FRISCO, Texas – Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you all get to enjoy being around your loved ones, good food, and crowding around a television on Thursday to enjoy a great slate of football.
For the first time in 30 years, the Dallas Cowboys and the Kansas City Chiefs will play each other on those television screens. This time, both teams as in need of a victory as Dallas enters the game at 5-5-1 and Kansas City at 6-5.
How can the Cowboys pick up their third win in a row and their second in five days? Let's break it down in this week's Here We Goooo:
Need your best game yet from the secondary
In the last two weeks, the talk of Dallas' defensive turnaround has been the defensive line. And rightfully so, as Quinnen Williams has entered the fold and made a huge impact on what the Cowboys have been able to do on that side of the ball, including eight consecutive stops on defense to close out against the Eagles on Sunday.
They'll now be going up against a strong Chiefs offensive line, which has allowed just a 26.2% pressure rate this year, the second-lowest mark in the NFL. Patrick Mahomes' drop backs have lasted longer than four seconds 22.4% of the time this season, the fifth-highest rate in the NFL. Dallas' new defensive line certainly has the talent to change that, but Mahomes also has the talent to toss it all around the yard.
Don't be fooled by Kansas City's 6-5 record, this is still a very good offensive football team. Mahomes is second in the league in passing yards and the Chiefs are fifth in total offense. They've got speed everywhere at wide receiver in Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice and Tyquan Thornton. Oh, and don't forget veteran TE Travis Kelce either, who may not be tearing up defenses like he once did, but is still plenty good and leads the Chiefs in receiving.
So, the Cowboys' secondary needs to take a big step this game and play one of, if not their best game of the season. Sure, everything defensively is married together and if the defensive front can get pressure, the secondary's job gets easier. Against the Chiefs and Mahomes, even with the defensive front does win, there'll be plays where Mahomes gets outside the pocket and tries to make magic happen.
Even with the new help up front, Dallas has given up the seventh-most passing yards in the league over the last two weeks (527) to go along with two touchdowns and one interception. The good news is Dallas showed some flashes last week of being able to step up when they needed to in coverage, most notably late in the fourth quarter to allow Osa Odighizuwa to sack Jalen Hurts. If they can do that again more consistently against a Mahomes led offense, it could change the entire course of the game.
Dak Prescott, offense need to be on their P's and Q's
Being on their P's and Q's is exactly how Dak Prescott said Dallas' offense needed to be on Tuesday, adding they needed to communicate better than they ever have before. And he's completely right, going against a Steve Spagnuolo defense that disguises coverages and blitzes very well.
The first step to nullifying that is eliminating pre-snap and procedural penalties. The Cowboys have had way too many of those, and getting backed up against a team that has no issue pinning their ears back and going after the quarterback is not a good formula for winning football.
Want to know what a good winning formula for the Cowboys is this week that can counter blitz looks? Dak Prescott getting the ball out of his hands quickly, something he has done at a very high level.
On quick throws this season (less than 2.5 seconds to throw), Prescott has completed 76.2% of his passes for 1,039 yards, 14 touchdowns and no interceptions even while being pressured on 18.9% of those drop backs and being blitzed on 35.4% of them.
Dallas has the receivers in guys like CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens and KaVontae Turpin that can get the ball in their hands and do work after the catch. That's one area that the Cowboys can find some success offensively against Kansas City. It'll all need to start with the offensive line, and even Javonte Williams, working with Prescott to identify who is blitzing and where from so that he can have the extra time necessary to get the ball out of his hands.
Javonte Williams' physicality in the run game needs to show up again
Running back Javonte Williams has in many ways been the personification of toughness this season for the Cowboys. Williams has the third-most rushing yards after contact this season with 719, despite being just above the league average in missed tackles forced with 24.3% of them.
Going into Sunday's game against the Eagles, Dallas' interior offensive line trio of Tyler Smith, Cooper Beebe and Tyler Booker were helping pave the way, as the Cowboys averaged the third-most yards per carry on runs between the tackles (4.8) and allowed the running backs to be hit behind the line of scrimmage just 32.1% of the time, the lowest rate in the NFL.
Then, they went and had one of the best games of the season against the Eagles last week, paving the way for an efficient 125 yards rushing, 87 of them coming from Williams on 20 carries. That was against an Eagles defensive line that had Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, and thing's don't get any easier for Dallas with Chris Jones manning the middle in Kansas City.
An added layer as to why establishing the run to some degree is crucial for the Cowboys is the play action passing game. Dak Prescott has used play action on 28.7% of his drop backs this season, the seventh-highest rate in the league and a career high for Prescott. He's completed 80% of his play action passes, is averaging 9.3 yards per attempt and has thrown 12 touchdowns on it.
The Chiefs defense on the other hand has allowed a league-high 79% completion percentage and 10.2 yards per attempt to quarterbacks off of play action. That gives the Cowboys a real opportunity to use one of the best aspects of their offense to attack Kansas City, and it all starts with getting Javonte Williams going.
