Matchups and predictions for a pair of Eagles rivals in Week 8 of the 2023 NFL season
- The Eagles are still on top of the NFC East.
- The Cowboys are perfect according to themselves.
- The Commanders can't do anything right.
- The Giants are in Tyrod Taylor season.
By Jake Beckman
The Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams
The last time we saw the Cowboys, they squeaked out a win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Quarterback Dak Prescott played what might be the best game of his season, which makes sense because the Chargers defense is mega-pathetic.
Now, The Cowboys get to play the other team from Los Angeles, this time in Dallas. Jerry Jones's boys believe they’re going to win this game because they think their roster is perfect. Just this week, Cowboys’ owner/general manager Jerry Jones said the organization had no plans to reach out to other teams about trades (and that teams will have to reach out to them).
It's a very interesting (read: dumb) tactic, but okay. Whatever dude.
#Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on @1053thefan that any trade discussions they have will have to be initiated by the other side.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 24, 2023
“It’ll have to come our way. I don’t want to preclude it in any way, but it always does. ... That’s not showing a lack of aggressiveness, that's just… pic.twitter.com/HDRk32AzR1
Cowboys offense vs. Rams defense
Let’s start with our weekly Tony Pollard carries count. Pollard has carried the ball 96 times this season. In 2022 he only notched 193 carries. The latter total doubles as his career high.
That means he’s at 49.7% of his career high, and he still has 11 games left. A notable thing about this is that he’s had 370 rushing yards this season and in 2022 he had 1007 rushing yards. Despite having 49.7% of the total carries that he had in 2022, he has just 36.7% of the yards. Take from that what you will about the efficiency of the Cowboys' RB1.
On top of that, we saw the Cowboys actually got something going with wide receiver CeeDee Lamb and all it took was him complaining about how he doesn’t get the ball enough. Again, that was against a terrible Chargers’ secondary so it wasn’t that impressive. Now he gets to match up with the Rams’ secondary.
No one is going to tell you that the Rams’ defensive backs are world-beaters. They are good, and that’s it. They’re good in coverage. That should be enough to keep the Cowboys passing attack at a pedestrian level. The other receivers the Cowboys are marching out are Michael Gallup and Brandin Cooks. It isn't a corps that instills fear in anyone. If the Rams can keep Lamb under control, they’re going to be in a good spot.
That brings us to their quarterback, Rayne Dakota Prescott… He made a couple of impressive plays in Week 6. One of them came on a tuck and carry that resulted in an 18-yard touchdown. Another came on some kind of dipsy-do scramble thing under pressure to get the ball to Pollard for a 60-yard catch and run. It almost looked like young Dak again.
Now he’s going to come back to Earth. The Rams’ defensive front is certainly a capable group. They still have Aaron Donald, and that’s enough of a guy to wreck a game. If Donald and the gang can get in Dak’s head (which shouldn’t be too difficult) they’ll be able to help neutralize Dem Boyz’s passing game.