Cowboys game ball: We’re splitting it in half this week on offense and defense

Plenty of players put numbers on the board in the Cowboys rout of the Giants.

The Dallas Cowboys continue to win, logging their fourth straight victory by routing their NFC East foes, the New York Giants, 44-20. That score differential could have been much higher if the Cowboys had played a fairly clean game, but turnovers, penalties and an occasional poorly-executed play held them back. Still, it’s very hard to complain when the team goes out and puts up 44 points en route to a divisional win, and in the process opens up a two-game lead in the NFC East.

As had become the norm this season, the Cowboys are spreading the wealth around when it comes to on-the-field production. The ringmaster of all this goodness is Dak Prescott, and we could easily give the game ball to him. Prescott went 22 for 32 for 302 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a very healthy stat line, but he did have two turnovers, one interception and one fumble, that were symptomatic of some of the sloppiness the team displayed during the game.

Other big contributors on offense were CeeDee Lamb and Tony Pollard. Lamb finished with 84 yards and a long touchdown of 49 yards that really got the Cowboys moving on offense early in the game. Pollard had 14 carries for 75 yards for a 5.4 yards per carry average, and added 28 yards on four catches.

We discussed everything from Sunday’s win during our official Dallas Cowboys Postgame Show here at Blogging The Boys. Listen to the episode on our podcast network or watch it on our YouTube Channel. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast network to get access to all of our shows! Apple devices can subscribe here and Spotify users can subscribe here.

But for the second week in a row, the star of the offense was Ezekiel Elliott. Zeke took a lot of flak this offseason about his apparent decline, but that narrative has been shattered. After an offseason when Zeke rededicated himself to his craft, he’s been on fire the past few weeks. This week he had 110 yards rushing and two touchdowns, one on the ground and one through the air. He averaged 5.2 yards per carry and is looking as good as he ever has. For his efforts, he gets half the game ball.

On defense, plenty of guys got in on the action. Anthony Brown had a pick-six late in the game. Micah Parsons led the team with eight total tackles and had three hits on the quarterback. Randy Gregory had two quarterback hits and several other pressures as the Giants struggled to contain him.

The star on the defense, though, is once again Trevon Diggs. He got his sixth interception of the season to lead the league, and he’s had an interception in all fives games this season. He also got his hands on several other balls and was credited with two passes defensed. You would think quarterbacks would quit testing Diggs but that hasn’t happened yet. His work in this game, and in this season as a whole, earns him the other half of the game ball.