Scout’s Eye: Frederick’s Progress; Good CB Play

Count me as one of those guys who appreciates what a struggle it has been for these quarterbacks to have to complete passes against this secondary. Nothing has been easy and I see that as a good thing. Against Kris Richard and Greg Jackson's crew, routes have been contested down after down. I thought Dak Prescott threw a perfect pass to Michael Gallup coming off the goal line, but the pass ended up incomplete. Why was it incomplete? Because Chidobe Awuzzie was running stride-for-stride with Gallup and that battle caused him to get his hands up a little late. If Gallup had some separation, I believe he would have had a better chance of bringing that ball down.

It's hard to fool Jaylon Smith, especially when he's playing man coverage. Kellen Moore tried to sneak Tony Pollard out of the backfield and along the line of scrimmage for a first down. Smith, playing with his eyes, saw Pollard check as if he was going to block, then get in the route. As Smith was moving with Pollard, he engaged Travis Frederick and Connor Williams along the way. Both blockers tried to keep him from getting to the outside, but Smith was too quick for them. As soon as Pollard received the ball, Smith was in position to make the tackle, forcing the offense to have to punt.

We're starting to see a little more each day in the return of Travis Frederick. It hasn't been easy for him. The bar has been set so high that we all believed that, even after taking a year off, he would be the Travis Frederick of old. That hasn't been the case. In watching him play I get the feeling that he's re-teaching himself how to play this game which was so easy for him. A classic Frederick move is picking up twist stunts. He has such a feel for how to position himself in order to pick up the biggest threat to the pocket. Taco Charlton showed up free inside and Frederick was right there to clean up the stunt. That block gave Dak Prescott just enough time to find Tavon Austin for a first down to keep the drive going.

Justin March-Lillard is going to be sick when he sits down and studies practice film with his teammates. He had a chance for a pick-six off Cooper Rush that somehow went right through his hands. March-Lillard couldn't have read the route any better. He saw Jalen Guyton driving to the inside and he knew that's where Rush was going with the ball. As bad as March-Lillard's miss was, it was a heck of a reception by Guyton, who showed outstanding concentration to come up with the ball.

Nifty little option route by Darius Jackson to free himself when it appeared initially Cooper Rush didn't have any receivers open. Jackson motioned out and drew coverage from Joe Thomas. Jackson went straight at Thomas to freeze him -- which he did. Once Jackson felt that presence behind him, he then exploded quickly to the inside, away from Thomas. The linebacker was left flat-footed on the play. Rush was able to hit Jackson on the move for some positive yards when it appeared that there wasn't much there.

Sneaky move by Anthony Brown to get away with defensive holding on the goal line. Tavon Austin had him beat off the line, but Brown managed to grab him with his left hand to swing himself in position underneath Austin. Prescott floated a little touch pass toward Austin, but he was never able to get there. Austin spun around looking for a flag while Brown kept his eyes looking toward the ground, knowing he got away with one.

It never gets old watching Tyron Smith one-hand shove defenders up the field on draw plays. Chris Covington was the latest victim when he tried to capture the edge on Smith. Covington thought he had a shot to get around Smith until he pivoted on his left foot, then took his right hand and pushed it into Covington's shoulder pad. The force of the blow drove him five yards up the field and to the ground. On the way back to the huddle, Covington stopped to say something to Smith and then patted him on the shoulder as if to say "I will never do that again."

 I wish I could have seen the look on Dak Prescott's face when Maliek Collins and Jaylon Smith were screaming at Christian Covington and Leighton Vander Esch to be alert for the quarterback draw. Prescott tried to play it off by signaling to the outside, but the offensive line couldn't handle the twist stunt, with both Dorance Armstrong and Kerry Hyder getting to Prescott before he had a chance to get up the field and into the end zone. It's a play that we've seen Prescott have great success with over the years, but his teammates were ready for it.