Heading Southbound
When I wrote my last post about the Dallas Cowboys, they were 3–0 and looking great.
Three weeks later against some real competition, they don’t look so great as they’re now 3–3 and in a must-win situation against the divisional-rival Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night at home.
In their first big test of the season, the Cowboys could only manage to score 10 points against the New Orleans Saints on the road after scoring at least 30 points in each of their first three games. While they kept the Saints out of the end zone in an offense led by backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, the defense still let them sustain drives that led to four field goals in a 12–10 loss. Costly fumbles by Ezekiel Elliott and Jason Witten, of all people, that would have led to first downs stunted drives.
At AT&T Stadium where the Green Bay Packers are 4–0, including a Super Bowl win, the Cowboys looked happy to make them 5–0 as Dallas didn’t show up for about three quarters, at least from what the scoreboard looked like. The Cowboys got down in a 31–3 deficit before eventually scoring some points in a late comeback that was just a little too late, losing again to the hated Pack, 34–24.
The defense gave up a career-high four rushing touchdowns to Packers running back Aaron Jones. Aaron Rodgers threw for 238 yards and no touchdowns but made his signature plays that scare Cowboys fans as he’s been quite the boogeyman for them over the years. Dak Prescott threw three interceptions in spite of a career-record 463 passing yards with two touchdowns. Amari Cooper had a career-high 226 receiving yards and a touchdown. The team had 563 total yards, the most ever in a loss.
Having already lost All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith to an ankle sprain and potential Pro Bowl right tackle La’El Collins to an MCL sprain in the Saints game, the Cowboys had already been hurting in protecting Prescott, but it got worse against the 0–4 New York Jets as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams drew up many blitzes. Wide receiver Randall Cobb didn’t play because of a back injury. Cooper came out of the Cowboys’ second drive of the game because of a quad injury and didn’t return.
Jets starting quarterback Sam Darnold returned from mononucleosis and threw for 338 yards and two touchdowns, including a 92-yarder to Robby Anderson. The Cowboys, with their banged-up offense and poor coaching, got in another big deficit, 21–3, before Brett Maher kicked a career-tying 62-yard field goal to make it 21–6 at the half. Dallas rallied again with a Prescott touchdown run with 43 seconds left to make it 24–22 before failing the two-point conversion as he was hurried again by the Jets’ pass rush on an incomplete pass to Jason Witten.
It’s hard losing to a team with their backup quarterback, especially when you just assume your team is going to win even if their opponent is still good and you hold them to 12 points as they’re now 4–0 when he starts.
It’s even harder when you see them get slaughtered before a late rally against a team you hate, especially when you can’t beat them in your own stadium. Not to mention, there’s some arrogant punks on that team as well as some poor officiating that got my blood boiling as well as the whole team, including Jason Garrett on this challenge in which he wrongly gets called for unsportsmanlike conduct for mouthing off at an official.
But it’s just embarrassingly hard when you lose to a winless team that’s averaged just 179 yards a game and has 382 against you even with Darnold back, who was a first-rounder last year and a bit better than Luke Falk. (Did I mention that the defense committed four penalties on the Jets’ first touchdown drive? Of course, there were six straight penalties on the Cowboys’ final drive, four of them being the Jets, which shows you how bad teams love giving you the game as well as a huge increase in penalties this season.)
And even if they’re hurting on offense, it shouldn’t take that long to get 22 points against this bad of a team. You’ve got Dak and Ezekiel Elliott, who had 105 rushing yards on 28 carries for a touchdown and 47 receiving yards.
This is a talented team that’s not getting it done. This defense is supposed to be elite and while they’re ninth in yards allowed, they’ve given up 11 runs of 10 yards or more and 10 passes of 20 yards or more in the three-game losing streak. They’ve only forced five turnovers, which seems to be a frequent issue with this franchise, as the pass rush hasn’t been there. Not to mention only one of the six quarterbacks they’ve faced is someone who has proven to be legit, which makes the stats look better. Outside of veteran defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford being hurt as he’s now going on injured reserve for hip surgery, there’s just not a lot of excuses.
The offense is second overall in yards and Prescott is third in passing, the latter of which is a huge improvement, but they’ve scored just an average of 19 points the past three games. Prescott has thrown 11 touchdown passes but six interceptions. Zeke is seventh in rushing, which is still good, but not as dominant as he typically is due to the injury-riddled offensive line.
And on special teams, Maher has shown he’s got the leg but has missed four field goals, including a 33-yarder against Green Bay that would have trimmed the lead to seven with under two minutes left and a 40-yarder against the Jets in the fourth quarter that would have made it a nine-point game and indirectly cost them the game when you add it all up.
Above all these things is Garrett. Having three straight embarrassing losses that show an unprepared and unmotivated team looking worse every game doesn’t look good for the red-headed clapper who never accepts blame.
There were a few calls/decisions against the Jets that made me furious. One of them came on 4th-and-2 at the New York 7-yard-line in a 7–3 deficit in the second quarter. Instead of just kicking the field goal to make it 7–6, they ran a Prescott keeper, which former Cowboys quarterback and CBS commentator Tony Romo obviously knew was coming and the Jets weren’t fooled, which led to that long touchdown pass, making it 14–3, giving their underdog opponent too much momentum and hope.
Trailing 21–6 in the third quarter, Prescott threw a touchdown to Witten but was called back as Cedrick Wilson was called for offensive pass interference on an illegal pick. However, replays showed the defender grabbed him and Garrett decided not to challenge, which may have not been overturned but definitely could have as they settled for a field goal.
After an inexplicable decision to call timeout with plenty of time left just before Prescott’s touchdown run, Garrett called another one on the two-point conversion, leaving them with one timeout. They didn’t convert or get the onside kick, which was close, but if he doesn’t call those, they would have had all three, giving them a chance to get the ball back even if they don’t recover or if they do.
Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore hasn’t done as good of a job, which may be because of Garrett’s influence, during the losing streak but has made this offense better and more exciting to watch. They still have potential as does this defense, but as I’ve said Garrett is the reason I don’t see this team getting back to the promised land.
In 2008, the Cowboys started 3–0 with a talented team but disappointingly missed the playoffs at 9–7. I knew this team could do the same thing as it looks as if the schedule makers wanted America’s Team to feel really good about themselves considering how bad those first three teams were.
This Sunday, the Cowboys are facing an Eagles team that is also 3–3, tying them for the division lead, and apparently their head coach says they’re going to win. Last season, Dallas went on the road against them at 3–5 and won a must-win 27–20 game, which turned their season around leading to a 10–6 record, NFC East title and playoff win. Can they do it again this time with many of the same players possibly not returning for injury? I’m not certain as it’s looking more and more evident that Garrett needs to go whether that’s during or after the season.
