The Dallas Cowboys are off to an improbable 4-1 start after defeating the Los Angeles Rams 22-10 on Sunday. The defending champs need to figure things out quickly as they fall to 2-3.
With the win, Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush is now 5-0 to start his career. He’s also beaten both the Rams and Cincinnati Bengals this season, the two teams who played in the Super Bowl last year.
Offensive spotlight: Cowboys running back Tony Pollard was incredibly efficient on Sunday, rushing eight times for 86 yards and a touchdown and finishing with a 90.4 grade on first review. On those eight carries, he forced three missed tackles and had 75 yards after contact.
Despite receiving 14 fewer carries than his teammate Ezekiel Elliott, he still out-rushed him by 8 yards.
Defensive spotlight: Aaron Donald added yet another dominant performance to his first-ballot Hall of Fame resume. He currently has a 94.3 grade on first review, which would be one of the five highest single-game grades of his career.
Highest-graded games of Aaron Donald’s career
| Year | Week | Opponent | Grade |
| 2021 | 13 | Jaguars | 95.8 |
| 2017 | 15 | Seahawks | 94.8 |
| 2020 | 8 | Dolphins | 94.6 |
| 2018 | 7 | 49ers | 94.6 |
| 2022 | 5 | Cowboys | 94.3* |
Rookie spotlight: Cowboys offensive tackle Tyler Smith had a rough game against the Rams. The first-rounder finished with a 51.6 grade on first review. He allowed a sack on 19 pass-blocking snaps while also committing a couple of penalties. Smith also couldn’t get much push in the run game, with a 42.2 run-blocking grade on first review.
Offensive line spotlight: Los Angeles was beaten like a drum by the Cowboys, allowing 24 pressures on just 46 pass-blocking snaps, which equates to a 52.2% pressure rate — the third-highest pressure rate allowed by a team all season.
Box Score
Passing
Dallas Cowboys |
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| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int | Sacks | Rtg |
| Cooper Rush | 4.0 | 10 / 16 | 102 | 6.4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 80.7 |
Los Angeles Rams |
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| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int | Sacks | Rtg |
| Cooper Kupp | 28.9 | 0 / 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Matthew Stafford | 16.3 | 28 / 42 | 308 | 7.3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 86.2 |
| Riley Dixon | 0.5 | 1 / 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 116.7 |
Rushing
Dallas Cowboys |
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| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long | Fum Lost |
| Tony Pollard | 14.6 | 8 | 86 | 10.8 | 1 | 57 | 0 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | 7.8 | 22 | 78 | 3.5 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Cooper Rush | 4.0 | 4 | -1 | -0.2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Los Angeles Rams |
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| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long | Fum Lost |
| Cooper Kupp | 28.9 | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Cam Akers | 3.3 | 13 | 33 | 2.5 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Brandon Powell | 0.1 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Receiving
Dallas Cowboys |
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| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD | Long |
| CeeDee Lamb | 10.3 | 8 | 5 | 53 | 6.6 | 0 | 16 |
| Michael Gallup | 8.4 | 5 | 4 | 44 | 8.8 | 0 | 27 |
| Noah Brown | 1.5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 5 |
| Dalton Schultz | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
Los Angeles Rams |
|||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD | Long |
| Cooper Kupp | 28.9 | 10 | 7 | 125 | 12.5 | 1 | 75 |
| Tyler Higbee | 11.6 | 10 | 7 | 46 | 4.6 | 0 | 10 |
| Ben Skowronek | 10.1 | 8 | 6 | 41 | 5.1 | 0 | 12 |
| Darrell Henderson Jr. | 7.0 | 5 | 4 | 30 | 6.0 | 0 | 15 |
| Tutu Atwell | 6.4 | 2 | 1 | 54 | 27.0 | 0 | 54 |
| Allen Robinson II | 4.2 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 2.4 | 0 | 6 |
| Cam Akers | 3.3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Gervase | 2.2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 |
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