Did Texans offer blue print on now interception-prone QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys?
Coach Mike McCarthy, owner Jerry Jones and quarterback Dak Prescott went out of their way to emphasize the positives in Sunday’s 27-23 victory against the Houston Texans in a game that should have should never come down to the final minute.
And while the Cowboys deny taking the Texans, who have now lost eight straight games to drop to 1-11-1 on the season, too lightly, it’s human nature to not approach a match up against a hapless opponent with Super Bowl-level intensity.
That the Cowboys woke up in just the nick of time to come with a goal-line stand on defense and then march 98 yards for the game winning touchdown with 41 second left speaks volumes about their poise and faith in their own ability.
Prescott said there was never any doubt that the team would win game, even after his seemingly game-deciding interception with 5 minutes, 37 seconds left, setting up the Texans on the Cowboys’ 4-yard line.
The defense, which was befuddled for much of the day by the Texans two quarterback scheme, delivered a crucial goal-line stand.
“I think that just more speaks on the resiliency and the connection of this team offense, defense, special teams and guys stand together and not blink and having belief in one another,” Prescott said. “It was a faith check. Everybody on that sideline. Everybody within this organization knew what we’re capable of and knew we’re gonna go with that game. It was a check and we went out there and got it done.”
It was the 11th comeback for Prescott since taking over the Cowboys starting job in 2016 as he engineered his 18th game-winning drive. It’s the second most in franchise history behind Tony Romo (24) and tied for the seventh-most in the NFL since 2016.
“That’s neither here no there,” owner Jerry Jones said the team’s struggles through for the majority of the game. “All my mind is on totally is that 98-yard drive to win the game. Hello, Dak Prescott. I know I’m being cute, or trying to be cute, but really that’s what I’m looking at. Completely that’s what I’m looking at.”
The Cowboys must look at how the Texans defense schemed to slow down Prescott and the Cowboys offense as well as the quarterback’s sudden penchant for interceptions.
Prescott had two interceptions against the Texans, giving him nine for the season. It’s the first time in his career he’s had nine interceptions through the first eight games.
Prescott had one interception in the season opener before missing the next five games with a fractured thumb. He has eight in the last seven games and seven in the last five, including three two-interception games.
“I’m damn sure not a fan of that,” Prescott said. “I think y’all guys know that. It’s frustrating. It’s very very frustrating. If you go back and all of a sudden we’re miscommunication in the past games tonight. First one try to fit in too tight of a window. The second one my arm got hit. I’ve got to find a way to to take better care of the ball. But yeah, damn, damn right. It’s frustrating. No, it’s not something that I’ve ever ever been okay with and never will be okay with. I promise I’ll clean it up.”
He better because championship team don’t lose the turnover battle and win games, unless it’s against the struggling Texans.
Prescott was downright magical on the final touchdown drive, hitting 6 of 7 passes starting with his first six, including 21, 18 and 13 yards to tight end Dalton Schultz and an 18-yarder to Noah Brown, before running back Ezekiel Elliott cashed on the game-winner from two yards out.
But his overall game also can’t be ignored. Prescott completed 24 of 39 passes for 284 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Give the Texans credit for playing coverage and using an unexpected defensive look to confuse Prescott’s passing lanes, which resulted in Houston getting it’s hands on 11 passes.
“They did a lot of zone, mixing it up real good,” Jones said. “Hats off to the Houston coaching job. They did a really good job.”
McCarthy said the Texans played more quarters coverage against the Cowboys than they showed against other teams on tape.
And they played a lot combinations off of it.
The Colts did some of that in a 54-19 Cowboys victory last Sunday when Prescott passed for only 170 yards.
McCarthy expects the Jacksonville Jaguars to copy the same game plan next Sunday.
“He’s a vision defense coordinator and does a great job of it,” McCarthy said of Texans coach Lovie Smith. “I thought they played with good vision,and they were on our hip every time the ball was thrown and caught. We have to take a good look at it. If I was the Jacksonville defense coordinator, I’d play us a vision defense based off the last two weeks. That’s how my mind works and that’s why we’ll look at it. We’ll just make sure we’re clean in what we do. We don’t need to change plays. We just got to be cleaner about doing thing.”
This would mark the second year in a row in which in opponent’s success was copied by other team’s to slow down the Cowboys offensive attack.
The Denver Broncos used bunt-and-run defensive coverage on the team’s receivers to put a glitch in a Cowboys offense that proved to be the team’s final undoing as a 12-5 season in which Dallas led the NFL in points and yards ended in a 23-17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card playoffs.
Prescott said it’s on him to better and play cleaner.
“We knew that they had a decent disguise coming into the game,” Prescott said. “We knew you were going to get a couple coverages and I feel like they added a couple more tonight. When you do that and haven’t shown it on film, it gives you a heads up there. Whether it be the play calling that wasn’t the best at the time or my reads were a bit slower because they disguised it well and got in something they hadn’t been in.
“For us, it’s about understanding, we may get more, like coach said. Just understanding that we have to execute. Sometimes I have to not try and fit the balls in tight windows and create those tip passes. Too many balls up in the air, that’s what they want so I just can’t give them that opportunity.”
Prescott and the Cowboys escaped the Texans but they are going to have prove that the blue print on the offense is faulty.
