There is plenty to say after another “name your score” loss by the Cowboys, but there is no dissertation I could offer that more aptly describes the club’s current state of affairs than this video:
But hey, I’ll try. At least they can’t get embarrassed next weekend.
Sunday afternoon’s 47-9 dismantling at the hands of the Detroit Lions, at home, laid bare in the starkest of terms how wide the gap between this version of the Cowboys and the league’s truly formidable teams really is. Yes, the defense is dealing with an unfortunate run of injuries on the edges. However, much like in the home beatings by Baltimore and New Orleans, there is no way you can watch what unfolded against Detroit and think that simply having Micah Parsons, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Marshawn Kneeland back in cleats would have changed the outcome. The distance between Dallas and a team like Detroit isn’t merely a gap; it’s a gulf. Outside of the classified, skunkworks operations that John Fassel’s special teams unit are conducting on their own, every element of this team is woefully inadequate. And the return of the cavalry won’t fix it.
Lawrence has been historically formidable against the run, and the absence of linebacker Eric Kendricks certainly didn’t help as the Cowboys attempted to slow down the Lions’ rushing attack. But both players were present for the other two losses, which felt eerily similar to this one. Lawrence and Parsons were also present back in January for a 48-32 playoff defeat in which the Packers ran for 143 yards and three scores at AT&T Stadium.
Here it is in a nutshell: the type of team you build physically determines the type of team you are mentally. This team is built to play with a lead, and that has been the case for several years now. Over the last few seasons, the Cowboys have relied on creating a chaotic environment for opposing offenses, laying waste to the pocket, and creating turnovers. They would gamble because more often than not, it paid off. The offense could score quickly and in bunches, and when these two elements worked hand in hand, they would overwhelm their opponent. Most weeks, against most teams, it didn’t matter that they weren’t prepared for a prolonged street fight, because they were landing quick combos that left the other fighter in a stupor.
But two things happened at once: Dallas not only didn’t improve its roster, but it also let it deteriorate. Concurrently, the ever-evolving nature of offensive football has resulted in both more dynamic and more efficient rushing attacks league-wide. (Well, almost league-wide). Through six weeks, NFL offenses are averaging 4.5 yards per attempt, tied for the highest in league history. (Small digression: I think the term “cyclical” is a bit of a misnomer, because it isn’t as if teams are lining up in the I-formation or split-back sets to achieve this success. What happens before the snap looks nothing like what was happening 30 years ago. What happens after the snap, however, does. Thanks a lot, Mike Shanahan and Alex Gibbs. But again, I digress.)
If the Lions had been told right before the game that due to some esoteric, little-known part of the rulebook they would not be able to attempt any passes, I still think they would have beaten Dallas comfortably. Hell, I think this stipulation could’ve been conveyed to the Cowboys, and the Lions still could’ve run them over. Detroit averaged more than five yards per carry. Were the visitors buoyed by a couple of 30-plus yard runs? They were not. David Montgomery had a 19-yard carry; Jahmyr Gibbs a 15-yarder. In one of the worst games of his NFL career, Trevon Diggs made so many business decisions he left the game with an LLC. Diggs is an elite NFL corner, and there are so many problems with this operation, I don’t want to focus too much on any one player. But the effort we saw from him on Sunday was a microcosm of this team. When the waters get choppy, it appears as if no one wants to swim.
If Dak Prescott and his side can put up some quick points and the pass rush can be let off of the chain against an offense that has to throw, Diggs can shine. If not, his value is greatly diminished. That’s the case with the whole team. Prescott is a good, at times very good, quarterback. But the front office has put him in a difficult situation. He’s operating behind a line with two rookies (when healthy, as T.J. Bass filled in for Tyler Guyton on Sunday, pushing Tyler Smith to left tackle and making a suspect line worse). Prescott has one capable running back, who coming off the best game of his career carried the ball twice in the first half. Despite the growth of Jalen Tolbert, who might be a capable third wide receiver, Dak doesn’t have anything approaching a legitimate second wideout. And even at his best, his track record against good teams is sneaky awful. (You know, teams that get early leads.) My good friend/arch nemesis Mike Sirois shared a stat with me on my podcast last week: against the spread against winning teams, Prescott is 19-33. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I bet most QBs have a poor record against those stipulations; we need context.” Here it is: since 2003, that ranks 263rd out of 266 quarterbacks.
The opposition has scored on its opening possession in four consecutive games. Prescott starts to press, and he just isn’t the quality of player who can make that work consistently. This leads to turnovers and short drives, and an already demoralized defense trotting back out onto the field. When you build a roster designed to strike quickly on both sides, it is hard to expect anything different than the outcomes we are witnessing when it takes a few haymakers in the early rounds. Again, the team you are physically will determine what you are mentally.
And, of course, most of this was highly predictable. The way the front office has handled contract extensions over the last handful of years has come home to roost. Crying poor over the inability to seriously pursue Derrick Henry was a farce, and everyone knows it. There is a significant lack of depth on this star-heavy roster, and it might be easy to look at that and point fingers at the pro and college scouting operations. I would make the case that few teams are tasked with doing more with less than the men in the Cowboys’ pro scouting department. It isn’t that they’re missing on their projections of available free agents; they are told indirectly that their efforts and reports don’t matter. Dallas won’t ever be serious players in free agency, because that takes spending, which is something this team simply doesn’t engage in.
So, what to do? Obviously when an NFL team gets embarrassed like this, again, there is an expectation that there must be blood, that heads must roll. But what would be the point of firing Mike McCarthy right now, other than to satisfy some sort of “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” urge? To send a message? Does anyone really believe the Cowboys would be better with Mike Zimmer or John Fassel as the interim head coach, and Brian Schottenheimer taking over play-calling duties? The roster is built how the roster is built. If this keeps up, and it looks like it will, McCarthy is gone in February. Plus, on paper, the division is still winnable.
I’m typically not a proponent of panic, reverse-course moves, but the Jones family is. That’s why I would absolutely make a trade for Davante Adams if I were them. Just like with Henry, the coaching staff could make it work. At no point this season will the Cowboys be able to lean on their ground attack, so they might as well lean into the bit and give Prescott the best chance to overwhelm defenses through the air. In turn, as their pass rushers return, perhaps the team could optimize their value by giving them more opportunities to go after quarterbacks as Dallas’ opponents try to catch up on the scoreboard .
Because as constructed, with the schedule ahead, this could get even uglier fast. The Cowboys are less than the sum of their parts. They are built to feed off of the swagger that comes with demoralizing opponents, but that doesn’t appear to be anywhere on the horizon. They need juice, and they needed it yesterday.
Because, as they say, it ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun.
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