The Dallas Cowboys lost on Monday night and we have some thoughts on what happened
The winning streak of the Dallas Cowboys came to an end after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-20 on Monday night. It was a competitive game going back and forth and being tied three times before the Bengals delivered the dagger late. There were some good things from this Cowboys football team, but it wasn’t enough and they dropped to 5-8 on the year, 1-6 at AT&T Stadium, and putting their hopes for a playoff berth on life support. Here are 10 thoughts on this Monday night
1. A GREAT START
This game couldn’t have started any better for the Cowboys. The Bengals’ offense went three-and-out on their first possession and the Cowboys’ offense marched down the field and orchestrated a nine-play, 60-yard drive, capped off by an 11-yard CeeDee Lamb touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Just like that, the Cowboys jumped ahead with a 7-0 lead.
2. COSTLY TURNOVER
The Bengals answered with an 11-play drive that went 70 yards to tie the game at 7-7. The Cowboys’ offense looked poised to answer right back with another score of their own, but those plans changed real quickly. Cooper Rush tried to hit CeeDee Lamb on a slant, but the ball got deflected and ended up in the arms of Bengals defender Geno Stone at the four-yard line. Just like that, the Cowboys came away with nada. This was the seventh time the Cowboys have turned the ball over in the red zone this season, the most in the NFL.
3. A CAREER BEST FOR RICO
One bright spot for the Cowboys was the continued resurgence of running back Rico Dowdle. On the night, Rico rushed the ball 18 times for 131 yards for an average of 7.4 yards per carry. It was a new career high for Dowdle. The 26-year-old running back looked great as he was weaving through creases and showed good burst. It’s taken a while but the Cowboys running game is starting to show life and could mean more Dowdle in the future.
4. THE OLINE SHUFFLE
What made the Cowboys’ rushing performance even more impressive was how they did it with a depleted offensive line. The team learned this week that they would be without Zack Martin for the rest of the year. They are also rolling with veteran Chuma Edoga at left tackle over rookie Tyler Guyton. On Monday night, they lost rookie center Cooper Beebe when he left the game with a concussion. This forced Brock Hoffman to slide over to center and T.J. Bass to play right guard. With all the shuffling the Cowboys have had on the offensive line, it’s crazy that the run game can stay afloat let alone get better.
5. MORE INJURIES
The offense was without Beebe, but the defense suffered a huge blow when linebacker DeMarvion Overshown went down in the second half with a knee injury. It’s unclear the extent of his injury, but it doesn’t look good. Beebe and Overshown have been two of the better young players on this roster and it’s unpleasant to see them go down. The Cowboys have endured injuries to all of the All-Pros not named CeeDee Lamb, so now it appears the injury bug is coming after their future All-Pros.
6. GOING BACKWARD
When Jourdan Lewis got flagged for pass interference it put the Bengals at their 46-yard line with 4:10 left to play in the game. They didn’t have much farther to go to get into a game-winning field goal position. It wasn’t looking good, but then two offensive holding penalties pushed the Bengals back. The tide had turned and the Bengals were forced to punt at their own 27-yard line, setting the table for the Cowboys to have a shot a game-winning drive themselves.
7. SPECIAL TEAM CRAZINESS
When linebacker Nick Vigil flew up the middle and got his hands on the Bengals’ punt attempt, the crowd erupted. For a split second, we realized the Cowboys would get the ball already in Brandon Aubrey field goal range. But then we watched the ball bounce a little further and could see disaster before it happened. Backup corner Amani Oruwariye just couldn’t resist trying to catch the ball on a bounce in hopes of returning it. Unfortunately, he mishandled it and the Bengals recovered.
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Now, it was Cincy sitting with a great field position with a chance to take the lead.
8. A TERRIBLE FINISH
After the punt block snafu, things went south in a hurry. It only took the Bengals three plays to jump ahead, largely thanks to a pass to JaMarr Chase where he scampered to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. Cincinnati went up 27-20 with just over a minute to play. The Cowboys just didn’t have it in them to answer. Cooper Rush stumbled trying to escape for a three-yard gain, got sacked for an eight-yard loss, and then threw a floating duck on fourth down that went incomplete. The Cowboys quickly turned the ball over on downs and the game was over.
9. NO ANSWER FOR CHASE
The Bengals got their star receiver involved early in often. Chase finished the game with 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. While the Cowboys’ defense did a good job on his teammate Tee Higgins (two catches for 23 yards), they had no answer for Chase. He did a great job getting open and when he had the ball in his hands he churned out extra yards. On his game-winning touchdown catch, he caught DaRon Bland taking a bad angle and Chase was off to the races.
10. NO CHANCE WITH RUSH
It’s unfortunate that the Cowboys can play well for a large part of the game, but ultimately be held back by the limitations of backup quarterback Cooper Rush. There were times he delivered some good balls and wasn’t reckless by any means, but too many times when the Cowboys needed a play down the field, it never came. Rush just doesn’t have the arm strength to take deep shots nor the accuracy to sustain very many drives. There’s really a small window when you have Rush leading the offense and the Cowboys didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.
