Cowboys 43, Falcons 3: Top 10 Whitty Observations
Cowboys 43, Falcons 3: Top 10 Whitty Observations ...
10. DEJA BLUE - Knowing the sense of humor possessed by sports, you just knew Dan Quinn's current team would build a 28-3 lead on his old team.
Quinn, of course, coached the Falcons to that huge edge in Super Bowl LI before the historic collapse and overtime loss to the Patriots. Sunday in Arlington, Quinn's Cowboys held that exact, 25-point edge - but only for four plays. On Atlanta's next possession Dallas blocked a punt for a touchdown to push the margin to 36-3 and ensure the defensive coordinator didn't have to sweat another monumental come-from-ahead loss.
9. ROCK CHALK - Cowboys' defensive lineman Dorance Armstrong had himself quite the weekend. Against Atlanta he had his first sack of the season and the first blocked punt of his career.
Saturday wasn't too shabby either, as his alma mater - Kansas - beat Texas in Austin for the first time.
8. OPEN AND SHUT CASE - Dear AT&T Stadium, why do you even have a retractable roof if you're not going to lift the lid on a gloriously sunny, 70-degree Fall afternoon? In DFW, we buy convertibles precisely for days like Sunday.
7. DAK = BACK - Not sure who that impostor was wearing No. 4 last week, but Dak Prescott again looked like a legitimate MVP candidate.
The quarterback slid deftly in the pocket, extended plays with his mobility outside it and was as accurate as he's been all season. His two best throws came late in the second quarter, on a fourth-down conversion to a toe-tapping Michael Gallup and a perfectly lofted 9-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb.
6. AIR JOURDAN - Cowboys' cornerback Jourdan Lewis made consecutive spectacular plays late in the first quarter with back-to-back deflected passes to end a potential Atlanta scoring drive. He then made two more stops to force a Falcons' punt in the second quarter and produced a shoe-top interception in the fourth.
Curiously, Lewis made all the plays with his mouthpiece not in his mouth but rather dangling loosely from his facemask. Is it just us or is this becoming a "chic" fashion statement for players in both NFL and college?
5. GOOD TIMING - Ezekiel Elliott picked a good time for his first fumble of the season ... Lirim Hajrullahu picked a good time to be the Cowboys' emergency kicker.
4. FURIOUS FIRST HALF - From Prescott's passing to Mike McCarthy's decisions to even blocked-punt bounces, everything - and we mean, everything - went right for the Cowboys in a historic first half that all but deleted the nightmares in the same stadium a week ago.
Dallas' 33-point halftime lead is its largest since a 38-3 bulge on Joe Namath and the Jets in 1971. The Cowboys' 36 first-half points are their most since a 38-20 lead on the 49ers in 1980. And the 29 points in the second quarter are the most by the Cowboys in any quarter of any game. They've played more than 4,000 quarters of football and never before today managed 29 points. Bottom line:
Today is one of the top three first-half performances in the franchise's 62-season history.
3. CORRECT COACHING - We've been hard on McCarthy lately for his unnecessary risk-taking, but the Cowboys' coach was spot-on early. In the wake of last week's offensive debacle, Dallas won the coin flip and elected not to defer but to take the ball. The Cowboys justified the decision with an eight-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. McCarthy later saved his team four points, winning his first challenge of the season on an incompletion to Falcons' receiver Russell Gage that turned a first-and-goal into a field goal.
Not sure we would've went for 4th-and-goal up 36-3 and had Prescott running on a bootleg only to be crunched at the goal-line, but ... nit-picking, guilty.
2. SCRIPT, FLIPPED - Last week the Cowboys trailed by 30. Today they led by 30. Last week rookie Nahshon Wright botched an attempted recovery of a blocked punt that resulted in a Denver first down. Today he recovered a blocked punt in Atlanta's end zone for a touchdown. Last week sucked. Today was super.
1. CHILLAX, CONFIRMED - We told you last week was nothing more than an ugly, uncharacteristic hiccup. An outlier. We reminded you that lots of great teams hit November potholes en route to the Super Bowl. Sometimes - not often, but sometimes - we're right on the money.
Last week was the exception. Today was the rule. Denver's slap-to-the-face wake-up call more than did the trick. The 40-point win is Dallas' largest since 2000.
