With a lot of luck just before the end, the Dallas Cowboys won a chaotic Monday Night Game in Week 6 of the NFL at the Los Angeles Chargers 20:17 and thus shortened the gap to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East.
Cowboys @ Chargers: At a glance
- Although the Cowboys made various mistakes and head coach Mike McCarthy did a lot to avoid winning this game, Dallas was a little luckier than their opponent in the end and secured the all-important fourth win of the season away from home.
- Justin Herbert faced a lot of pressure throughout the game, but it took until after the two-minute warning before he received his first and only sack from Micah Parsons. This was decisive because immediately afterwards the star QB threw the interception to give the Cowboys victory.
- Both teams were extremely undisciplined and committed a total of 20 penalties for 164 yards and seven 1st downs.
Cowboys @ Chargers: The Analysis
After a quick 3-and-out by the Cowboys, capped off by a sack by Khalil Mack on 3rd down, the Chargers got off to a flying start, fueled by a 26-yard punt return by Derius Davis. After four plays and a 28-yard catch-and-run (screen), Justin Herbert found Keenan Allen for a short Jet Motion touchdown pass, easily shaking off guard Jourdan Lewis.
The Cowboys also woke up afterwards and took advantage of the large spaces that the Chargers had left open underneath with off-coverage. In the end, head coach Mike McCarthy was even aggressive in the red zone and had a 4th & 1 played at the 18. Prescott then surprised the entire Chargers defense with a read-option keeper for an 18-yard touchdown run to tie the game.
As a result, the defense took over with the help of numerous penalties from the offense, which tended to get in its own way. However, the Cowboys subsequently reached the red zone twice more. The first time, a tush-push failed on a fourth attempt, and the second time, McCarthy once again caused astonishment with his idiosyncratic clock management. Eight seconds before halftime, they reached the Chargers’ 14-yard line with eight seconds on the clock and 2nd&7 with two timeouts available. Instead of taking one of them and giving his team another chance for a touchdown, McCarthy preferred to let the clock run down to three seconds and settle for a field goal – 10:7 Cowboys at halftime.
After the break, the Chargers went into the red zone twice. The first time they were stopped at 4th&1 at the 7, the second time they managed a field goal to equalize at the end of the third quarter. The two quick RZ trips were favored by McCarthy’s play calling – immediately after the 4th down stop he ran on 2nd & Long and thus made life unnecessarily difficult for his team.
As a result, the Cowboys hit back mightily. On 3rd down, Prescott threw a checkdown pass to running back Tony Pollard, who was unfazed by cornerback Michael Davis’ weak tackle attempt, and then marched into the red zone for a 60-yard play. After a few plays and penalties, Prescott finally found Brandin Cooks on a shallow crossing route running backwards in the end zone for a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter.
However, the Chargers did not respond again because this time the Chargers were not very clever. At 3rd & Inches they had a holding penalty, then Herbert was lucky that his pass didn’t end up at the opponent. So the home team came up with a punt. The ball was then not caught because two Cowboys players interfered with each other and Jalen Tolbert thought it was a muffed punt. So he dove towards the ball and was on the ball a fraction of a second before the Chargers player, which then made him “free”. The Chargers recovered it and got it back after a review at the Cowboys’ 20-yard line.
With 7:11 minutes left, Herbert finally threw a touchdown pass from the 1 to tight end Carl Everett on play action to tie the score again (17:17). In the Cowboys’ subsequent drive, Dallas at least managed to run the clock down to 2:19 minutes, but in the end, with negative running plays on early downs, they only managed a field goal to make it 20:17. The Chargers didn’t have a timeout after that, but still had enough time to respond.
But all of that was forgotten in the end because Micah Parsons woke up after a rather quiet evening: His first and only sack resulted in 3rd & long and then Stephon Gilmore grabbed the interception to win for Dallas. With this win, the Cowbyos have reduced the gap to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East to one game.
Dallas Cowboys (4-2) @ Los Angeles Chargers (2-3)
Result: 20:17 (7:7, 3:0, 0:3, 10:7) BOXSCORE
Cowboys @ Chargers: Key stats
- Prescott’s 18-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the longest touchdown run by a Cowboys quarterback since Jon Kitna in 2010 (29 YDS).
- After his seven catches in the game, Keenan Allen now has 42 in the first five games of the season. That’s a new Chargers starting record after five games, passing Antonio Gates from 2007 (40).
- Despite blitzing 40 percent of Herbert’s dropbacks, Dallas was unable to score a sack all night. Until Parsons came through once and basically decided the game. Meanwhile, he managed seven pressures – the most in the game.
- Both sides took numerous penalties. In the end, the Cowboys had eleven (85 YDS), the Chargers had nine (79 YDS). This resulted in a total of seven 1st downs.
- The Cowboys had a pressure rate of 47.6 percent against Herbert, the highest this year against the Chargers QB. Accordingly, his completion percentage over expected was -6.2. So he was very inaccurate, especially by his standards.
The star of the game: CeeDee Lamb (Wide Receiver, Cowboys)
The Chargers decided to prevent deep passes. The consequence of this, however, was that everything was open underneath, especially for CeeDee Lamb. And he couldn’t be stopped. He had seven targets and caught seven passes for 117 yards. He played a huge part in the Cowboys’ victory.
The flop of the game: Brandon Staley (Head Coach, Chargers)
Defense is Staley’s background. The fact that he was unable to close these huge gaps in the middle of the field throughout the game speaks volumes. Staley, in fact, showed absolutely no reaction to what the Cowboys, and especially Lamb, did throughout the game, and for that he deserves the criticism that will surely follow as a result of this performance. You didn’t have to lose this game.
Analysis: Cowboys @ Chargers – that stood out tactically
- The Chargers usually played defense with two deep safeties and tried to prevent shot plays. They also played a lot of off-coverage on the outside, which often took revenge on CeeDee Lamb because he was always open for shorter passes, as well as for crossing routes over the middle. However, Derwin James was still often used as a blitzer.
- The Cowboys, on the other hand, often relied on their 3-safety sets, often letting Donovan Wilson play in the slot against Keenan Allen, whose stature might be too much for a classic slot receiver. The Cowboys also blitzed Herbert on over 40 percent of his dropbacks, which often had an effect.
- Herbert responded with numerous quick and short passes early in the game. Later he was seen more with rollouts and scrambles, also because the Cowboys didn’t have a controlled pass rush and looked a lot individual – they lost contain because Parsons, for example, sometimes acted too aggressively and moved into the middle without any protection.
- The Cowboys’ runs on early downs were always problematic. Especially at 2nd&Long it didn’t look well thought out and ended drives early.