It didn’t appear possible at times this season, but the Dallas Cowboys (6-4) finally found a way to get a win on the road against a non-divisional opponent, beating the Lions 35-27 on Sunday in Detroit.

Overcoming a turnover on the second snap of the game, the Cowboys’ offense was dominant, accumulating more than 500 yards and 26 first downs. But the defense was extremely disappointing, giving up four touchdowns to an offense playing its backup QB.

In the first half, special teams woes and an early turnover afforded Detroit a short field on both of its touchdown drives. However, field position was no excuse for the Cowboys defense’s performance in the second half, when Detroit drove the ball 75 yards for each of its second-half touchdowns. The defense was hindered mightily by poor tackling and untimely assignment busts throughout the game.

The Cowboys got the victory but will need a much better performance from their defense if they want to have a chance next week on the road against the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Still, Sunday’s win proved to be important as the Philadelphia Eagles’ loss to the Patriots gave the Cowboys a full game lead in the NFC East.

Without further ado, let’s dive into a few things we learned from the Cowboys’ win:

Dak Prescott is a legitimate MVP candidate

That sound you hear is the price of Dak Prescott’s next contract going up, as the Cowboys QB was magnificent Sunday. While there was a lot of talk before the season about Ezekiel Elliott being the key to the offense, it’s become obvious that Prescott is actually the player who stirs the drink.

After starting 0 for 3, Prescott finished 29 of 46 for 444 yards and three touchdowns while also chipping in six carries for 18 yards rushing.

After an Elliott fumble and a three-and-out on the Cowboys’ first two possessions, Prescott led the offense to six scores on the next seven possessions while also sealing the game by running out the clock on the last possession of the game. Every single one of those scoring drives proved to be important as the defense struggled to slow down the Lions’ Jeff Driskel-led offense.

One of the most impressive aspects of Prescott’s performance was his ability to alter his arm angle when throwing around Detroit defenders in the short passing game.

But adjusting arm angles can get funky if leveraged in the intermediate-to-deep passing game, as an altered angle compromises a QB’s ability to throw with optimal velocity. In the short passing game, however, a QB can get away with altering his arm angle because he’s not forced to really drive the ball to the receiver.

Height is viewed as a good thing for QBs because the taller a QB is, the easier it is for him to see and throw over the offensive line. Short QBs are forced to find lanes and alleys to throw through, or they risk getting their passes deflected at the line of scrimmage too often.

At 6-foot-2, Prescott isn’t considered a short QB, but he certainly isn’t a towering one either as he doesn’t possess the height necessary to stand tall in the pocket and make throws regardless of the position of the defenders at the line of scrimmage. This means he must rely on his feet and arm angles to take advantage of throwing lanes and alleys that present themselves.

The fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Elliott was a great example:

Elliott will rightfully be lauded for making a tough catch here, but it was also an excellent example of Prescott fitting a pass around a defender thanks to an alteration of his arm angle.

Instead of utilizing the typical over-the-top throwing motion -- which would have either been broken up by Rashaan Melvin (No. 29), or, if floated, would have taken too long to reach Elliott, messing with the timing of the screen -- Prescott opted to throw it side-arm. This enabled him to fit the pass just outside Melvin’s reach while also allowing the screen to hit at an optimal time, as Detroit was completely out of position to defend it.

Prescott’s touchdown pass to Tony Pollard (above clip) was a great example of him adjusting his arm angle to fit the ball through all the congestion at the line of scrimmage and hit an open receiver.

All in all, it was a masterful performance by Prescott, continuing what has been a career year. To put into context how prolific he has been through the air this season, he is currently on pace for 5,153 passing yards – 56 more than league MVP Patrick Mahomes finished with last season (5,097).

If the Cowboys fight their way into the playoffs, it’s going to be tough to keep Prescott out of MVP contention.

Robert Quinn continues to be a key offseason addition

While the Cowboys’ defense struggled as a whole, defensive end Robert Quinn certainly put in a winning effort.

The pass rusher was a problem for Detroit all game, finishing with three tackles, two for loss, four quarterback hits and a sack.

Quinn used some subtle handwork and his infamous speed rush to get cooking against left tackle Taylor Decker, who had little defense for Quinn’s speed and flexibility off the edge. His second-quarter sack was a great example:

After attacking vertically with his first step, Quinn subtly widened his rush with his second step, which disrupted Decker’s timing on his flat set. Because of that, Quinn was afforded the time he needed to attack Decker’s outside edge.

With Decker aiming to latch onto Quinn’s outside pec, Quinn expertly counters with a club-rip move, forcing Decker to concede and latch onto the inside pec.

Unfortunately for Decker, latching onto Quinn’s inside pec didn’t prevent him from cornering and attacking the pocket. Quinn used Decker’s outside hand to pull himself around and turn the corner at a more acute angle.

From there, Quinn was able to chase Driskel down for the sack.

That was Quinn’s only sack, but it wasn’t close to being the only play where he affected the QB. In fact, his quarterback hit after the two-minute warning in the first half may have been more valuable than the sack, as the incompletion it forced got the Cowboys’ defense off the field on third down -- something it struggled to do throughout the game:

This play is a great example of how spooked Decker was by Quinn’s speed rush.

An offensive lineman is taught to stay square to the line of scrimmage as long as possible in an effort to maintain a strong edge and not give the pass rusher a two-way go. As you can see above, Decker opens the gate (turns shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage) to defend the speed rush before Quinn can even get his second step into the ground.

Even with Decker opening up early to defend the speed rush, subtle footwork and effective hand technique still enabled Quinn to generate pressure on the outside edge track.

Note how Quinn uses a subtle inside jab step and head fake to feint the inside move, forcing Decker to slow his feet just enough that it allows Quinn to accelerate and capture the edge. Decker tries to latch onto Quinn’s frame to slow him down, but another well-timed club-rip allows Quinn to win the race around the edge and flatten to the pocket.

Quinn was just a tick late for the sack, but his hit on Driskel forced an inaccurate pass that fell incomplete at the feet of his receiver.

Not only did Quinn’s pressure get the defense off the field, but it also afforded the Cowboys’ offense enough time to put more points on the board before the half.

If Driskel doesn’t get pressured there and completes the pass for a first down, the Cowboys likely don’t score a touchdown before the half and who knows how that affects a game the Cowboys ended up winning by eight points.

What made this performance even more impressive for Quinn was that he buoyed his pass-rush ability by also being disruptive against the run -- something he’s struggled to do as a Cowboy.

Here’s a great example:

On this play, Detroit is looking to attack Dallas with a crack toss, where the tight end motioning into the formation cracks back on the force defender (Quinn) to get the running back to the outside.

Quinn was having none of it, utilizing a heavy club move with his outside hand to bounce the tight end inside before flowing back outside to clog his gap and force the ball carrier inside.

Maliek Collins may have gotten credit, but it was Quinn who almost single-handedly destroyed this run. If Quinn doesn’t fight to get back outside and instead allows the tight end to seal him inside, Detroit likely generates a big gain through a huge alley in the C-gap.

Quinn was one of the brighter spots on a gloomy day for the defense, as his impact against the run and pass helped the Cowboys do just enough to win.

Cowboys provide glimpse of how to optimally use Tony Pollard

Pollard continues to prove that he is one of Dallas’ best playmakers with the ball in his hand, and the Cowboys did well to get the ball in his hands against Detroit.

He finished with two carries for 12 yards to go with four catches for 44 yards and a touchdown, providing a boost to the offense during some important stretches.

Pollard’s versatile skill set gives the Cowboys the ability to align him at a myriad of different spots and use him in a variety of ways.

On his touchdown catch-and-run (above clip), the Cowboys went with an empty set where Pollard was stacked behind Jason Witten with a numbers split.

The stacked alignment was a great wrinkle from Kellen Moore and the Cowboys coaching staff because even if it didn’t cause a miscommunication that created a coverage bust in the Detroit secondary, it afforded Pollard a free release at the line of scrimmage. Even though Pollard has receiver-like skills, he’s still a running back, meaning he would struggle to create separation against press coverage.

Creating a free release for Pollard was a great example of how to best leverage Pollard’s skill set when in a receiver alignment.

Once he got the ball in his hands, Pollard’s elusiveness in the open field took over, as he made one defender miss on his way to scoring a touchdown.

Pollard’s other gain of 10-plus yards was another great example of the optimal way to leverage his skills:

On this play, the Cowboys utilize 21 personnel (two RBs, one TE, two WRs) with Elliott and Pollard both on the field.

After initially aligning in the slot, the Cowboys sent Pollard in motion before using a tap pass to get him the ball on a pseudo fly sweep. The Lions’ defense was so out of position that Pollard was afforded free access to the second level to pick up the first down.

Even though he’s technically a backup, Pollard is proving to be too good to leave on the bench. The Cowboys would be wise to scheme up 6-10 touches per game for Pollard moving forward, as that could make the offense even more dangerous down the stretch, which may be necessary given the defense’s play as of late.

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