FRISCO, Texas – The fun thing about a noon game is you get a quicker start on the tape.
The Cowboys got back home by 9 p.m. on Sunday night, and I’d had a good chance to review the game not long after. As always, there was plenty of good and plenty of bad – although the good stuff stakes precedence when you grab a 10-point win on the road.
Here’s a look at my notes from the re-watch.
Bryan Broaddus has had a chance to re-watch the Cowboys’ Week 2 win in Washington, and he came away impressed with several unsung players on the Dallas defense.

I’ve written before on how Kellen Moore is using route combinations to affect the defense in coverage. A great example of this was the Devin Smith touchdown. The inside routes that Amari Cooper and Randall Cobb ran drew the coverage of both safeties, which left Josh Norman one-on-one to the outside. Landon Collins took Cooper and Montae Nicholson picked up Cobb as they crossed. Smith did a nice job of setting up Norman by leaning on him down the field, then breaking to the middle. Norman never had a chance as the ball from Prescott was in a perfect spot for Smith to extend on.

Give a big assist to DeMarcus Lawrence on the sack by Tyrone Crawford. The line executd a twist stunt to perfection. Crawford engaged Brandon Scherff. which allowed Lawrence to punish him on the play. Scherff never saw him coming and was knocked out of the way. Morgan Moses, reacting to Lawrence, ended up going too far to the inside and had no chance to adjust back to the outside. As a result, no one picked up Crawford, and he had a free run at Case Keenum for the finish.

I was amazed that Dak Prescott was able to escape the rush of Da’Ron Payne so quickly, as he was able to defeat Connor Williams right off the snap. Williams was in poor blocking position and had no chance to even lay a hand on Payne. He was over extended with no chance of recovering. Prescott had a window to hit Cobb, but he just couldn’t torque his body enough to get the ball out in front of him. Cobb was able to get his left hand in position, but his other hand was behind due to his momentum going away from Prescott. It would have been a heck of a play if they could have pulled it off, but instead it was a bad break that resulted in a turnover.

Maliek Collins set the tone for the run defense early when he just overpowered Chase Roullier right off the snap. Collins was in the backfield at the same time as Adrian Peterson was getting the ball and it left him nowhere to go -- except to the ground. Neither Peterson nor Chris Thompson had any space to operate in large part due to how well Collins and his teammates were able to control the line of scrimmage.

The window couldn’t have opened up any better than it did for Dak Prescott on the Amari Cooper touchdown pass. Zack Martin and La’el Collins completely took their guys out of the play, which allowed Prescott a clean shot to Cooper. Ryan Kerrigan attempted to rush wide and Collins took him exactly where he wanted to go, while Martin held Matt Ioannidis in place along the line. Prescott took a quick glance to his left and fired the ball to Cooper who walked it into the end zone.

What a nice tackle by Byron Jones to get the defense off the field on third down and short for the Redskins. When Paul Richardson caught that ball, I thought for sure he was going to pick up the first down, which makes the tackle even more impressive. Jones fought through a pick by Vernon Davis. He hustled all the way across the field and then broke down in space in order to keep Richardson from spinning back to the inside on him. Jones killed Richardson’s momentum and the Redskins’ chances to convert.

We’ve seen Michael Gallup make adjusting receptions down the field before, so it was a little surprising that he and Dak Prescott missed on that connection in the second quarter down the left sideline. Gallup was so wide open I thought there was a bust in the coverage by Josh Norman, but it was just the way he played the route. Prescott delivered the ball as if he was thinking Gallup was going to run tighter along the sideline. Even with a slight bit of hesitation, Gallup still caught up to the ball -- but having to turn and then reach back caused him to misplay it.

Jeff Heath missed a great opportunity for a pick-six off Case Keenum. His angle was perfect and his close was ideal, but he just didn’t get his eyes on the ball. His focus was on Trey Quinn and the possibility of having to make a contested play. Byron Jones was in outstanding shape on the coverage, which should have given Heath the green light to go for the ball.

Outstanding job by Dak Prescott on the read-option that he turned into an explosive play for the offense. Prescott got exactly what he wanted with the Redskins running a stunt to the backside with Cassanova McKinzy crashing down inside and Jon Bostic playing over the top. McKinzy chased Tony Pollard on the fake, while Tyron Smith walled off Bostic. Give Connor Williams some credit, too, for the point of attack block on Da’Ron Payne to set up the crease for Prescott to take advantage of.

A lot of fans were worried that Jason Witten would come back to the club and hurt the growth of Blake Jarwin, but that hasn’t been the case at all. Both Witten and Jarwin have found some nice balance working with each other. Jarwin helped Witten on his touchdown and Witten helped Jarwin on his long reception along the sideline. Jarwin was able to work off Cole Holcomb, then away from Montae Nicholson to find space. Prescott put the ball right on top of him for the reception. On the same play, Witten stayed in to pass protect, working Montez Sweat wide in order to give Prescott enough time to make the completion.

I thought this was a better game for Dorance Armstrong than what he showed last week. He was far more active. He did a better job of getting rid of blockers and getting in on plays. He made plays up the field as a pass rusher, but also working down the line in order to make plays in the running game. I felt like Armstrong located the ball better as well, which allowed him the opportunity to make those plays. There were snaps where he got too tied up and lost the ball, which caused him to struggle to make plays.

The defense caught a break on the fourth down throw by Case Keenum to Chris Thompson in the flat. Thompson was open and had separation on Xavier Woods. But instead of throwing the ball to the outside, he put it to the inside -- which gave Thompson no opportunity to adjust and that was the ball game for the Redskins.