Cowboys vs. Bears: Full Report Card Grades for Dallas
As some expected, the Dallas Cowboys fared pretty well against the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football.
Before the season, this game was seen as a matchup with two potential playoff teams headlined by talented, yet maligned, quarterbacks in Tony Romo and Jay Cutler. However, because of injuries, the Cowboys and the Bears turned, respectively, to Dak Prescott and Brian Hoyer for the game.
Dallas started out the game with an easy 10-play, 75-yard drive down the field. In this drive, Prescott looked impressive. That's really all he's been since he was named the starting quarterback in place of Romo.
Rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott had his struggles in the first two weeks of the season, but he was on his game in Week 3 and the first drive proved that.
After a 1-yard touchdown run by Prescott, the Cowboys got the ball back after a quick three-and-out from the Bears' offense. Dallas responded with a 9-play, 44-yard drive which ended in a field goal.
Another three-and-out from the Bears led to the Cowboys taking a 17-0 lead thanks to a Lance Dunbar 1-yard touchdown run. Chicago responded with three points, but the Cowboys put up seven more in the following possession and the score was 24-3 at halftime in a game that looked like it'd be a blowout.
Dallas looked like it was going add more in the third quarter, but a fumble from Terrance Williams after a big catch-and-gain led to the Bears scoring. The Cowboys failed to ever put the Bears away, but turnovers and lack of effectiveness led to Dallas coming out on top with a 14-point victory to a score of 31-17.
Read on for full grades and analysis from the Cowboys' second win of the season.
Pass Offense
1 of 6
It seems that Prescott seems to impress me more and more each week, and I was a person who wasn't that high on him when the Cowboys drafted him. I even remember thinking that he may not even be Romo's successor when it's all said and done.
Anyway, though, these past three weeks have proved me otherwise. I understand that most of Prescott's job so far has consisted of being a game-manager, and he's been a great one at that.
Prescott continues to look calm, cool, and collected in the pocket. There were some throws that looked like they were thrown by a veteran signal-caller, but no, it was a rookie, who's just 23 years old.
Prescott finished this game completing 19-of-24 passes for 248 yards, and he had his first professional passing touchdown in this game as well. Another good display from the rookie quarterback.
Grade: A
Rush Offense
2 of 6
Against a team that was without two of their impact players in Lamarr Houston and Eddie Goldman, this was the game I expected Elliott to go off—and he did just that.
I've been waiting to see if Elliott is capable of taking on a workhorse role. This game was perfect evidence of that. He carried the football 30 times for 140 yards and added 20 yards through the air on two catches.
The problem with Elliott over the past two weeks had been his patience. A player like the 21-year-old is so talented that he is accustomed to holes being open once he receives the football in his hands.
Once Elliott gets more patient, he's only going to continue to get better. This was the perfect game for him to break out, and I expect this groove to continue going forward.
For what it's worth, Chaz Green was also more than comfortable at left tackle in the absence of Tony Romo. Yes, he had some holds, but they were more because of the plays breaking down than his actual technique. Again, the Bears are banged up upfront, but it was encouraging to see that of the team's 2014 third-round draft choice.
Grade: A
Pass Defense
3 of 6
Two words: Morris Claiborne. Unbelievably, five years into the experiment of Claiborne and Brandon Carr, the secondary finally is looking good.
There have not been many times where Carr has gotten extremely beat this year. I'm not surprised as this is his contract year. It's also Claiborne's, but the difference between him and Carr is that the former is only 26 years of age while the latter is 30.
Claiborne is playing into a new contract. A lot of credit has to go to the Cowboys' coaching staff for their ability to instill confidence into the player and help him reach his full potential.
If Claiborne can keep this going, the Cowboys may finally have a lockdown corner on one side of field on defense. They haven't had that player in quite sometime.
In the absence of Orlando Scandrick, rookie Anthony Brown also looked decent. It's pretty good for a cornerback when you're not talked about and that's what happened.
Byron Jones also had an impressive game. Yes, I'm aware that he gave up two touchdowns, but one of them was an excellent usage of power from Zach Miller, while the other was at fault because Jones had tripped in coverage on the route.
Grade: B+
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Rush Defense
4 of 6
Looking at the stats and the box score, it's surprising that the Bears didn't run the football more in this game.
In total, they carried the football 15 times for 73 yards. Not a great average, but definitely something that can be of importance and production. Dallas failed to get much pressure in the passing game, and they weren't exactly bad against the run either.
Chicago threw the football 49 times. Obviously, when a team is down, the idea is to pass the football to move it in larger spans in shorter time stretches. That said, Chicago stayed relatively away from the run game.
On an interesting note, Sean Lee had just five total tackles, which is the least amount he has had in a game since last November.
Barry Church led the team with nine total tackles and they weren't cheap tackles, where they came after the play. The strong safety has looked much better this season than last year, and a large reason for that is due to the impact of Byron Jones at free safety.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
5 of 6
Dan Bailey missed a field goal in this game. Typing that just does not feel right or sit well, but that's exactly what happened.
However, I'm not going to get frustrated with Bailey. He's still the most consistent player on this roster and it's not even close. He booted a 49-yard kick earlier in the game.
Punter Chris Jones was once again on his game. In Week 3, he had three punts for an average of just under 47 yards per punt. His longest punt went 51 yards.
Punter may not be seen as a vital position, but the Cowboys definitely have a good one at their disposal in Jones. In punt coverage, Byron Jones was also all over the place.
Grade: B+
Coaching
6 of 6
After Week 1, I complained that the coaching staff didn't give Prescott the full keys to the offense. But the last two weeks have been the exact opposite of that.
With the approach of head coach Jason Garrett, offensive play-caller Scott Linehan usually has a very vanilla, conservative technique. But things have altered over the last two weeks.
The Cowboys needed to get creative to take advantage of the strengths Prescott has. Rather than having him sit in the pocket and go through his progressions, he is being given the ability to his legs.
With a quarterback like Prescott who makes great reads, having him go on the read is something that can be deadly for defenses.
Prescott can not only whip passes in tight spaces on the run, but he can beat you with his legs if you forget about him. That's the benefit of having an athletic guy at the position. Garrett and Linehan know that all too well and they're using it to their advantage.
Grade: A-
Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @RyanRattyNFL. I'm always willing to talk football.
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