Whose stock is rising and falling after week eight for the Cowboys?

The Cowboys are at 4-3 after taking care of the Washington Redskins on the road. Who’s stock is rising and falling after that divisional victory.

Stock Up

David Irving

He’s been an absolute monster in just three games back from a suspension. It’s been a welcomed sight to have such a ferocious pass rush but Irving having five sacks in three games is incredible. The Cowboys have 25 sacks on the season, making them a Top-5 team in sacks this season. This team hasn’t ranked in the Top-10 since 2011 and now they may have two pass rushers reach double-digits? It’s a crazy thought but with David Irving and Demarcus Lawrence playing lights out, anything is possible.

Stock Down

Ryan Switzer

We’re really not sure what’s going on with Ryan Switzer but he was doing some silly stuff out there is this game. It looks as though that fumble he had against the Rams looms large for him because he’s not really giving the Cowboys anything in the return game. Nobody understands why in the heck he would believe that taking a knee was a good idea.

There was also this play where he fails to catch a punt...excuse me, what?

Maybe Switzer just has lost a little bit of confidence but he needs to find it quickly. The Cowboys got one really good, heads-up play from him for the first down. However, when he’s on special teams he’s playing too timid and he looks nervous. The Cowboys need his abilities to flip the field position in an instant. Hopefully, Switzer picks it up in the coming weeks.

Stock Up

Tyrone Crawford

He’s already stacked up 13 tackles, four sacks, a forced fumble, and a blocked field. Over the last few weeks, everyone one is showing up on the defensive line and Crawford made the play of the game this past week. He was literally responsible for a ten point swing.

Rod Marinelli has adopted this idea that if he doesn’t have a speed rusher to rush from the right side, he’ll just have Crawford rush with power and it’s worked. Tyrone Crawford is a really under-appreciated player and he’s starting to benefit from a blossoming defensive line. Tyrone Crawford deserves credit for turning the momentum of the game in Dallas’ favor.

Stock Down

Cowboys’ passing offense

There were only 14 completed passes in this game, but the rain did play a factor in that. If not for Ezekiel Elliott rushing for 150 yards in this game, the Cowboys offense would have been in trouble. After Dak Prescott was rolling with three passing touchdowns in each of the last three games, he was held to under 150 passing yards and zero passing touchdowns.

Maybe it was just the atmosphere that he was surrounded in but there were some passes that sailed on him. Passing a lot is not exactly the key for this team to win a lot of games but without Elliott for the next six games, something is going to have to open up. This year, Dez Bryant leads all receivers in yards with 32 catches for 366 yards. The Cowboys are not exactly in passing purgatory as they have 14 receiving touchdowns which is sixth in the league. They just need to make sure that they have a healthy passing attack moving forward with big games on the horizon and no bell cow.

Stock Up

Cowboys’ veteran defensive backs

First, major props go to Orlando Scandrick because he was on fire against the Redskins. After Ezekiel Elliott fumbled the ball, Washington was facing a third and six, when Scandrick stopped Ryan Grant on a slant one-yard short to force the field goal. Later on in the game, he made the Redskins pay big on the aforementioned blocked field goal attempt:

The other player that deserves credit is safety Byron Jones, who gets beat up on a lot by Cowboys fans for not having 20+ interceptions in his career. However, he really came through when the Cowboys’ needed him most and more importantly, Jones effectively ended this game at FedEx Field.

These two veteran defensive backs combined for 12 tackles, a blocked-kick return, and a pick-six. Not a bad day at the office for two of the leaders in the secondary.

Stock Down

Taco Charlton

This was supposed to be a game where Charlton finally broke out due to all the injuries the Redskins were dealing with along the offensive line. Instead, it was more of the same stuff where he just finds himself out of the play:

Then it could have all turned around for him but just when he was about to make a game-sealing play, he drops the interception.

To be fair, that was mighty athletic for a guy his size but you could tell he wanted that one. There is still time for Taco to make an impact but it’s been a rough rookie campaign eight weeks into the season.