Cowboys Tweetcap Week 3: Cowboys start slow but rout Dolphins 31-6 with second-half surge

The Miami Dolphins fought hard to remain in the game, however, once the Cowboys woke up, the rout was on as Dallas beat down Miami 31-6.

FIRST QUARTER

It seems to be a trend for the Cowboys defense to start a game out by raising the blood pressure of the entire fan base. Sunday was no different as Josh Rosen found Davante Parker for 40-yards on an absolutely insane catch which also drew some dirty laundry on Chidobe Awuzie.

It’s amazing that we haven’t heard anything about Chido seeing a sports psychologist after all the bad luck he has had with covering the deep ball over the past few years. What do you say to a guy that gets “Mossed” even when he keeps the coverage so tight? Poor Chido, indeed.

Luckily the Dolphins seemingly have worst luck than Awuzie and the damage is nullified:

Was it a conspiracy in support of the #TANKFORTUA initiative?

On the Cowboys first possession, Amari Cooper shakes Xavien Howard within seconds on a 37-yard gain:

Unfortunately for Dallas, the receivers seemed to be mourning a temporary loss of Michael Gallup as they struggled to get separation early in this game. Dak Prescott with back-to-back incompletions to Devin Smith and Jason Witten leads to a Brett Maher sighting as Cowboys draw first blood:

On the ensuing Miami drive, the stadium goes silent after this huge hit on former Cowboy Allen Hurns by current Cowboy Jeff Heath.

Hurns would leave the game and not return as he entered the concussion protocol. Folks were perplexed as to how this hit wasn’t flagged. A second look shows Heath making a play on the ball and the collision, though vicious, is very legal in the NFL. Maybe not a flag but I would wager Heath’s pockets will be lighter this week.

Two plays later, Miami punts it back to Dallas. After Dallas picks up a holding call on Tyron Smith, we get two more incompletions and the Cowboys offense seems to be asleep at the wheel facing 3rd and 20...

That is until Dak Prescott lofts one to Ol’ Reliable, Mr. Gold Jacket himself, Jason Witten, for an unreal conversion:

A couple of nice runs by Ezekiel Elliott get the Cowboys to the Miami seven and Amari Cooper finishes the job as only Cooper can do with a fiery route. Cowboys lead climbs to 10-0.

Just before the end of the quarter, Josh Rosen dusts off the old flea-flicker and Preston Williams makes the catch inside the Cowboys 20:

The Cowboys defense clamps down though as the Dolphins can only come away with three points. The struggles for Miami are very real.

SECOND QUARTER

As the Cowboys offense trots back out there, Dak Prescott gets a little greedy with all the time in the world, you just can’t make throws like this and Prescott knows it...

Even the worst secondaries will pick you off on layups like that one. Dallas gets lucky that it doesn’t cost them anything as the Dolphins go three-and-out in record timing. The Cowboys also can’t move the ball and are forced to punt it back.

The Dolphins put together a threatening drive as the Cowboys defense had little to no answer for Preston Williams in between the 20’s.

Facing a 3rd and 4 at the Cowboys 15-yard line, Chidobe Awuzie refuses to allow Williams to tie this ball game with amazing effort to poke this one out.

The Dolphins again settle for the three when they desperately needed six. Miami gets another shot right before the half. Missed tackles and plenty of penalties have the Dolphins in the red zone once again.

A play after Jaylon Smith is called for defensive holding, he redeems himself with a forced fumble that DeMarcus Lawrence pounces on for a huge momentum swing:

Elliott pads his stats with three consecutive runs for 10+ yards as we go to halftime.

HALFTIME

THIRD QUARTER

The Cowboys were a different team from the third quarter on as the offense started laying out haymakers. If not for a holding call Randall Cobb would have made the play of the game:

Oh well. Back-to-back completions to Devin Smith and Cobb for a combined 55-yards sets up Amari Cooper for another end zone trip:

Up 17-6, pressure starts to build as Robert Quinn’s disruptive debut pays off with a sack:

From there, Dak Prescott’s third-quarter dominance is on full display as he completes 11 of 11 for 127 yards, a passing touchdown, and this nifty little keeper:

Just how dominant was the Cowboys quarterback? RJ, would you please educate the public?

FOURTH QUARTER

The final quarter, up 24-6, the Cowboys offense starts grinding out the Dolphins with a two-headed rushing attack. Soon after, Ezekiel Elliott has his fill once again:

Now, Tony Pollard decides there is still plenty of meat left of the bone as he eclipses 100-yards as well and adds the exclamation point to this rout:

On the defensive side of things, the pressure is too much for Josh Rosen as DeMarcus Lawrence spins this Dolphin right out of his cleats:

The Cowboys put the boots to a bad team and that’s what they were expected to do. Though there are always things to clean up, let’s not start nitpicking over blowout wins and style points, save that for Saturdays. Go Cowboys!