The Cowboys controlled just about the entire game against Carolina
The Dallas Cowboys were just a hair away from beating the Cincinnati Bengals last week and pulling off their third straight win, but it was not meant to be. Between that and the loss of DeMarvion Overshown to a devastating injury, many wondered if the Cowboys may implode the rest of the year.
Rumors of the team’s demise were greatly exaggerated, as it turns out. Despite coming into this game on a short week and the Panthers being favored by 2.5 points, Dallas dominated this game from start to finish. The 30-14 final score doesn’t even reflect how far apart these teams were, either.
It started out slow for both teams. The Cowboys punted on their opening drive after a penalty on Chuma Edoga wiped out a 25-yard reception for CeeDee Lamb. The Panthers, whose offense has looked much better in recent weeks, started moving the ball down the field. They reached the tip of the red zone before Marist Liufau forced the first of a handful of takeaways for the defense.
The Cowboys couldn’t do much with it, punting after a three-and-out. The Panthers copied them on their next drive to take us to the end of the first quarter with everything knotted up at 0-0. Apparently, the Cowboys were just waiting for the second quarter to start.
Cooper Rush started feeding Lamb, who accounted for 62 of the Cowboys’ 77 yards on the drive. Two of his caches went for 20+ yards and moved the chains on big third downs. The third catch was an incredible diving effort for a touchdown to put Dallas up 7-0.
Following the touchdown, the Dallas defense came up with another big play. As Bryce Young tried to fit the ball in on a slant route, Jourdan Lewis broke up the pass, inadvertently batting it right to Eric Kendricks for an interception. The Cowboys settled for a field goal, but it still put them up 10-0.
The defense forced a three-and-out following the score, giving Rush and the offense a chance to take a commanding lead. For a while, it looked like they’d take advantage of the opportunity too. A big catch-and-run from Jake Ferguson turned a second and 20 into third and one. Dallas ran a read-option, with Rush pulling the ball with options to run or pass for the first. But Rush fumbled the ball and a Carolina defender fell on it.
The Panthers took just one play to take advantage of the takeaway. Young hit Jalen Coker, who had gotten behind the defense on a busted coverage, for a huge 83-yard touchdown with just 31 seconds left in the half. Dallas got in range for a 70-yard field goal try, but Brandon Aubrey shanked the attempt to keep things at 10-7 going into halftime.
Still, that score wasn’t representative of how dominant the Cowboys had been, and that remained the same in the second half. The Dallas defense forced a fumble on the very first play of the third quarter and the offense capped it off with a toe-tapping touchdown to Jalen Tolbert. Mike Zimmer’s unit would force a three-and-out on each of the Panthers’ next two drives, and Rush found Jalen Brooks for an impressive touchdown in between.
That gave them a 24-7 lead, which they took into the fourth quarter. From there, the Cowboys were basically in clock-killing mode the rest of the way, while the Panthers were running an extended two-minute drill. Young scampered in for a touchdown halfway through the quarter, and Aubrey hit two field goals to bring about the final score, but this game was over well before then.
Two consecutive mistakes right before halftime kept things closer than they really were, but the Cowboys came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter to widen the gap. The defense was playing lights out, forcing four takeaways and sacking Young six times. The offense was still uneven, but they managed to move the ball well.
Lamb became the second Cowboys receiver ever (after Michael Irvin, of course) to post four straight 1,000+ yard receiving seasons, and Rico Dowdle made it three consecutive games with over 100 rushing yards. Both players paced an offense that had little trouble against the Panthers and their beleaguered defense.
This win won’t make many believers of the Cowboys, but the Panthers had been playing good football as of late. In their last three games, they lost to the Chiefs, Buccaneers, and Eagles by a combined 12 points. Beating this team by 16 with a backup quarterback and a constantly rotating offensive line that has its fair share of injuries is nothing to sneeze at.
