Lions vs. Cowboys: Full Report Card Grades for Dallas

Imagine thinking the Dallas Cowboys would be the winners of the NFC East and hold the first seed going into the playoffs. If you thought this once Tony Romo went down with a back injury in the Seattle Seahawks preseason game, then that is quite impressive. What the Cowboys have done in 2016 is something magnificent.

And Monday's 42-21 performance was just another example of that. Getting a read on this game was a little difficult. After all, the Detroit Lions have played good football throughout the majority of the year, and they came to town in need of a win.

The Cowboys didn't have anything to play for. Everything they wanted was already in the bag for them, but that didn't stop the Cowboys from putting on a show against the Lions.

The first half was concerning, to be completely honest. Despite 21 points from the Cowboys, the defense had no answer for Matthew Stafford and company. Here's how the first six drives of the game looked like: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown. To put this into perspective, the Cowboys were on pace for 624 yards at the completion of the first quarter.

Into the half at 21, Rod Marinelli's defense needed to make the necessary adjustments or else they were going to be blown out on national television, showing ways where other playoff-bound teams can take advantage of.

In the Lions' first drive of the second half, they failed to move the football down the field. Dallas was able to get pressure on Stafford and in turn forced the Lions signal-caller to throw some ill-advised passes. The Cowboys picked up an interception after Stafford scrambled out of the pocket and threw a weak pass downfield.

Dallas was able to take advantage of the short field and cash in on an Ezekiel Elliott touchdown, his second of the game and his 15th of the season. After the Cowboys scored with ease on three plays, the Lions needed to score to keep pace. However, the Lions managed just 11 yards on six plays.

Detroit punted the ball away only for the Cowboys to go on a seven-play, 95-yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Jason Witten that was thrown by Dez Bryant. Rather than pitching it to Elliott, Dak Prescott pitched it to Bryant. Bryant took the reverse and then came up looking for the easy throw into the end-zone.

In response to the touchdown drive, the Lions got into field-goal range. However, Matt Prater, who has been extremely efficient this year, shanked a 47-yard field goal, giving the Cowboys good field possession to go for the final punch and put the game away. The game was in the bag after a seven-play, 63-yard drive that was capped off by a 19-yard touchdown reception by Bryant.

The Lions failed to move the ball from there, and the Cowboys were able to clamp down and keep the Lions scoreless in the second half to improve to 13-2.

Read on for full grades and analysis from the Cowboys' 13th win of the season.

Passing Offense

Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press

Dak Prescott has been so good this year. We all can agree on that. However, despite an unbelievable season, I think this game might have been Prescott's best performance.

Again, if you're looking at statistics to come to reasonable conclusions, you're misreading a ton of things. Prescott completed just 15 of 20 passes for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Those numbers are efficient, but they do not have justify just how special Prescott was in this game.

He made in-play adjustments before the ball was snapped, made good decisions with releasing the ball on time and threw anticipated passes to perfection. Prescott is only going to improve as he gets more comfortable in the NFL, and that should scare every other NFC team. A few weeks ago, people were questioning for Prescott's job. Now he has gotten the last laugh. and he shows that after each victory.

Grade: A

Rushing Offense

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Similar to Dak Prescott, we know what we're going to get with Ezekiel Elliott. We know he's likely going to break one for a big gain, and we know his combination of power and speed makes him wear defenses down with ease. In a smaller workload in this game, Elliott still racked up massive yardage. He toted the rock just 13 times for 92 total yards and two touchdowns.

This game was perfect for Elliott. He was still productive and meant a lot to the win, but he wasn't a workhorse in this game. Darren McFadden got 14 carries, even though most of them were in the final, closeout minutes.

Nevertheless, another spectacular performance from Zeke. His case for the NFL MVP Award is becoming more understandable by the day.

Grade: A

Passing Defense

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

Despite getting torched in the first half, the Cowboys secondary was put on notice in the second half. Something worth noting about Monday's game is the Lions didn't pick up many "chunk" plays. This defense forces opponents to methodically beat it down the field, which gives more opportunities for takeaways. Unlike years past, the Cowboys do not give up long touchdowns.

Once the pass rush got going in the second half, the Cowboys were able to put this game on ice. In his first game back, Randy Gregory looked gassed and out of shape, but that is what is to be expected considering how long he hasn't been on the gridiron. David Irving continued his stellar play, and Benson Mayowa also continued his consistent play.

Deemed as "The Mighty Orphans" by Rod Marinelli, this defensive line continues to play back. It's going to be interesting to see how this entire group performs once DeMarcus Lawrence and Tyrone Crawford get healthy.

Grade: B+

Rushing Defense

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

The first defensive drive for the Cowboys in this game was proof why the Cowboys aren't the best team against the run despite their No. 1 ranked rush defense. Dallas has faced the fewest run plays in football, and the majority of that is because the Cowboys offense is so consistent and it keeps running games from getting in rhythm.

However, the Lions came to town with a solid game plan. Knowing the Cowboys were going to be without two key players on their defensive line, the Lions attacked their weakness. Zach Zenner looked unstoppable in the first few drives. But when the Cowboys went into the half, something changed and the Lions were forced to become one-dimensional on offense.

Sean Lee, Anthony Hitchens, and Barry Church continued to improve their team-leading tackling numbers in this game.

Grade: B

Special Teams

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

Dan Bailey is Dan Bailey. He's going to bank field goals, and he's going to make sure teams do not get good returns on kickoff. We know he's consistent, and we know we are comfortable with him kicking a game-winning field if called upon.

We also know Chris Jones is an above-average punter, and that has been made clear with his play in 2016. However, what we did not know is Jones is actually a ferocious hitter. All jokes aside, it was great to see Jones put on a big hit in the fourth quarter. It truly is a testament to this team's character and how they are having fun.

One point worth noting is Darren McFadden got involved with kickoff returns; it wasn't entirely just Lucky Whitehead. On the first return and play of the game, McFadden gave the Cowboys good field position when he returned the ball back to the Cowboys' 34-yard line. Special teams continues to be a good unit for the Cowboys.

Grade: A

Coaching

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Dallas played an excellent game of football in this one. Sure, it was down in the second quarter and looked like it would be in for a long night on defense for a little, but the team made the necessary adjustments at halftime.

I'll continue to say this, but coaching continues to be such an underrated aspect of football. Sure, J.J. Wilcox made the interception, but Marinelli changed his defense in the second half, opting to switch to a 32-dime defense, which confused Stafford and forced him into making porous decisions.

With three spectacular coaches in Jason Garrett, Scott Linehan, and Marinelli, the Cowboys truly do have a bright future. Let's also not forget there are a ton of great position coaches here as well. Credit that to Garrett and what he has meant for this franchise. You have to believe Garrett is the favorite for the Coach of the Year Award at this point in the season.

Grade: A

Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @RyanRattyNFL. I'm always willing to talk football.