The Cowboys’ Monday night opponent has had a rougher go of it than them of late. The Eagles are sandwiched in the middle of the division with Dallas, having lost four straight, their All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson to retirement, quarterback Jalen Hurts long term to blood clots and several other big names to injuries.
The Commanders reside at the bottom of the division with a 1-4-1 record, already in a hole after going 0-2-1 in their first round of games against their fellow NFC East members, and the Giants lead the way at 3-2-1 but just named J.J. McCarthy their third starting quarterback before the season’s midway point.
Of course, to take advantage of a division race that’s shaping up to be far less ferocious than normal, the Cowboys need to get back to playing winning football. They can’t simply hope their rivals continue to stumble.
Dallas must find balance, both within its offense and between all phases of the game. Prescott has had his struggles the past two games, throwing for two touchdowns and four interceptions. He also hasn’t tossed multiple TDs since Week 2. However, he’s receiving only marginal support from a rushing offense that’s averaging 3.7 yards per carry on 122 attempts, the fewest carries in the league.
The defense also must close the gap and start pulling its weight. Dallas ranks 25th in points allowed compared to 12th in points scored, boasts the league’s worst defense against the run and is bottom 10 against the pass.
As Lamb mentioned, the areas that need improvement are obvious.
Now, it’s up to the Cowboys to make the necessary changes.
In borrowing Lamb’s “why not us” mantra, Prescott made it clear he likewise believes Dallas can start putting it together in a pivotal prime-time game versus the Eagles.
“Yeah, why not us? I mean, it’s right there in front of us for us to take,” Prescott said. “We still play every team in the division, a couple of them twice, right? We’ve got to take it one at a time, and we’ve got to get every win that we can. This is the most important one, because it’s now; and we just dropped two. We can’t drop another.”