDee Lamb seems like a good thing
Lamb complained about not getting the ball in the 42-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and the Cowboys heard him loud and clear.
He caught seven passes for 117 yards in the 20-17 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers before the bye with all seven going for first downs.
He erupted for a career-high 12 catches for a career-best 158 yards against the Rams.
His 122 yards are the most he’s had in the first half in his career, and the third time he’s surpassed 100 receiving yards in a first half.
With 306 career receptions, Lamb is the fastest Cowboys player to top 300 catches in his career (56 game) and he is second fastest to get 4,000 career receiving yards. He has 4,029 in 56 games. Hall of Famer Bob Hayes did it in 52 games.
“I don’t know when that we’ve had a more dominant role played by a receiver,” owner Jerry Jones said. “I can’t remember because he just was in on everything we were trying to do on every series. Obviously you’ve seen him play at that level. We’ve all seen him play at that level. It was a phenomenal game for him, a career game for him. But the good news is he can do some more of that.”
Kicker Brandon Aubrey leads stand out ‘special’ teams
The Cowboys had a solid day on special teams with a blocked punt for a safety by Williams and a 63-yard return by Turpin.
But this day belonged to rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey, who not only continued his perfect start to the season but also made NFL history.
With two field goals against the Rams of 58 and 27 yards, Aubrey tied the Travis Coons with 18 consecutive field goals without a miss to start an NFL career.
