ARLINGTON, Texas – Tony Pollard dived right, cut left and came out of a shot as if San Francisco supporter Dre Greenlaw wasn’t holding pollard’s T-shirt fabric.
Then he squirts.
Pollard ran for a 40-yard landing with 2:36 to play, extending a Cowboys lead that rookie CeeDee Lamb would then seal with a recoil of a pugging attempt. I arrived here minutes after the Washington football team lost 20-15 to the Seattle Seahawks.
The fortuitous duration means that for at least a week, the Cowboys are still alive in the NFC East.
The Niners return to their transition seat in Arizona at 5-9, a record equivalent to the last in the NFC West, but the Cowboys’ 5-9 left them as the only component of the former, even if they didn’t make their own destiny.
Here are 3 other things we learned about the Cowboys’ victory:
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The offense without Ezekiel Elliott: Cowboys fans had been clamoring to see what second-year fullback Tony Pollard could do during Elliott’s least productive professional season, averaging 64 rushing yards consistent with the game and 3Array nine yards consistent with the haulage. Coming Sunday, the Cowboys expected Elliott to play. But pregame warm-ups showed his calf bruise was more severe than Dallas expected, and he was inactive on game day, the first time in five seasons that Elliott missed a game due to injury. Pollard got off to a strong start in the first quarter, driven through a 30-yard screen pass on the direct sideline to end the fourth. He totaled 61 yards and a touchdown in the first straight year. He stalled for much of the second, third and fourth quarters, but broke the 40-yard touchdown when the Cowboys needed him most. Elliott runs with a different force than Pollard in the middle. But Pollard is much more changeable than his counterpart, and a stingy Niners defense was worth opposing. He finished the day with two touchdowns and 132 yards of hitting.
Tony Pollard sought the TD of the Cowboys. Ezekiel Elliott Nod (NFLBrasil) pic. twitter. com/KZWjwZtxCs
Cowboys Running Defense: The Cowboys boasted the worst defensive and worst defense in the league for much of 2020. Opposites of an injury-ravaged Niners team came into the game with an average of 162. 7 yards and 30. 8 problems consistent with the game. They still made too many major moves in the middle, allowed 5. 7 ground yards (150 ground yards in total) and fell under the spell of a landing from the direction. They almost kept the Niners below 30, however, a 49-yard Hail Mary at the end of time eliminated that possibility. In defense of DefenseArray. . of the Cowboys, the team tied their takeaway mark of the season with two interceptions and two loose balls, adding one in a clearing return. The Cowboys have scored 24 general problems in ball losses, a welcome speed replacement for a team that has lost too many when spitting balls in 11 direct games. The Niners game marked the first time Dallas has played back-to-back games without a gift.
Cowboys D is missing a management memo. Not Mullens, not Mostert, but WR rookie Brandon Aiyuk in the left end for TD. The Niners are 17-14 with five minutes to play in the first half (@nfl) pic. twitter. com/1IYWfu3W2o
Impulse? Not only was it the time in the back-to-back game that the Cowboys offense failed to deliver the ball, but it was also the time in the back-to-back game that the defense collected at least 3 points, and this is the first two-win series. back-to-back in the Mike McCarthy era. The Cowboys had not won a straight two weeks since Sept. 15-22, 2019, and players and coaches have long spoken about the desire to accumulate good fortune to keep the hopes of the playoffs alive this season and build a winning culture. with McCarthy. John Fassel told players this week that the momentum was like a snowball, and they wanted to get started. The sunny and sunny weather in North Texas can be contrasted, but more so than at any other time in 2020, the Cowboys’ victory by eight points. has the ball in the right direction.
Follow Jori Epstein of USA TODAY Sports on Twitter @JoriEpstein