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Mike McCarthy has 100% answered the bell in Dallas.And I really liked his answer when I asked a global question about the roster that has helped him to do that—and what he likes about its makeup.
“I love the locker room,” McCarthy said over his cell on the way to LAX for the team flight home Sunday. “I’ve been saying that for the last two years. We’ve got a great blend of talent, people and experience. The older guys are bringing the young guys along. Our young guys contributed today. We had a couple mistakes, penalties, but other than that, it’s an excellent blend of experience and youth and these guys’ work, Albert. We had a hell of a week of practice, and it’s rewarding as a coach when you see it show up on Sunday.”
Coming into Sunday, there’d been a lot of focus on what’s wrong with the Rams.
That it wasn’t a story line attached to the Cowboys, before or after the team dispatched the world champions, 22–10, at SoFi Stadium, is a tribute to a lot of people, McCarthy included, in Dallas. And, yes, the Rams have the offensive line issue and still lack edge rush to complement Aaron Donald, and Allen Robinson hasn’t really worked out as Cooper Kupp’s Robin to this point.
That said, the Cowboys weren’t exactly dealing from a full deck Sunday, either. Cooper Rush made his fourth start this season in Dak Prescott’s place. Rookie Tyler Smith’s now settled in as future Hall of Fame candidate Tyron Smith’s replacement at left tackle. Michael Gallup’s still getting his feet wet coming off ACL surgery, and James Washington is still out at receiver.
Despite all that, Dallas methodically wore out and then knocked out the Rams on Sunday.
We can start with Rush, who’s not lighting the world on fire but has never looked, over the past month, like he’s over his skis. On the season, he has a 93.9 passer rating, 839 yards passing, four touchdowns and as many picks as he has losses (zero). And maybe the most impressive thing to me is how none of this was remotely surprising to McCarthy.
“Oh, not at all,” the coach said about Rush, who is 5–0 as the starter, including an impressive win last year over the Vikings. “What Cooper gives you, as a person, he’s extremely, extremely consistent. Very intelligent. Very professional. When you get into team-building and developing a roster, those individual players are so important, because that’s obviously what you’re trying to build around. As a professional, as far as how he plays the position, he has a very high IQ. He’s been playing quarterback his whole life, and I think he does a really good job of getting into the game plan and playing within himself and within the scheme.”
What helped him Sunday was a run game that put him in position to win and throwing the ball just 16 times. Even better, it was a run game capable of closing out a proud Rams defense, even though they knew what was coming.
The pivot point came with 11:09 left, with the Cowboys taking possession at their own 48. Zeke Elliott got the first crack at being the four-minute-offense bell cow and ground out 15 yards on three carries to move the chains. Then Tony Pollard took the next two carries for 11 yards to move them again. And when it was over, Dallas had logged seven consecutive runs, taken almost six minutes off the clock and set up Brett Maher for a 36-yard field goal that made it 22–10.
“That was the plan going in, and our players executed it,” McCarthy said. “The play-callers stayed true to the plan. The players made plays.”
And Dan Quinn’s defense closed it out, with Defensive Player of the Year candidate Micah Parsons, who was fighting through a groin injury, blasting Matthew Stafford on a second-and-7 with 1:39 left to jar the ball loose, generate a turnover and finish off the Rams.
“That’s when you really find out about your guys,” McCarthy said. “Micah’s an elite player. He’s established that in a very short time in this league, and he’s been making impact plays. But to see him go out and perform and fight through that groin injury today was super, super impressive.”
So now the Cowboys are a game back of the Eagles and heading to Philadelphia next Sunday to take on the unbeaten team with first place in the NFC East on the line.
Just as we all guessed they would be when Dak Prescott went down on opening night.
