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Just two games into a season that began with the Dallas Cowboys making starting QB Dak Prescott the highest paid in NFL history, the team is already realizing how dependent they’ll be on the $240 million man to cover up a laundry list of issues they’ve seen on both sides of the ball. The team is sitting at 1-1 after their first home game of 2024 went inauspiciously similar to their final one of 2023, embarrassed by an opponent that ran the ball at will against an ill-prepared defense, and then picked on a Cowboys offense forced to play a long catch up game. Things do not get much easier for the Cowboys after losing 44-19 to the Saints on Sunday, as they now welcome in a hungry Baltimore Ravens team trying to salvage their season at 0-2.
There are always ways for singular losses in the NFL to feel like more than just one blemish on the record, and the Cowboys struck about every chord possible in their loss to the Saints, especially considering some of the similar challenges they’ll face against the Ravens this week. Just a week removed from Mike Zimmer’s defense being the talk of the league after a dominant performance against the Browns, the Cowboys were right back to looking undersized against the run up front, not strong enough at linebacker, and blew assignments in the secondary to allow Derek Carr to complete passes of 70, 57, and 39 yards against them. The offense looked lost when the ball wasn’t funneled to CeeDee Lamb, who made a brilliant play on his 65-yard touchdown in the second quarter to get Dallas within eight, but it was the closest they would ever get all game.
This was a loss that makes it difficult to believe this Cowboys team is any different from any of the previous iterations under Mike McCarthy, and attempting to change that this week will take doing something the Cowboys have only done once in their franchise history – beat the Baltimore Ravens. The Cowboys are 1-5 against the Ravens, with the first loss coming in 2000 and most recent being December of 2020. Baltimore was, of course, the team that spoiled the final home game at the old Texas Stadium in 2008 with a 33-24 win in Week 16. A Cowboys team without much of a run game could not keep up with a Ravens team that rushed for 265 yards including a Willis McGahee 77-yard touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter to pull away and Le’Ron McClain 82-yard score later in the quarter to go ahead 30-14.
The Cowboys lone win against the Ravens came during a season where Prescott proved he can be the leader of this team, as it was win number nine of a miraculous 11-game win streak for Prescott as a rookie over the first 13 weeks of the season. A third straight win against the NFC North, the Cowboys took care of a winless Browns team in Week 9 then went on the road for a thrilling win at the Steelers in Week 10 (prompting the infamous Tony Romo “football is a meritocracy” speech in the aftermath), and then returned home in week 11 and handled the Ravens 27-17 to improve to 9-1 on the year. Dez Bryant scored two second half touchdowns to break a 10-10 tie and put Dallas ahead two scores. Cole Beasley caught the other Cowboys touchdown of the game as Prescott finished the day 27 of 36 for 301 yards, three scores and no turnovers. Ezekiel Elliott was a workhorse, toting the ball 25 times for 97 yards. The Ravens longest play of the game was a 27-yard completion to Mike Wallace, as the Cowboys did a good job containing Joe Flacco despite only getting home for one sack.
Containing Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry out of the current Ravens backfield will be an entirely different task for the Cowboys defense. Henry will test the integrity of a Cowboys defensive line that was just exposed on the interior, and has only received worse news at the undermanned defensive tackle position since the Saints loss. Jordan Phillips is now on IR and Mazi Smith did not practice on Wednesday. Trying to stack linebackers like Damone Clark, DeMarvion Overshown, or Eric Kendricks close to the line of scrimmage to deal with the run could easily leave this defense out of position to deal with the rushing threat of Jackson, as well as TE Isaiah Likely who leads the team in receiving yards.
The Cowboys looked every bit the team that needs to follow a dangerously narrow game script to victory last week, and finding a way to take the lead early and hold on in a high-scoring game is one possible path to a bounce-back win against the Ravens. Unlike against most opponents last year though, taking the lead against Baltimore likely won’t discourage them from sticking to their gameplan too much on offense, as they are still built to sustain the run game and create high percentage throws for Jackson off of it.
The Cowboys offense simply hasn’t shown yet that they can put fear into teams by having the ability to score on any given possession and from anywhere on the field, but the Ravens have given up points on 11 out of the 22 defensive drives they’ve played this year while allowing a 100 yard receiver in both games. Dallas may be welcoming back Jake Ferguson just in time to make a difference alongside CeeDee Lamb and help recreate what WR Davante Adams and TE Brock Bowers were able to do against the Baltimore defense for Las Vegas in Week 2. That stunning home loss has the Ravens at 0-2 for the first time since 2015.
Mike McCarthy knew the time to respond from a loss would inevitably come this season and he has his work cut out for him preparing a team facing waves of questions against the second-longest tenured head coach in the NFL in John Harbaugh. If Week 2 made fans question just about everything we thought we knew about this unpredictable and high-parity league, this week may be the time to finally start getting some answers and this game is guaranteed to provide some about whatever side can scratch out a win.
