The annual Thanksgiving Games open Week 12 in the NFL. The Dallas Cowboys (5-5) receive the Los Angeles Chargers (4-6) and later the Washington Redskins (4-6) meet the Nee York Giants (2-8). What unites all these teams is the current mood, which can’t exactly be described as heavenly cheering. All together they are not where they want to be. Now it’s time to kick off the holiday season on Turkey Day.
The cowboys receive the chargers for the official start of the Holiday Season and should be anything but cheerful. Since the actual start of the suspension against Running Back Zeke Elliott the Cowboys are 0-2 and scored 16 points against the Falcons and Eagles.
However, the scholars argue whether Elliott’s failure is really the main reason for this unfortunate situation. Even more serious is the absence of Left Tackle Tyron Smith (Leisten- und Rückenprobleme), who is now known as MVP of the team.
He also missed the last two matches, in which quarterback Dak Prescott had a total of twelve sacks. Eight against the Falcons alone, six by Adrian Clayborn. Now, thanks to the short week, Smith could also drop out on Thursday, which would probably make things worse for Dallas, because Joey Bosa will be coming to the AT&T stadium next – he already has 10.5 sacks and wouldn’t mind cleaning up his account before the turkey dinner.
The Chargers continued their sporty roller coaster ride seamlessly. After four defeats at the start, three victories followed, including against the Broncos and Raiders, to then be more or less defeated in New England and Jacksonville. Most recently, however, they overrun the Bills also thanks to a catastrophic idea of the out of place rookie-QB Nathan Peterman.
None of these teams have a clear form curve, which could make the Thanksgiving duel an open, entertaining event. Both have good defenses in theory, but if your own offense doesn’t play its part, the defense will break in sooner or later. These were basically the blueprints of both teams at their last defeats.
Especially the otherwise so effective Prescott suffers enormously from the failures of his perhaps most important team mates. This, in turn, is not hidden from his other colleagues. Jason Witten said after the Eagles game:”We have to help him better. The boy has ice in his veins. You can’t blame him for the bankruptcy. We’re all responsible for this. However, the tight end does not see a system problem:” We know that our system has worked in the past. And we must return to our original formula for success.”
One presumption from the press was that Prescott may be putting too much pressure on himself without Elliott. However, the QB sees things differently:”I don’t consciously try to carry the whole team alone. I’m not putting any extra pressure on myself. I just have to play better.”
In Los Angeles, in addition to the outstanding defensive performance, the performance of wide receiver Keenan Allen is likely to have encouraged Allen. He caught 13 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns – all of them seasonal highs. If he could repeat that, the cowboy’s defenses, which are already valued, would have even more problems to cope with.
The running game alone should be problematic enough. Against the Falcons Dallas gave 132 Rushing Yards, against the Eagles even more than 200. This is an indication that the force decreases when your own offense cannot control the ball.
However, the greatest pressure for both sides comes from outside because we are approaching the decisive phase of this season. The Cowboys need every victory to get at least one wildcard, the Chargers are only two games behind the imploding Chiefs in AFC West. Losing is generally forbidden.
Dallas Cowboys (5-5) – Los Angeles Chargers (4-6) (Thursday, 22.30 hrs)
Page 1: Dallas Cowboys – Los Angeles Chargers
Page 2: Washington Redskins – New York Giants
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