Cowboys at Chargers: The good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 2

Welcome to this week’s edition of the good, the bad, and the ugly!

It may have taken a last-second field goal, but the Dallas Cowboys were able to outlast and outplay the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2 of the 2021 season to improve to 1-1 on the year. Per usual, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but it was enough to secure the victory and in the end that’s what counts.

While there was quite a bit of good, there was also plenty of bad with a little bit of ugly in this Week 2 matchup as well. This is something we as fans may have to get used to, although there is hope we see more good from here on out. That, of course, remains to be seen, but for now let’s focus on the highs and lows against the Chargers.

THE GOOD - Kellen Moore’s game plan

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

For the second week in the row Kellen Moore continues to impress with his play-calling and game plan. In Week 1 he leaned on the arm of Dak Prescott in the passing game, but in the match up with the Los Angeles Chargers he turned to both Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard in the running game. Moore’s ability to identify the opponents weakness each week and properly attack it is making the Dallas Cowboys already potent offense even more dangerous. If Moore remains consistent throughout the season the Cowboys are going to be really difficult to stop offensively. On top of that, he may start hearing his name connected to head coaching jobs in the not-too-distant future as well.

THE BAD - Too much yellow laundry

Photo by Chris Williams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The referees in this Week 2 matchup called a grand total of 20 penalties against the Cowboys and Chargers Sunday afternoon. Los Angeles was on the receiving end of 12 of those flags, while the Cowboys only received eight. As far as impacting the game is concerned, Dallas’ penalties gave second, and sometimes third, opportunities to the Justin Herbert led Chargers offense. But they also took away touchdowns from the Chargers The Cowboys were fortunate all of the yellow laundry that flew yesterday afternoon didn’t come back to bite them in the end, even though it was close. This is an area they definitely need to clean up moving forward if they want to continue putting “W’s” in the win column.

THE UGLY - Defense holds up, but narrowly

Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Before the game even started we all knew the Dallas Cowboys defense was in trouble heading into this Week 2 matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers. Being down three starters (DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, Donovan Wilson) put the defense behind the eight ball from the get-go. However, they surprisingly held up better than expected against Justin Herbert and company. They only surrendered one touchdown to Mike Williams and three field goals, which is a win in any book. Overall they were far from perfect, but were able to do just enough to keep themselves in the game and sometimes that’s all that matters. It was ugly at times, but they managed to pull it out.