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The Dallas Cowboys are, to say the least, on a roll. Following a 44-20 drubbing of the New York Giants, Dallas is now on a four-game winning streak that would have been 5, had Tom Brady and not drove down for a miracle last-second victory in the season opener. At 4-1 atop the NFC East, the only real threat to the Cowboys right now seems to be the Washington Football Team, but even they just fell 33-22 in an ugly loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Still, however, even the hottest of teams need to continue perfecting their craft and making adjustments to stay competitive in the NFL. Looking back at this recent game against the Giants, the final score doesn't indicate the true story of this game, which was that it was a close battle for a long time until the floodgates finally burst.
Despite injuries in the first half to Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley that further purged the Giants' already injury-ravaged taxi squad heading into the game, the Cowboys only led 17-13 after Mike Glennon led New York to a field goal to start the second half. The Cowboys then scored 17 unanswered, but clearly there were a lot of things that went wrong in this game, in addition to all the great things that happened in the second half.
Let's take a deep dive into the biggest takeaways that the Cowboys should be learning from following their Week 5 victory.
3. Run, run, run
The Cowboys have been able to run all over recent opponents, even with injuries along their offensive line. With a deadly passing attack and a top-3 thunder and lightning backfield in Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard, they were able to dominate the second half against New York because they went with fast paced drives predicated around establishing the run, and using that run game to break out big shot plays afterwards. In the weeks to come, and especially as the weather gets colder in the winter, the Cowboys need to establish their dominance in the trenches early on against stronger, contending opponents.
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2. Takeaways are Dallas' make-or-break
The only reason the game remained in the balance for the majority of the first half was that Dak Prescott committed two turnovers in Giants territory, including one at the 5-yard line. And how was Dallas able to turn a 4 point lead into 24 within the same half? Try 17 points off of 3 forced turnovers. Given that Dallas' offense is so explosive, their gameplans should be predicated on having efficient, turnover-free drives, with aggressive play from the secondary.
1. Trevon Diggs is a star to build around
Man. Who could've seen this coming? Diggs already has 6 interceptions through only 5 games, and has shown off the elite ball skills that got him to the University of Alabama, initially as a wide receiver. He's posted league-leading stats across the board in countless coverage stats, and has already emerged as a true lockdown corner in the league in only his sophomore season. Now that teams know the talent they're going up against, they're going to gameplan to take advantage of defensive backs around him – not Diggs himself. Knowing this, Dan Quinn and Co. can take advantage of the way Diggs squeezes the field and create chances for explosive plays on defense. And who knows, maybe this is a team balanced enough on both sides of the ball to win a Super Bowl.
