We can all say whatever we wish, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. The Cowboys improved to 10-3 on the season.
They will head on the road next week to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Before we get there, though, I want to run down three takeaways I walked away with after the win, and let me know if you agree or disagree.
Consistency is key
I made a post about this last Monday, and nothing changed after going wire-to-wire with the 1-10-1 Texans. The Cowboys need to play with more consistency.
We saw two first-quarter touchdowns from the offense, and I thought we’d see three or four more throughout the game.
We ultimately did not until the last drive of the game.
What is causing this? Is Kellen Moore being too conservative, Dak Prescott checking into runs, or just hoping the defense will bail them out by creating a turnover, so they hope they can play on script?
The team is racking up wins despite the inconsistency, but as they now head to Jacksonville and then host Philly on Christmas Eve, the offense and even the defense sometimes cannot continue to have these odd dry spells.
Penalties
Remember when we once harped on how undisciplined this team looked at times due to the outrageous amount of penalties?
In the last two games combined, the Cowboys have had only a total of SIX for 53 yards. That is excellent news for a team that needs to stop shooting themselves in the foot week after week.
As the Cowboys get into the most challenging part of the schedule, they need to keep this trend going. Doing so will keep them from getting behind the sticks on offense or giving free first downs when on defense.
Let’s see if the Cowboys can keep the penalties at a low and give themselves a chance in some of the more important games. (I hope I didn’t jinx it).
Balance
Being balanced differs from being constant. This team every now and again runs themselves out of a game. When it works, the offense loves to stay with it, but sometimes it puts them in bad spots.
I would have to get the official statistics on this, but the number of second-down runs is crazy. It usually puts the offense in third and distance. There is no problem drawing up a play-action or a drop-back pass. Trust the process.
The balance has usually been outstanding, but yesterday I felt like the offense got put in bad spots because they tried to run, run and run some more.
Yes, Dak threw the ball 39 times yesterday, but that was because they trailed nearly the entire game after the first quarter.
The game-winning drive might have been the best I have seen all season, and if they can duplicate it, we could solve both of these problems.
I’d much rather thrown the ball early than have to rely on it late.
As I mentioned before, a win is a win. I will take a 10-3 record. It marks the first time since 1995-96 that the franchise has put together back-to-back 10-win seasons.
We will learn even more about this team the next few weeks. They seem to play to the level of competition and it becomes frustrating, but it’s hard to not enjoy a 10-3 record after this team was written off after week one.
