How Cowboys’ underwhelming win vs. Miami can be learning experience to ‘super’ finish

This is what the Dallas Cowboys have come to after reaching 3-0 for the 16th time in team history and just the first since 2008.

A 31-6 blowout victory against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday had them answering more questions about their poor quality of play than what they did well in the game.

It was never about the hapless Dolphins.

It’s about the Cowboys playing to their standard, one they hope results in a trip to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995.

It’s little wonder that owner Jerry Jones quickly turned his attention to next Sunday’s game at the New Orleans Saints (2-1) when the Cowboys hope to go 4-0 for the first time since reeling off five straight wins en route to a 13-3 mark in 2007.

“I think that I wouldn’t try to ask for more right now,” Jones said. “I know the coaches know and the players would say I got more to give. But I wouldn’t try to ask for any more.

“We are in the queue to go down here and play an outstanding coach and an outstanding team. And they don’t have (injured quarterback Drew) Brees but they have a lot of really good football players. We just know what we are into in New Orleans.”

The Saints game is a measuring stick matchup for Jones, who harkened back to 2007, one of the few times that he felt the Cowboys had a legitimate chance for a return to glory since the dynasty teams of the 1990s.

That that season ended in disaster with a loss to the Giants in the divisional playoffs was not lost on him.

Jones believes this team has “super” potential and is counting Sunday’s seemingly underwhelming win against a Dolphins team that lost its first two games by a combined score of 102-10, as a learning experience on the road back to Miami, site of Super Bowl LIV in 2020.

“I know that I’ve thought we missed a great opportunity in ’07 to not knock on the door of the Super Bowl,” Jones said. “I thought we did. I thought we’ve done it one other time.

“When you’ve got that going for you and have got all that working together, you’ve really got to step up there and get it done. It’s just hard to do that time and time and time again. ... But we’re as talented, I think we’re as talented as we were at any of those times.”

That talent rose to the top against the Dolphins, overcoming poor decisions from quarterback Dak Prescott, eight penalties for 100 yards and a number of misplays to turn a 10-6 halftime lead into a comfortable 25-point victory.

The Cowboys covered a whopping 22.5-point betting spread because of a defense that allowed just five first downs and 67 yards in the second half and a two-headed rushing attack from Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard that totaled 235 yards.

Elliott rushed for 125 yards on 19 carries and Pollard tallied 103 on 13 carries, including a 16-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

It marked the fourth time in team history the Cowboys have had two 100-yard rushers in the same game, the first since Emmitt Smith and Chris Warren did it in 1998.

“It’s obviously a tribute to the offensive line,” coach Jason Garrett said. “They did an excellent job in the game to control the line of scrimmage throughout. Getting Zeke going is a big part of what we are trying to do offensively. He can control the tempo of the game when we run the ball well.

“Tony Pollard going in there. He’s running inside, he’s finishing his runs. He’s playing tough, he’s playing the way you need to play at this level. It’s good to see him get that work and have some success.”

And as underwhelming as Prescott was on offense, given his historic and record-breaking efforts in the season-opening blowouts over the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, the Cowboys still finished with 476 yards and 31 points.

It is the fourth consecutive regular season game that they have produced 400 yards and 30 points — the longest streak in team history.

Prescott completed 8 of 8 passes in the third quarter and had a touchdown run and a touchdown pass to key the second-half surge.

Yet, most of the questions after the game surrounded a poor decision in the second quarter that led to an interception in triple coverage.

“I was being too greedy,” Prescott said. “One of those heat checks or whatever you call it, just trying to do too much in the first half. I said it to (offensive coordinator) Kellen (Moore) at the end of the game that at the end of the first half, I was just being greedy. That’s why I said it’s a good tape to learn from, probably for me more than anybody else; just take what the defense gives me.”

The Cowboys got the win and some learning experience that the could need next Sunday against the Saints.

“I’m excited about that — just going back to Louisiana, going back to the home state, it’ll be fun,” said Prescott, who is from Haughton, Louisiana. “But my whole focus is on this team, how we take that next step from week to week and get better so that we can come out with a win next week.”

Coming out 4-0 would be even more special, especially because of what it could mean in terms of a super finish.

“Any time you’re 3-0, obviously it’s a great feeling,” Prescott said. “But, forget the record. This team can be really good, and we have to focus on that and how we get there. It’s about taking that next step, it’s about focusing on the things that we can control.

“We’re all going to come in this week, and I promise you those guys in the locker room that we have are going to come in with the mindset of how we are going to get better and not about the fact that we’re 3-0. We’re just worried about how we go 1-0 next week.”

Miami who?

This story was originally published September 22, 2019 at 6:48 PM.