Cowboys QTNA: What’s the word on Kliff, Kyler, Cardinals’ second-half downturn?
The Dallas Cowboys (11-4) ride a four-game winning streak into their Week 17 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals (10-5), losers of three straight. Last season, the Cardinals came into AT&T Stadium when Dallas was at their low point, just a week after Dak Prescott went down with a gruesome leg injury. A lot has changed over the last 15 months. Heck, a lot has changed over the last 15 days as the Cardinals have tumbled from the NFC’s top seed to not even being in position to host a playoff game.
To find out the latest about the happenings in the desert, including Kyler Murray functioning without DeAndre Hopkins, what’s been up with Chandler Jones and much more, we brought in Jess Root, managing editor of the Cardinals Wire to lend us some intel.
Cardinals Wire: How has Dak Prescott been this season coming back from his gruesome ankle injury?
Cowboys Wire:
Prescott’s ankle injury hasn’t been an issue. He started the season as an MVP candidate, and that’s after sitting the majority of camp after a shoulder injury on his throwing arm. A calf injury suffered in Week 6 against New England has been the bigger concern. He missed a game, and didn’t do much moving around in the subsequent games, having his mechanics thrown off a big as well. He’s shaken out of it the last couple of contests though and he had another scintillating performance against Washington, throwing for over 300 yards and four TDs in just a half last week.
Cowboys Wire: Kyler Murray took the league by storm early on. What parts of his game have improved from last season?
Cardinals Wire:
Murray has really taken over the offense. He is now adept at getting the offense in and out of plays. He makes checks and calls at the line of scrimmage like many veteran quarterbacks. It has tailed off in recent weeks since the injury to DeAndre Hopkins, but he has been much better in the intermediate passing game.
Cardinals Wire: The Cowboys have a great rushing attack with Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. They have fantastic receivers. Is there any weakness to their offense?
Cowboys Wire:
The only weakness is when the offensive line isn’t working at the optimal efficiency. They’ve had to shuffle the lineup, because of injury and penalties but it appears their best version: Tyron Smith, Connor Williams, Tyler Biadasz, Zack Martin and La’el Collins, are all in line to suit up on Sunday. The other pieces that have been injured and slowed throughout the year are as healthy as possible for Week 17, so there aren’t a lot of holes there. The team that slows them will have to do so on their own accord, but the Cardinals defense certainly has the pieces to be able to do so. They’ll have to earn it.
Cowboys Wire: James Conner was an afterthought to Pittsburgh, but he's really shined through. Talk about where the Cards rushing attack stands going into this contest.
Cardinals Wire:
The Cardinals ranks 10th in the league in rushing and it has primarily been the running backs. The combination of James Conner and Chase Edmonds is great. We have to see what the playing rotation ends up being, as Conner has gotten limited reps in practice. Edmonds is one of the league leaders in rushes per attempt. Conner is fantastic in the red zone. Both are a threat for big plays.
Cardinals Wire: What has been different this season on defense for Dallas?
Cowboys Wire:
Having a competent defensive coordinator is a major leap. Dan Quinn and his position coaches are masterful teachers and motivators; I think there are multiple future defensive coordinators on this staff. They’ve maximized the talent on hand, especially in the secondary by playing a Man scheme that favors the aggressive nature of their stars Of course, adding a unicorn like Micah Parsons to add extreme talent to both the pass rush and the back-seven coverage can solve a bunch of woes.
Cowboys Wire: JJ Watt received all the offseason headlines, but Chandler Jones has been elite for year. What does he bring to the table?
Cardinals Wire:
Jones has been very up and down this season. He had five sacks in the season opener but has only had 4.5 since then. There are games where he is completely invisible. His effort and impact were obvious against the Colts in Week 16 but he only got home once for a strip sack, but it was negated by a defensive penalty. He is capable of a monster game but they aren’t happening as much.
Cardinals Wire: Who have been the biggest surprises this season? Who has underwhelmed this season?
Cowboys Wire:
Parsons is the obvious answer here, he made a lot of sense as a defensive rookie of the year candidate, but player of the year? He’s been so special in every way for this club on and off the field. There were signs Diggs was going to have a big season, but the rest of the secondary, Anthony Brown and Jayron Kearse specifically, have been big playmakers. Kearse was seen as the least important of the three FA safety signings but he’s been a revelation as a hybrid box defender. As far as disappointments, the two Atlanta imports who came over with Quinn, Keanu Neal and Damontae Kazee have played a lot of snaps but haven’t snapped on a lot of plays.
Cowboys Wire: The recent talk is about Kliff Kingsbury's team and their downturn in the second half, dating back to Texas Tech. What's the real story there, is it as simple as DeAndre Hopkins injury or is there more there?
Cardinals Wire:
That is a good question. It certainly is a trend. But the truth is I think it has more to do with the depth of talent of his teams. At Texas Tech, it was a middling program. They get off to fast starts against weaker teams and look good against better teams when the roster is healthy. When the depth is tested and they must face top teams in the conference later in the season, they fade. That has also been the case for the Cardinals the last two seasons. With a healthy roster, they are as good or better than everyone. As key players go down as they have the last couple of seasons, their lack of depth is evident. The Cardinals are missing J.J. Watt and DeAndre Hopkins and have dealt with other injury and COVID losses. They can beat anyone with their depth if they play mistake-free football. The problem is they have not been playing cleanly.
Cardinals Wire: What are your favorite and least favorite matchups in this game?
Cowboys Wire:
I’m really intrigued by how well Tyron Smith will be able to ward off Chandler Jones with Smith just returning to the lineup after a bothersome ankle injury. Jones is so damn good, one of the best rushers of this generation and he’s going to be a handful. I’m also looking forward to seeing how Christian Kirk fares against Jourdan Lewis or potentially Brown if he mans the slot again after Kelvin Joseph’s starting debut on the boundary last week. I think corralling him is key to Dallas’ defensive game plan.
I think the Cardinals are down too many pieces to take on a Dallas team at home at almost full strength. I see the Cowboys coming out with a double-digit victory.
Cowboys Wire: How are teams beating the Cardinals in recent weeks, is it a bunch of different things or is there a prevalent theme?
Cardinals Wire:
The prevalent thing is the Cardinals causing their own problems on offense. They should be a top-five unit in scoring. They were scoring touchdowns in the red zone at a 70% clip until December. Penalties, bad snaps and drops have contributed to them scoring TDs in the red zone only 35.7% of the time. The team is built for the offense to get a lead and the defense is strong enough to hold it and take the ball away. When the offense is not performing as it should, the defense is not strong enough to stop opponents an entire game.
Cardinals Wire: Prediction - what will be the final score and how will it go down?
Cowboys Wire:
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