Recap: Cardinals beat the Cowboys, 28-16 as they stun Dallas and hold firm in the red zone

The Cardinals upset a Super Bowl favorite and earned Jonathan Gannon his first win as an NFL Head Coach

The Arizona Cardinals are on the board in the win column.

How did it go down? It started with a strong first half.

Once again, the Arizona Cardinals got off to a fast start against a NFC East team, led by this long 44-yard read-option rush by quarterback Joshua Dobbs.

Arizona managed to hold the Cowboys to a field goal, and then ended up benching starting LG Elijah Wilkinson.

Soon as Trystan Colon went in the game…

Arizona’s been scrappy throughout their entire season, especially in the first half, but the offense went off for 180 rushing first half yards against this Cowboys defense.

One of the highest first half offensive performances for this team for the past few years…and with Josh Dobbs at quarterback!

The Cardinals gave up a touchdown to the Cowboys but managed to set up a 62-yard field goal just before the half for Matt Prater and…it was good!

The Cowboys bounced back forcing a Cardinals punt and driving down only for Arizona to stop them on 4th down to force a turnover on downs to close out the 3rd quarter.

Their offense struggled and defensively, the Cardinals took a hit without Zaven Collins but were scrappy, forcing Dallas to empty their playbook especially in the red zone.

Then, Dallas scored bringing the score to 21-16. Normally this was when the Cardinals offense would melt. Would it happen again?

Not this time.

The Cowboys ran down the field and made some clutch pickups down by two scores…was the Arizona defense about to break again?

Not today.

All in all, Arizona was dominant in the red zone, and the lack of Trevon Diggs really showed up for the Cowboys as Arizona’s receivers were able to find separation.

The Cowboys in the red zone had a FG, a 4th down stop and a INT on three separate drives.

That won’t win games for anyone. Instead it was Arizona who went and won it.

So what do we take away?

1. This coaching staff is getting the most out of the Cardinals on offense and defense
2. The offensive line for Arizona is good
3. The defense hits hard and is scrappy enough to make life difficult for teams even without having a high amount of talent
4. The Cowboys were missing 3 of their 5 starting OL and get the Patriots & Niners next
5. Micah Parsons had his but was held in check & Dallas missed Trevon Diggs much more