WWE legend Undertaker praises Cowboys’ defense after Week 11 win
Mark Calaway, who is known by his WWE name, The Undertaker, is a proud Texan. Born in Houston, he grew up a fan of the Texas Longhorns and Dallas Cowboys, two teams he still roots for to this day.
As for the Cowboys, the Undertaker is just like every other fan. He grew frustrated with the defensive performance to start the season, but has a glimmer of hope after seeing the way they played in Week 11 against the Las Vegas Raiders.
While appearing on Good Morning Football, the WWE legend praised the drastic improvement and said it's the kind of performance that can give fans something to hang onto.
"I tell you what, it was a drastic improvement. For a lifelong, diehard Cowboy fan, it was just enough for us to hang on to and like, well, maybe. Yeah. But that defense was, I mean, we hadn't seen that kind of defense all year long," Undertaker said.
"And, you know, and we just need, I mean, seriously, with the numbers that Dak and the offense are putting up, if we can get the defense to play that kind of football, you know, they might be in the conversation for the playoffs at the end of the year. I mean, as a diehard Cowboy fan, that seems like a recurring theme every year. But, you know, we've got to hang on to our star."
The real test begins this week for the Dallas Cowboys
While it was great to see the defense play better, led by new addition Quinnen Williams, fans need to temper their expectations.
Dallas handled their business against the Raiders, as they should have, but now have to prove themselves against some of the best teams in the NFL. Over the next three weeks, they face the Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, and Detroit Lions.
How they handle that stretch will let us know if Week 11 was false hope, or something real.
Eagles OC Delivers Blunt Message on Offensive Struggles in 2 Recent Wins
One of the great signs of a good team is one that can win without playing its best. The past two weeks, the Philadelphia Eagles are playing at a high level on defense. But it’s been a different story for offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo and his unit.
The Eagles have scored 26 combined points the past two weeks. They didn’t eclipse 300 yards of offense in either game.
Against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, the Eagles went just 14 of 28 through the air with 124 passing yards. Philadelphia averaged 4.4 yards per pass, which was the team’s lowest output per attempt since the Week 2 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Patullo addressed the team’s offensive struggles in front of the media Tuesday. Patullo assigned offensive blame to self-inflicted mistakes.
“When you look at situations we have when we’re on track, we do a pretty good job,” Patullo told reporters. “If we get off track a little bit, whether it’s a negative play or a penalty, that puts us in a hole. We’ve had some trouble with that.
“It starts with us as a staff to make sure we’re in a good play, and we’re executing at a high level, and we’re all detailed up. Then if something happens like a penalty, sometimes those happen, we’ve got to be able to overcome that.”
Eagles OC Kevin Patullo Addresses Offensive Struggles
Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator stated a bit of the obvious with his “on track” and “off track” remarks. Most NFL teams are good when their offenses stay ahead of the chains and struggle when they don’t. That’s one of the biggest objectives of offense — staying on track to convert into more first downs.
Bad offenses fall off track and don’t “overcome” second/third-and-long.
Unfortunately for Patullo, that’s been the Eagles the past two weeks. After recording a season-high 23 first downs during Week 8 versus the New York Giants, Philadelphia has 29 first downs in its last two contests combined.
Not counting penalties, the Eagles posted 25 first downs combined versus the Packers and Lions.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts’ efficiency dropped against those two opponents. Hurts has completed 53.7% of his passes with only one touchdown the last two weeks. He’s averaging 5.9 yards per attempt during that stretch.
Hurts had just 179 passing yards versus the Giants in Week 8. But he threw four touchdowns in the contest.
Eagles Offense Will Get Opportunity vs. Cowboys
While things haven’t looked great for the Eagles offense the past two games, the unit could have a golden chance to get back “on track.”
The Dallas Cowboys will enter Week 12 ranked 30th in total defense and 31st in points allowed. The Cowboys are also rated 30th in passing yards yielded and 24th in rushing yards allowed.
Dallas’ offense is an elite group. Therefore, the Eagles defense could face a difficult task on the road.
But if Patullo, Hurts and the Eagles offense struggles again in Week 12, then it could be a sign of bad things to come.
Granted, the Eagles didn’t exactly light up the Cowboys in the team’s first matchup. Philadelphia averaged 4.9 yards per play in the 24-20 victory.
But that came during Week 1 in what was a helter skelter type game because of a lightning delay.
Hurts completed 19 of 23 passes for 152 yards against the Cowboys in the season opener. The quarterback also had 62 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
