Rico Dowdle was one of the bright spots amid the Cowboys loss on Monday night.
Monday night was a different kind of frustration for the Dallas Cowboys. Unlike every other loss this season, the Cowboys were very much in the fight against the Cincinnati Bengals. Dare I say they took things almost the entire distance before they ultimately succumbed.
Obviously the Amani Oruwariye situation highlights the game and day in a way that makes everything else feel rather insignificant. Close only counts in horseshoes as far as competition is concerned and the Cowboys coming “close” to winning does nothing for actually earning a victory.
Thankfully we can have and provide a little bit more context in our assessment of the game. This was the “best” loss of the season for Dallas in that they looked competitive all throughout which means that we have some atta-boys and demerits to hand out.
Welcome to our stock report following Monday night’s disaster.
Stock Up: Rico Dowdle
It was absurd for the Cowboys to approach the running back position the way that they did through the first half of November. That Rico Dowdle is performing the way he is only exacerbated that absurdity. Dowdle looks incredible since being given a legitimate amount of touches which calls into even more question the way that the front office and coaching staff evaluated this thing from the jump.
Consider that Dowdle’s performance was just the fifth this season across the league where a player averaged 7.3 yards per carry with at least 18 of them to his name. The Cowboys kept this from us!
Stock Up: Micah Parsons
We have talked about this a few times since he said it, but that Micah Parsons has done all within his power to try and drag this Cowboys team forward after saying he would not tank, and that he believed in them, is a very impressive thing.
Parsons did not totally get home on Monday night, but he was an absolute menace snap in and snap out. He was emotional after the game, partly due to the devastation involving the DeMarivon Overshown injury, and even if you think that he should have done this or that, I’d offer that a player showing that kind of passion is a good thing for this team.
Parsons is doing all he can and then some.
Stock Up: Trevon Diggs
A similar level of endorsement is deserved for Trevon Diggs after Monday night. Returning from injury, Diggs did all he could to try and help the Cowboys slow down Ja’Marr Chase. In an overall sense that effort fell short, but not because of any lack of effort from Diggs specifically.
Getting that kind of play from one of the leaders on the defense who is already on his second contract, that is the right stuff.
Stock Up: CeeDee Lamb
Did you know that CeeDee Lamb is third in receiving yards this season? It is notable that CeeDee Lamb has not given up amid the dysfunction that has surrounded this Cowboys team for some time now. He has kept fighting.
Lamb was mysteriously ignored for much of this second half (after being quite productive) which will never be something that makes sense. But he certainly did his part when he was involved.
Stock Up: Marist Liufau
The Overshown injury was and remains to be devastating, but the Cowboys obviously had to finish the football game after it happened and came close to winning it. Marist Liufau was a big reason for that.
We have talked a lot about how the Liufau selection could/should have been a running back for the Cowboys. But his best work came when he was called upon in a moment of need on Monday night. He was spectacular.
Stock Up: The makeshift offensive line
Our last kudos goes to the Cowboys offensive line at large because they did an incredible job of surviving.
Already down Zack Martin, the group lost Cooper Beebe before the game was over. That they were able to make things happen with so many backups playing is a real testament to the discipline from the collective.
Stock Down: Amani Oruwariye
Nobody wants to pick on the situation, but we have to acknowledge it. Amani Oruwariye committed an error that is coached in the early days of learning to play football. There are certainly some interesting ways to explore what could have been in his mind when he tried to field the ball after Dallas blocked Cincinnati’s punt attempt, but ultimately he was the culprit who touched it and made it live and opened the door for disaster.
This cannot happen.
Stock Down: John Fassel
Some people were fine with Juanyeh Thomas returning Washington’s onside kick attempt when the Cowboys won there a few weeks back. If you feel it was a fine decision for Thomas, you can also acknowledge that him falling down after he recovered the ball was technically the correct decision to make. Understood? Cool.
If you can indeed come to terms with the Thomas situation, then the Oruwariye one makes a second common sense flub that the Cowboys special teams group has had in a three-game stretch. How is this possible?
We are not talking about some overly-aggressive fake punt attempts which in and of themselves are worthy of debate and potential criticism. What we are discussing here is basic, fundamental stuff that the Cowboys are getting wrong. John Fassel is either not instructing his unit of the literal rules of the game or is not having his messaging totally understood.
Whatever the case, that cannot continue.
Stock Down: Jalen Tolbert
So much has happened to this Cowboys team this season and that has made evaluating the offense a difficult thing. That is fair. But did we not just note up top how CeeDee Lamb is managing to thrive? He is obviously CeeDee Lamb, but why can’t Jalen Tolbert find a similar path to success?
We are coming to the end of Tolbert’s third season with this team and outside of the game-winning touchdown in Pittsburgh (which was very impressive) he has yet to make any real impact. He had three targets in this game and didn’t catch a single one of them.
Stock Down: Marginal playoff hopes
Most had already given up on the idea of the Cowboys reaching the playoffs well before Monday night’s game even started. That is fine and understandable. But we can all admit that the little winning streak was nice, wasn’t it? Outside of goals to tank and what not, seeing the Cowboys put together two games in a row where they came out on top was neat.
They were on the verge of three in a row. Had they gotten it then they would be a win at Carolina (where they are underdogs anyway) from getting to .500. All of that was right in front of them.
Poof. It’s gone now.
