Dallas Cowboys News: Does Jason Garrett Have Any Competition For Coach Of The Year?

Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys - October 30th, 2016 -  Pro-Football-Reference.com

If you want to see just how low the odds dropped for Dallas winning the game, check out the win-probabiliity chart in this box score. At the 8:49 mark of the fourth quarter, Dallas had a 3% chance of coming out on top.

Why I'm not sure Cowboys would've beaten Eagles without a QB like Dak Prescott - Bob Sturm, DMN

Bob Sturm's weekly Decoding Linehan piece is always a good read. Mr. Sturm, like many, continues to be amazed by the play of Dak Prescott.

And they won a game with a rookie quarterback looking quite a bit like a rookie quarterback for much of the game. He was rattled, confused and looked plenty "off."

And the great news is he kept fighting and scrapping and refused to get discouraged. He looked a very impressive opponent in the face and asked, "Is that all you got?" He is a very impressive young man and I am sure he will be better from this performance.

The crazy part? He also just did something that Tony Romo never accomplished. On Sunday, Dak Prescott led the Cowboys to yet another 400-yard offensive day. This was the Cowboys' fifth in a row, and if you go back to 2006 -- the start of the Romo era -- you cannot find a streak longer than four. You can find several years when they didn't have five 400-yard days all season (2006, 2008, 2013 and 2015). Prescott has engineered five straight, with his fifth being a day when he knows he had a rough go and there were yards everywhere to be had.

This is life in the NFL. This is the growth process. That Eagles game will be tough for him to watch, but it will undoubtedly make him a better quarterback.

How Cowboys' Jason Garrett has lapped his competition for NFL Coach of the Year - Tim Cowlishaw, DMN

Cowlishaw makes a nice case for the job Jason Garrett is doing. Sure helps that the team has been responding.

Realistically, Garrett has lapped this field after having lost two quarterbacks in preseason and struck gold with the team's third. A year removed from being absolutely helpless without Tony Romo, Garrett's toughest job in 2016 is figuring out how to tell Romo that when he's healthy enough to wear a uniform, he will be holding a clipboard and watching the Dak Show like everyone else.

You can suggest that Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott are just carrying Garrett along for the ride. I think that's simplistic. You also have to look at how a defense questioned by everyone is starting to perform.

On Sunday, Garrett will complete six full seasons as Cowboys head coach. We didn't learn much from him in his early years, other than for a really smart guy he really struggled with clock management. Since being removed from play-calling duties and developing a symbiotic relationship with Scott Linehan, Garrett has enjoyed a 12-4 season and now this current one in which only Belichick's Patriots match the Cowboys with one defeat.

One of the most significant differences between the Eagles and Cowboys on Sunday night was the manner in which Philadelphia's Doug Pederson played it safe, coaching not to lose or get second-guessed. Garrett rolled the dice confidently throughout and, as a result, the Eagles never touched the ball in overtime. Now the Cowboys lead the entire NFC East by a full two games.

Jason Witten's value goes beyond catches, touchdowns - Todd Archer, ESPN

It was a fitting tribute to Jason Witten that he caught the game winner on Sunday.

"He's a Hall of Famer the way he works, the role model he is for everybody," linebacker Sean Lee said. "He's just a Hall of Fame player, a Hall of Fame person. He's a guy everybody can look up to and count on him. Year 14, it's fun to see that."

In the locker room after the game, Jason Garrett gave Witten a game ball. It was as much for his winning touchdown catch as it was for setting the team record for most starts and tying the team mark for most consecutive starts.

"That's why you play this game," Witten said of the celebration. "That's what football is all about, a group of men, sure we're rewarded well. We love to play this game and to have the opportunity that is provides us, but those are the moments and you just want to bottle them up."

"I take a lot of pride in being a complete tight end," Witten said. "That's something I've kind of worked really hard at over the years and that's part of the job. Just to be able to go back, fight that guy really kind of unblocked on the back side and get enough of him so Dak gets that ball off, it all works together. When you approach it that way where catching a seam ball is just as important as blocking the backside, that's how this team is. That's how everybody approaches it. That's what puts a smile on my face and enjoy it so much."

Garrett said the assistant coaches told him this was Witten's best game of the season even with two catches for 16 yards.

An Unlikely Victory, Crawford’s Night, Among Thoughts - Jeff Sullivan, the Mothership

Sullivan is always insightful and well worth reading. But this paragraph about Tyrone Crawford stood out. Sean Lee got most of the post-game love on the defensive side, but Crawford also showed up big time.

Tyrone Crawford has quietly been lurking this season, as in playing better than 99.9 percent of the fan base realize. Entering the game, he was tied for second among defensive linemen in quarterback hurries. Not on the team. We’re talking in the league. Most coaches will tell you that hurries are a more valuable statistic than sacks. One is flukier than the other; they will take the consistent pressure. Well, never mind that, Crawford enjoyed a career day and then some: five QB hurries, three QB hits, 1.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Likely NFC Defensive Player of the Week.

If he did get rewarded, that would be consecutive weeks for a Dallas defensive lineman. Whoa, how about that for a mind-bender.

Scout’s Notebook: Elliott’s Pass Catching Ability, Defensive Standouts & More - Brian Broaddus, The Mothership

Broaddus gives some credit to two more Cowboys - Brandon Carr and Terrance Williams.

I usually don't give Brandon Carr credit for the way that he plays in games, but tonight that will change. The series that he had in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 23-23 was outstanding. His tackle in the flat on Jordan Matthews for minus two yards and the breakup of the pass to Trey Burton gave the offense a chance to win the game in regulation.

How about Terrance Williams extending his hands above his head and snatching that ball on 2nd-and-6 to keep the drive going in overtime? Say what you want about Williams and some of his lapses in judgement during the games, but he has put some good tape out there for others in the league to see.

The Cowboys did not make any trades at the deadline, so Darren McFadden is likely being kept as insurance.

Let's end with some news from one of our rivals that should affect the Thanksgiving game.

Redskins' Trent Williams suspended four games - Nick Shook, NFL.com

Trent Williams is out four games for violating the substance abuse policy.

Williams' forced departure is a significant blow to the Redskins' offense. The 28-year-old left tackle is a four-time Pro Bowl selection and the anchor of an offensive line that protects quarterback Kirk Cousins, who ranks 10th in average time to throw at 2.75 seconds, per Next Gen Stats. A dropoff in the 14th-ranked rushing attack could be expected for Washington as well in the absence of Williams, though we're left to see in the weeks ahead.

Second-year pro Ty Nsekhe is listed next on the Redskins' depth chart, and with the trade deadline having passed, seems to be their best option to replace Williams for the next month. Nsekhe has spent time with the Colts, Rams and Saints before joining the Redskins in February 2015.

Have you ever heard of Ty Nsekhe? Me neither.