Hope springs anew for the Dallas Cowboys (7-7) after putting a 44-21 beating on the Los Angeles Rams (8-6) on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. For the first time all season, the Cowboys looked like a legitimate playoff contender, dominating the Rams in every facet of the game.

The Cowboys significantly outgained the Rams both in total yards (475-289) and yards per play (7.0-4.3) while also winning the turnover and time-of-possession battles, holding the ball for more than 36 minutes.

This type of performance is exactly why the Cowboys have been so frustrating to study this season. They’ve always had a ton of talent, but haven’t been able to play like it for meaningful stretches.

Now, the Cowboys will have to get ready for their most important game of the season, as next week at Philadelphia can decide the NFC East champion. If they somehow find a way to put together another dominant showing, then don’t be surprised if Dallas becomes everyone’s favorite dark horse to make noise in the NFC playoffs.

With that in mind, let’s dive into a few things we learned from the Cowboys’ revenge on the team that knocked them out of playoffs last season:

Cowboys need this Antwaun Woods every week

The Cowboys’ ability to stop the run is directly correlated with the play of their defensive tackles, who have played poorly against the run this season. That wasn’t the case against the Rams, as Dallas’ interior defensive line dominated the trenches throughout the game, stifling Los Angeles’ vaunted rushing attack.

Antwaun Woods was eating with 2 spoons versus LAR. #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/z1guESS6Ux — John Owning (@JohnOwning) December 16, 2019

Antwaun Woods, in particular, was excellent, finishing with five tackles, one for loss. He did an outstanding job of controlling the line of scrimmage while maintaining his gap discipline.

Woods used his quickness, lower center of gravity and power to control blocks at the point of attack or expand with his gap against horizontal zone runs. He made sure Los Angeles’ interior offensive linemen were on their heels all game, preventing them from creating consistent push in the run game.

Woods made a couple of stops at the line of scrimmage, but this tackle on a Todd Gurley 3-yard gain may have been his most impressive snap of the day:

This was a great example of Woods performing a feat that has seldom happened for Dallas’ defensive tackles this season: he maintained his gap discipline despite the initial double-team.

On this play, Woods is aligned in the play-side A-gap between Los Angeles’ left guard and center. Once the ball is snapped, the left guard tries to block down on Woods to help the center reach and seal Woods on this zone run.

However, Woods did an excellent job of absorbing the initial double-team before using his length to create the separation necessary to expand and occupy his gap with the O-line’s horizontal movement. Because he was able to keep his outside hand free, Woods was able to drag Gurley down to the ground as Rams’ running back tried to burst through his gap.

This is the type of contribution the Cowboys need from Woods every week against the run. It gives Dallas a fighting chance to shore up its run defense down the stretch and, potentially, in the playoffs.

Chidobe Awuzie bounces back

Last week, we broke down a lot of the struggles Chidobe Awuzie has had this season, so it’s important to point out when he has a positive performance.

While Awuzie has had issues at the catch point, he did an excellent job of contesting them Sunday, finishing with two pass deflections after being targeted a handful of times in coverage.

On one particular fourth down (above clip), Awuzie did an excellent job of blanketing his man to force an incompletion that caused Los Angeles to turn the ball over on downs. It may not have been an interception, but it did create a turnover.

Awuzie did an excellent job of staying patient at the line of scrimmage, enabling him to disrupt the timing of Brandin Cooks’ route with a strong press to widen the Rams receiver’s release.

The play may have looked like an overthrow, but it was a great example of “stacking” the opposing receiver to control the pace of the route and prevent the receiver from building the speed necessary to make a play on the ball.

The Rams have one of the better receiving corps in the NFL, but due to the play of Awuzie and the rest of the Dallas secondary, not a single receiver broke the 50-yard mark (tight end Tyler Higbee was the only Ram to break that mark).

Dallas shows nice wrinkle to scheme pressure

Given how much the Rams use play action, chip blocks and double at the line of scrimmage, it can often be difficult for opposing defenses to create sack opportunities using traditional methods.

Knowing this, the Cowboys had a couple of ingenious blitzes cooked up to take advantage of Los Angeles’ pass protection. They finished the game with two sacks, both of which came off the same blitz concept -- a tackle/end stunt with a blitz off the edge behind it -- just with different personnel.

Sean Lee, who had a throwback performance, was the first defender to profit off this blitz:

In this third-down situation, Michael Bennett and Robert Quinn, aligned to the wide side of the field toward the passing strength, execute a T/E stunt where Bennett fires upfield to rush outside while Quinn wraps behind him to go inside. This occupies the left tackle and forces Gurley into the tough task of having to come across the formation to block Lee.

While looping inside, Quinn was able to split the center and guard to generate interior pressure on Jared Goff. Since Goff had no room to step up in the pocket, the only choice he had was to retreat out the backdoor of the pocket and right into Lee’s grasp.

Lee got full credit for the sack, but Quinn (interior pressure) and the coaching staff (scheme) deserve partial credit.

Later in the game, the Cowboys called the same blitz with different personnel to scheme up another sack on third down:

On this play, the Cowboys again dial up a T/E stunt with Bennett and Quinn, who again are aligned to the wide side of the field toward the passing strength. But this time, it’s Jourdan Lewis blitzing off the edge instead of Lee.

While Los Angeles had Gurley in the backfield to try to pick up Lee’s blitz before, the Rams’ empty formation makes them especially vulnerable to Lewis’ blitz. With Bennett and Quinn’s stunt occupying the left tackle and guard, there was no one there to pick up Lewis, giving him a free shot at Goff.

While the Cowboys’ defensive coaching has rightfully taken a lot of heat, they did a nice job of dialing up well-schemed pressure in multiple high-leverage situations.

Zeke is hitting his stride, and Pollard deserves bigger role

In the same game, Ezekiel Elliott showcased why he’s among the best backs in football while Tony Pollard demonstrated why he deserves an expanded role in the Cowboys’ offense.

Those are good problems to have if you are Kellen Moore.

While much was made about the fact that Elliott failed to run for 100-plus yards in the previous five games, film study showed he was beginning to hit his stride, as he appeared to be more elusive, explosive and aggressive with his reads. Unfortunately, Dallas falling behind in its previous three games prevented Elliott from getting enough carries to break the century mark.

Ezekiel Elliott's big plays vs LAR. pic.twitter.com/EIyjTRuIav — All22Hype (@All22Hype) December 16, 2019

Against Los Angeles, Elliott finally got the game script that allowed his production to match his rushing performance. He finished with 24 carries for 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go along with three catches for 43 receiving yards, totaling 160 yards on 27 touches (5.93 yards per).

Elliott did it all against the Rams, creating big plays with his vision, burst and elusiveness while generating a ton of dirty yards to help Dallas keep the chains moving. He consistently made the first defender miss, producing a large portion of his yards after contact.

IDK about y'all but I can watch Zeke as a lead block all day. His cut blocks in space are outstanding. pic.twitter.com/kNJuhkm4vx — John Owning (@JohnOwning) December 16, 2019

He even made a couple of gorgeous cut blocks in space while lead blocking for Pollard, which just rounds out a fantastic performance.

Still, despite Elliott’s phenomenal performance, he wasn’t even the most efficient player in the backfield, as Pollard finished with 12 carries for an absurd 131 yards and a touchdown to go with two catches for 12 yards, totaling 143 yards on 14 touches (10.21 yards per).

Tony Pollard's big plays vs LAR. pic.twitter.com/NivjPFmAo9 — All22Hype (@All22Hype) December 16, 2019

Pollard continued to make the most of the touches he was given, showing incredible contact balance, good vision and an electric burst to consistently knife through the Rams’ defense.

The Cowboys were very creative in the ways they manufactured touches for Pollard, especially when Elliott was also in the game. They often motioned Pollard into the backfield from the slot, essentially turning Elliott into a fullback.

The creativity was great and Pollard received an appropriate number of touches, but he should see that kind of volume regardless of game script. Including Sunday, Pollard has seen double-digit offensive touches just three times this season, all of which were blowout wins (the first win against the New York Giants and Miami).

It shouldn’t require a blowout for Dallas to unleash one of its most explosive weapons.

Put the ball in Pollard’s hands and prosper.