For Dallas it isn’t about shutting down Donald, but just not letting him ruin the game.įor Los Angeles, Donald should be who the whole game plan centers around. Donald is going to beat anybody you put out their many times, but at least the group can work together and build chemistry while getting to work against the best in the game.
If Peters is ready, plug him in and let him work with the young center, Tyler Biadasz, and rookie left tackle Tyler Smith. No more rotation of a compromised Connor McGovern coming off a high ankle sprain, a very young, not quite ready, Matt Farniok, and a veteran left tackle moved to guard trying to get into game shape in Jason Peters.
Start by choosing a left guard and sticking with him. Aaron Donald is one of the very few players that can legitimately say he is better than Jonathan Allen. No matter who Dallas rotated in a left guard, they got beat up by Allen, who put up eight tackles, four for a loss, a sack, a pass deflection, a QB hit, and two additional pressures. The Cowboys did not do much to bolster confidence in their upcoming trench war with Aaron Donald by how they played against Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. The Rams run game, or lack thereof, will be a key to this game. The Cowboys need to control the Los Angeles run game so they can get to third and long and tee off on Stafford. If the Rams can control the Dallas pass rush by making them play the run and wear them down by winning time of possession, their chances of victory increase significantly. They are only 30th in total rush yards and 29th in yards per carry, so something has got to give between this bad run offense and leaky run defense. The loss of Andrew Whitworth to retirement, and multiple injuries have left them anemic running the ball. This season the Rams are next to last in rush attempts per game. This sets up badly for the Cowboys, but this isn’t the Los Angeles run game from 2018 or 2020 either. Dallas has allowed the most explosive run plays, which are runs of ten yards or more, and they have the worst explosive play percentage in the league as well. Quinn didn’t run those defenses though, and they didn’t include a weapon like Micah Parsons, nonetheless, even with them, this defense has been poor against the run through four games this year. Their ability to control the contest through the run game has been spectacular. In 2020, the Rams put up another 150 rush yards on the Cowboys and held the ball for over 35 minutes of time of possession. When they faced off in the 2018 playoffs, the Rams ran for almost 300 yards and had two different backs get over 100 yards on the ground. The Dallas Cowboys have seen enough of Sean McVay and his elite game plan running the ball against them. Compared that to last season where the Rams scored ten or less once all year and scored more than 30 seven times. In four games the Rams have scored over 20 points just once and put up ten points or less twice.
Los Angeles will have to wake up from their Super Bowl hangover though because they aren’t playing anywhere close to that level from just eight months ago. This is a credit to Dan Quinn, but his toughest test thus far will be against the Rams on Sunday. They are currently on a three-game winning streak with unheralded Cooper Rush under center. The defense is a top five unit and leading the team to wins just two years removed from being historically bad. The Cowboys have been underdogs in three of their four games so far, nevertheless, they have a 3-1 record even while missing Dak Prescott, Tyron Smith, Conner McGovern, Michael Gallup, Dalton Schultz, and Jayron Kearse. One team is exceeding all the low expectations and the other has been shockingly bad coming off a Super Bowl victory. The Dallas Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams are not meeting expectations early on this season however, they are doing so in opposite directions.
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