‘Contact Balance Is Special’: Russell Wilson Breaks Down Javonte Williams’ Career Night Against Philadelphia Eagles

FRISCO, Texas — Russell Wilson credited Dallas Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer with taking the lead on a game plan that ran the ball 38 times in Monday night’s 38-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, in a segment posted Tuesday by NFL on CBS.

Wilson joined CBS this season as a studio analyst on The NFL Today and The NFL Today+. He played 14 NFL seasons and won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seattle Seahawks.

At Lincoln Financial Field, the Cowboys ran 38 times for 204 yards and threw 27 passes. Dak Prescott went 15-of-27 for 212 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Dallas improved to 3-4, and Philadelphia fell to 2-5 with its fifth straight loss.

Dallas had allowed 24 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 23 to the Green Bay Packers in back-to-back losses before the trip. The CBS crew made running the ball its answer for the Cowboys on its Sunday morning show and again on The NFL Today.

“The key part to that game was watching Brian Schottenheimer take the lead, right?” Wilson said. “Obviously, when I think about Dak Prescott and his ability to throw the ball down the field, he does a great job of it. Really what happened was … Slay did a great job. We talked about it on the show on Sunday morning and also on NFL Today. What do the Dallas Cowboys have to do? Slay, make sure we run the rock, which I know you love to do.”

“And so when we run the football, right, what happens is that it slows the game down for the defense,” Wilson continued. “Everybody’s talking about this. This Dallas defense, how it’s struggling, this and that. And yes, that has been true in the weeks before. But how do we turn the tables? How do we turn the tables is slowing the game down.”

Dallas entered Monday averaging 20.9 carries and 76 rushing yards per game. In the 23-13 loss at Green Bay on Oct. 18, the Cowboys ran 15 times for 48 yards. Prescott threw 54 passes that night. Schottenheimer said the following Thursday that Dallas had called five or six more runs at Green Bay than it actually ran.

Russell Wilson Points To Javonte Williams’ Contact Balance

Javonte Williams ran 25 times for a career-high 155 yards and a touchdown. His 155 yards were the most by a Cowboys player since Ezekiel Elliott ran for 159 against Tampa Bay on Dec. 18, 2016.

Williams had 67 rushing yards at halftime and added 88 after the break. He had 4 carries of 10 yards or more.

“They ran the ball 38 times,” Wilson explained. “Javonte, he was physical at the point of attack. And he’s one of those guys that just gets better as the game goes on. He had rushed for over 100-plus yards, had a bunch of attempts, ran the ball extremely well, which is physical.”

“Carried, I think, 6.2 yards per carry. Had a touchdown, 155 yards rushing,” Wilson added. “And he is hard to tackle. His balance, contact balance, is special.”

On a fourth-quarter drive that started at the Dallas 16, Williams broke a 34-yard run. That drive ended in a 24-yard field goal. On Dallas’ final scoring drive, he carried 6 straight times and finished it with a 2-yard touchdown with 2:21 left.

Through seven games, Williams has 110 carries for 472 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns. He entered Monday averaging 3.7 yards per carry. Four days before the game, he said the Cowboys had to start faster and keep games within reach after falling behind in back-to-back losses.

The 25 carries were a season high for Williams. He also gave credit to Tyler Goodson after the game.

“It was good to give [Brian Schottenheimer] the confidence to keep calling the runs,” Williams said. “He made a big emphasis on that this week, to get at least 25 rushes in a game. … And the [offensive line] did a great job. The holes were wide open, and I was just running through it.”

“And shout out to [Tyler Goodson], too,” Williams continued. “He’s a great running back.”

Russell Wilson Wants CeeDee Lamb And George Pickens Involved Early

Prescott threw touchdown passes of 9 yards to CeeDee Lamb and 21 yards to George Pickens in the first half. He found Lamb for a second touchdown in the third quarter, then ran a quarterback sneak on the two-point conversion that put Dallas ahead 28-21. Pickens finished with 4 catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Dallas sits second in the NFC East at 3-4, behind the 4-2-1 New York Giants. Wilson said the division is still there for the Cowboys to win.

“And so when I think about what the Dallas Cowboys need to do for the rest of the season, to go to where they want to go,” Wilson said, “to win this division, which is still an opportunity for them to do, what they have to do, right, is run the football like they did last night. What they have to do is also Dak Prescott getting in the line of scrimmage, seeing something that he likes and getting to that check.”

“Also, at the same time, what they have to do is continue to get the ball to CeeDee and George Pickens early,” Wilson noted. “Those things right there, you get the best two receivers maybe in football making plays for you, that’s always a good thing.”

Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams gave a pregame message about the offensive and defensive lines controlling the game, Prescott said. Dallas scored on 7 of its 9 possessions and finished with a season-high 416 yards.

“On offense, that’s exactly what it was,” Prescott said. “We knew we had to create some balance. We had to stick to the run, even if some are negative or not as efficient as we want, and we were able to do that. You saw they got better as the game went on. Those two-yard runs turned to six-yard runs, from six to 12, and from there we were able to stay balanced as then pass off of that. So that’s kind of the attack we have to continue.”

Dallas hosts the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff set for noon CT on FOX. Arizona has won the last four regular-season meetings between the teams, dating to 2020.