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When Dak Prescott went down with an injury after a miserable Week 1, it didn't seem likely that the Dallas Cowboys would be poised to roll into Philadelphia with a chance to leave with the division lead in Week 6. Since then, Cooper Rush has rattled off five straight victories and the Cowboys' defense has emerged as one of the best in football. Here are three bold predictions for a huge showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.
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3. Jalen Hurts will struggle with the Cowboys' pass rush
Jalen Hurts is enjoying some serious praise early on in the 2022 season. Through six games, Hurts is among the betting favorites to win MVP, alongside names like Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. It's clear that the young quarterback has taken a step, but Cowboys DE Demarcus Lawrence doesn't seem convinced just yet. The Athletic's Jon Machota caught up with Lawrence on Thursday to talk about Hurts.
Cowboys DE DeMarcus Lawrence on Eagles QB Jalen Hurts: "I think he knows his system better. I think he's making better reads and stuff like that, but I think there are still areas that he struggles in, so just attack the areas."
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) October 13, 2022
Lawrence didn't expand on exactly what he thought those areas were, but a glimpse at Hurts' stat against blitzes might reveal the answer. When defenses aren't blitzing Hurts, his numbers are elite. He completes 72.9% of his passes for about 10 yards per attempt. Against the blitz, those numbers plummet to 57.7% completion and 5.8 yards per attempt. This is good news for the Cowboys and their elite stable of pass rushers. Count on Dan Quinn cooking up all sorts of mayhem and forcing Hurts to make a play.
2. Philadelphia will counter with a strong running game.
As good as Dallas' defense is, offenses have found one chink in the armor. The Cowboys allow 117.6 rushing yards per game. That's not terrible, but it's on the high side of average. Compared to dealing with Micah Parsons and the rest of the Cowboys' ferocious pass rush, there's no doubt the Eagles will look to run the football plenty.
Tampa Bay gave the league the blueprint for running on Dan Quinn's defense. Granted, they did so against an extremely fatigued defense that spent a ton of time on the field, but the Buccaneers' still had more success than anyone else so far this season. Leonard Fournette ripped Dallas for 127 rushing yards, and 118 of them came when he ran between the left end and the center. Fournette and the Bucs were able to move the ball by leaning on their strong offensive line and keeping the ball away from Lawrence. The Eagles have the personnel in place to do the same thing.
1. CeeDee Lamb has his best game yet
Dallas' number-one wideout hasn't had the best start to the season. The numbers are there, but Lamb has dropped a couple of passes in huge spots during a few games and he's disappeared in others. He's playing alongside a backup quarterback with far less arm talent than his usual passer, but it still feels like Lamb should be doing more for this team.
Lamb's best game of the season from a volume standpoint was in Week 4 against the Commanders. Lamb caught six passes for 97 yards and a touchdown. What made Lamb so productive in that game in particular? The Cowboys maximized his abilities by putting the ball in his hands quickly and letting him make a play with his feet.
Against Washington, Lamb caught four passes less than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage and turned them into significant gains by picking up 31 yards after the catch. With Rush under center, this is Lamb's lot in life for the time being. He's the team's best playmaker and this is how he'll do it until Prescott returns.
