A wide-open man catches a pass from a quarterback. There is a time and a place. The Dallas Cowboys kept the pressure on the Philadelphia Eagles by taking care of business against a banged-up Tennessee squad Thursday night. The Cowboys were able to overcome three first-half turnovers by the quarterback, and then knocked off the quarterback who was making his first career start, 27-13. The pressure will be on the Eagles if they lose to the Saints on Sunday, but they can still win the division. The bad news is that the Cowboys lost to theTitans. The good news is that they looked terrible doing it. The Cowboys want to build on their good fortune going into the playoffs regardless of where they were in the chase for the division title. It didn't inspire confidence that a long playoff run will start soon. The only thing that prevented this from being a disappointing loss was the fact that theTitans rested running back Derrick Henry and other key players and had more than 100 yards in penalties with their eyes on a winner-take-all Week 18 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Super Bowl hopes of the Cowboys would most likely be ended by this performance. It has been said many times that not all of the intercepts are on the quarterback. Thursday was a good example. The first pick up came from Hendershot. As the Cowboys were looking to put up points late in the first half, Kevin Byard made the correct call. The quarterback was 29-for-40 and had two touchdown and two turnovers. 2 is better than 1 according to the running backs.
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• Geno Smith's resurgence with Seattle
• Playoff picture: Week 17 clinching scenarios 
Dallas Cowboys
With his 14th pick of the season, he is tied for the lead in the NFL with Las Vegas'Derek Carr. He started every game in his second season as the Cowboys' starter. It is the fifth game in which the Cowboys quarterback has had multiple picks, which is tied for the most in the league. Imagine the total if he did not miss a game.
The Cowboys are giving up a lot of passes. The Eagles had a lot of pass plays last week. The TITANS had four. Even if Ryan Tannehill were to start at quarterback, the Tennessee offense wouldn't be called "explosive". There were three completions for more than 30 yards. The four explosives are the third most the team has had. In the season opener against the New York Giants, they had seven, and in the Packers game they had five.
Will Grier will start at quarterback for the Washington Commanders in the 18th week of the season. What's the reason? The Eagles will win the division and home-field advantage because the Saints will lose to them. With Cooper Rush set to be a free agent in March, the Cowboys might want to take a look at Grier as they ponder what to do with the backup spot.
There is an under-the-radar stat that matters, and that is the streak of nine games in a row with a rushing touchdown by running backs. It's the second longest streak in Cowboys history. In 1995 Emmitt Smith played 11 games in a row.
The next game is in Washington.
The results of the game against the Cowboys were expected after the players were rested.
The nine losses are the most by the team.
Regardless of this week's outcome, the Tennessee Volunteers still have their sights set on next week's game with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It's possible that theTitans stumbled upon a spark with Dobbs in place of a young player.
The game was short staffed. Four on defense were ruled out for the game. Nine of Tennessee's starting players have been placed on injured reserve.
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The quarterback breakdown shows that Dobbs showed some promise in his first start, going 20 of 39 for 232 yards and a touchdown. His throw to Robert Woods was a little high, but the veteran receiver needed to make the play. Racey McMath caught a 39-yard pass from Dobbs on the next series. The best pass was a 9-yard completion to Woods in which he ripped a well-placed pass from the opposite hash mark.
There were times when Dobbs held onto the ball too long. He knew where to go with the ball. He tried to get Woods to go along the sideline, but he was picked off by Nahshon Wright.
The defense forced the Cowboys to make turnovers. Kevin Byard picked off a pass intended for a tight end in the end zone and returned it for a touchdown. The defensive lineman recovered a fumbled ball.
Dallas was up 10-6 early in the third quarter and facing a third-and-19, but the Cowboys' quarterback was able to escape the threat and give them a chance. A pass was launched to Michael Gallup by the left-handed quarterback. The pass was incomplete but the call for pass interference gave Dallas the ball at Tennessee's 6- yard line. Instead of being forced to punt, the quarterback found the receiver with a play-action pass.
The under-the-radar stat that matters is that the Tennessee's 124 penalty yards were their most in a game since Week 8 of last season when they had 161 and their 51-yard pass interference penalty was the costliest penalty in the league.
The next game is at Jacksonville.
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