that’s not always the most fun for an offensive li

The vibes are vastly different for a pair of 1-2 teams trying to put rough starts behind them.The Detroit Lions just secured their first win under new coach Matt Patricia Cheap Travis Fulgham Jersey ,聽against longtime boss Bill Belichick聽and New England, in prime time no less.The Dallas Cowboys聽can’t fix a dysfunctional passing game聽even with the first 100-yard rushing performance of the season for star running back Ezekiel Elliott in a loss to Seattle.The vibes won’t matter to Patricia on Sunday when he goes after his first road win, just three weeks removed from a jolting 48-17 loss to the New York Jets at home in his debut.“They’re all one-week seasons,” the former Patriots defensive coordinator said. “I would say the good thing about where we’re at right now is we’re starting to get into a little bit more season mode coming out of training camp, getting kind of into a little bit of a schedule rhythm.”The Cowboys can’t find anything remotely resembling a rhythm with quarterback Dak Prescott and a new group of receivers trying to replace Jason Witten and Dez Bryant. Three Detroit receivers 鈥?Golden Tate, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones 鈥?have nearly 200 more yards receiving (690) than the entire Dallas offense (498).Prescott is averaging 166 yards passing with a QB rating (74.9) exactly 30 points lower than his NFL rookie record when he was the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2016.“This is about everything we’re doing offensively,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We have to coach better. We got to play better. We got to run it better. We got to throw it better. We got to protect better. We have to do all the things that good offenses do.”Actually, the Cowboys figured out the running part with Elliott’s 127 yards on 16 carries in a 24-13 loss to the Seahawks. But he had two crucial errors, stepping out of bounds before catching what would have been a tying touchdown pass in the first half, and fumbling when the offense was finally on track in the fourth quarter.“We can’t have our defense on the field the majority of those first halves,” said Elliott, who is tied with San Francisco’s Matt Breida for the NFL rushing lead at 274 yards. “We’ve got to come out there, get a fast start Travis Fulgham Jersey Womens , execute, get some momentum and carry that through the game.”Things to consider in the first meeting between the teams since a 42-21 Dallas victory late in the 2016 season when Prescott and Elliott were the dazzling rookie duo leading the Cowboys to an NFC-best 13 wins:ANOTHER STAFFORD HOMECOMINGLions quarterback Matthew Stafford is set for his fourth appearance at the home of the Cowboys, just a few miles from his Dallas high school. Stafford won his hometown debut in 2011, rallying the Lions from 13 points down in the fourth quarter for a 34-30 win. He’s lost two straight since, including one of the blemishes on his 0-3 playoff record. The Cowboys won a wild-card game during the 2014 season on Tony Romo’s late touchdown pass.ROOKIE MILESTONELeighton Vander Esch, the Cowboys’ first-round pick in April, is set for his first career start with Sean Lee sidelined by another hamstring injury. Lee was injured in Seattle, and Vander Esch tied for the team lead with a career-high 10 tackles. “There’s a reason they drafted me in the first round, and I gotta live up to that,” Vander Esch said.KERRYON WAYWARD SONRookie聽Kerryon Johnson had the Lions’ first 100-yard rushing game in nearly five years聽in the 26-10 win over the Patriots. While the Cowboys have the NFL’s No. 3 overall defense, they’ve been more vulnerable against the run. Detroit’s previous 100-yard game was by Reggie Bush (117) in a 40-10 win over Green Bay on Thanksgiving in 2013. “It’s been a while,” said Johnson, who had 101 yards on 16 carries. “But I feel like as a group Travis Fulgham Detroit Lions Jersey , as an offense, as a team, that’s what’s expected of us. That’s doing our job.”RECEIVER CAROUSELThe Cowboys carried seven receivers last week, with six active against Seattle. Brice Butler could play after being inactive last week, days after rejoining his team from the previous three seasons. Butler signed with Arizona in free agency but was cut at the end of the preseason. If Butler is active, there’s a chance Terrance Williams will be a healthy scratch for the first time in his six-year career. Williams has played just 22 percent of the snaps so far.ANSAH WATCHDetroit defensive end Ziggy Ansah, playing on the franchise tag this season, has been out since injuring a shoulder in the opener against the Jets. He missed the first practice of the week. “He’s working extremely hard and he’s doing everything we’re asking him to do,” Patricia said. “I have the utmost respect for his work ethic and what he’s trying to do to help us.” ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions have won two straight and three of four in large part because they finally have a running game.In Sunday’s 32-21 victory over the Miami Dolphins, the Lions churned out 248 yards on the ground, their highest single-game rushing output in 21 years.The Lions averaged 7.1 yards per carry. Kerryon Johnson ran for 158 yards, including a 71-yard burst in the first quarter.It was the first time all season that the Lions had executed more run plays than pass plays in a game.“I think just as a team it makes it a lot better for everyone Travis Fulgham Jersey 2019 ,” Johnson said. “I feel like (Lions quarterback) Matt (Stafford) feels like he doesn’t have as much pressure on him. Our O-line knows what they’re capable of doing. Our defense knows that we can go on sustained drives.“I think as a team it just helps everybody mentally, and obviously it helps us win games.”It was their best rushing performance since the Lions ran for 249 yards in a 32-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 23, 1997. Barry Sanders rambled for 216 yards in that game. It was also the first time Detroit averaged at least 7.0 yards per carry on at least 35 attempts since Nov. 24, 1991.Johnson had 100 rushing yards in the first half, becoming the first Lions player to do so since Reggie Bush on Sept. 29, 2013. Johnson joined Isaiah Crowell as the only NFL running backs to rush for 100 yards in the first half of a game this season. Johnson also became only the fifth rookie running back to have multiple 100-yard rushing games in Lions history.This is the same team that ran for just 39 yards in a season-opening 48-17 loss to the New York Jets.“We’re always going to try to be balanced the best we can,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “We want to be able to run it if we have to and throw it when we have to do that. It was good to see the run game be productive.”“Look, when you go out and you can execute and do it the right way, it looks really good. We’ve seen it when it doesn’t look so good the other way.”Detroit is 11th in the NFL in rushing yardage, averaging 122.3 yards per game. The Lions were last in the league in rushing in 2017, averaging 76.3 yards per game.That forced the team too often to be reliant on Stafford’s arm. He finished fourth among QBs in pass attempts last season. This season, Stafford is 19th in the NFL in pass attempts.“As an offensive lineman, you know if you can establish the run game Travis Fulgham Jersey Mens , you don’t have to sit there and drop back and pass the ball 50 times,” Lions left tackle Taylor Decker said. “That’s part of the game, but that’s not always the most fun for an offensive lineman.”Run-blocking, where they get to attack the defense, is a far more enjoyable experience for the offensive linemen.“When you’re able to establish a run game, that opens up everything else for us,” Decker said. “It’s going to open up our play-action pass. That’s going to open up our passing on third down, because we’re going to have a lot more calls to go to.”As good as their ground game has been, the Lions believe that there are more yards to be gained.“There are definitely plays that we see on film that we could have done a better job,” Patricia said. “We could have blocked better, we could have identified better, to get that extra yardage that was left out on the field.”