After further review: Cowboys run defense remains atrocious, offense not helping Dak

Last week was tough.

The Dallas Cowboys went out on Sunday and laid another egg in a 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. While the final score shows a three-point game, this game was a hot mess from the onset and stayed that way through three quarters. The Cowboys offense finally got going late and the defense also made some stops to keep them in it, but eventually, they ran out of time and couldn’t complete the epic comeback.

Since we spent most of this game in agony, we’re not going to let them slide and act like they don’t have some big problems. It was a poor display on both sides of the ball and today, we’ll try to figure out what we can learn after further review.

DEFENSE

Once again, the defense was the main story as they continued to show no ability to stop the opposing offense. The Cowboys allowed 294 rushing yards, which is the most they’ve allowed in four years, and that says a lot as they’ve given up some doozies in recent years. It was bad in every aspect. The Ravens did a great job with the run designs, providing more blockers than the Cowboys had defenders, but there was still so much of this that was self-inflicted.

Can’t set the edge

The defense lacks the discipline to stick to their responsibilities. Either Mike Zimmer is not saying the right things or his players aren’t smart enough to carry out the plan. Again and again, defenders will be out of position and have very little chance to make a play. So, much of this is mental.

Taking the bait

It’s hard to know what everyone’s job is on every play, so playing the blame game can be difficult, but what’s not hard is seeing that the team is not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Defenders are crashing inside on players who don’t have the ball while leaving no one else on the outside to go after the actual ball carrier. The Ravens had the Cowboys’ defense guessing wrong all afternoon.

Not bringing the fight

The mental element is one thing, and it’s certainly a big one. They can’t make a play if they’re scurrying about in the wrong direction. But the problem doesn’t stop there. This team is lacking the physical presence they once had under Dan Quinn. Now, that’s not to say that Zimmer is breeding softness into this group as some of these same guys we’ve seen lay down the smack are the same ones now tackling as if they’re capturing a greased pig. The effort feels weak and they’re just not bringing guys down. A normally sound tacking team is suddenly having all sorts of issues.

OFFENSE

The defense was bad, but they don’t deserve all the blame. The offense was nowhere to be found through most of this one. They had some drives, but like they did in the first half of last year, they struggled to close the deal. Fumbles and penalties turned potential touchdowns into three points or no points as the team couldn’t answer and keep the game manageable. The only thing fans could get excited about in the first half was whether or not their star kicker was going to set a new NFL record for the longest field goal (he came close, it’s just a matter of time).

It’s hard to understand why a normally potent offense is having so much trouble. We talked about the running game last week, and it’s still a big problem, but the team struggled quite a bit in the passing game as well. There weren’t many easy plays for Dak Prescott and it left us wondering if he’s not seeing the field well or if the offensive playcalling is setting him up for failure. You decide.

Too many tight window throws

The broadcast team spoke about this quite a bit and it was a real issue. When you look at the All-22 tape, there weren’t a lot of open windows for Dak to work with.

Check out the average separation of the pass-catchers in the game. Every Ravens’ pass catcher had greater separation than every Cowboys’ pass catcher.

Data courtesy of NFL Pro

Dak had some zingers

When you evaluate all of Prescott’s throws, there were some misfires. Some throws were high, some were behind, and some deflected off a defensive lineman. It happens. But there were also some right-on-the-money throws from Dak and many of them came when he was given just a smidge of separation in the secondary.

Forcing the quarterback to repeatedly make tough throws does not make for a sustainable offense. Having some easy stuff available helps. While there wasn’t much of this early, things eventually opened up for the offense. Was the Ravens defense letting up and conceding the short stuff or did the offense adjust? Whatever the reasoning, the passing options got better. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.