There were some notable historical marks set for the Cowboys as a result of Monday’s loss.
The Dallas Cowboys lost on Monday which is obviously very frustrating. Factoring in the exact nature in which the game ended, it is not a stretch to say it was one of the more frustrating losses of the entire season.
Ultimately the show goes on and the Cowboys will be back in action on Sunday afternoon against the Carolina Panthers. Before we fully move on to that game though, we have to properly bury what happened on Monday night and in the burial process we can contextualize it all through an important lens.
Something we do every week is evaluate the game that Dallas just played and the results from it through the lenses of both franchise and team history. The tools at Stathead and Pro Football Reference make this possible and allow us to do it all with much more ease.
This week is big on Rico Dowdle.
Rico Dowdle had another rare performance
If you thought to yourself that you had not seen a performance like what Rico Dowdle offered much this season, then you would have been absolutely right. Over the course of Monday night Dowdle averaged 7.3 yards per carry which is incredibly impressive, but it is even more noteworthy given that he had 18 total carries on the night.
As of Week 14’s conclusion such a performance has only happened five times across the season as a whole. Dowdle obviously has one of them, Derrick Henry has two, Saquon Barkley has another and New York Giants rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. did it. Dowdle and Tracy are the only two to do it in a losing effort. Shucks.
This three-game stretch from Dowdle is rather impressive
Monday night was just the latest piece of work from Dowdle as he has been on fire for three games in a row now. Over his last three outings, Dowdle has had 329 total rushing yards. This is only the third instance since the 2021 season where a player has had 329 or more rushing yards in a three-game span for the Cowboys. Dowdle, Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott have each done it once in the span in question.
Obviously the passing game has been stout for Dallas over the last few years, but this ultimately proves how lackluster the run game has been for quite some time now.
This stretch has also seen a workload that we haven’t seen in a while
It could be argued that the primary reason for Dowdle’s performances lately has been how much work he has been receiving. Consider that Dowdle has had at least 18 carries in each of the last three games.
This marks the first time that a player has had at least 18 carries in three consecutive games since Ezekiel Elliott had them near the end (ish) of the 2020 season. Once again this highlights how there is been a lack of consistency in the run game for Dallas as they have divvied things up a bit for some time now at the position.
Note that Dowdle is averaging almost two whole yards more than Elliott did at that particular point in time. What we are seeing from Dowdle right now is very impressive.
CeeDee Lamb is all by himself in one particular way
Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
Forgive me for not having a screenshot here, but that happens when you are talking about the only player to accomplish something as they are on a list all by themselves.
CeeDee Lamb passed 935 receiving yards on the season on Monday night which meant that he has now reached 935 receiving yards in each of his first five seasons with the Cowboys. He is the only player in franchise history to do this.
The Cowboys defense has an impressive streak going on
Flipping to the other side of the ball, did you know that the Cowboys defense has generated a turnover in six straight games? It certainly doesn’t feel like it has been that long.
Interestingly, this is tied for the longest streak of games in which the team has generated a turnover since the 2020 season (more on that in a moment). This means that Dallas has now tied the longest streak of games with a turnover that they ever had under Dan Quinn. It should be noted that Quinn’s group did it twice.
It should also be noted that the group who they would tie with a turnover on Sunday is the 2020 version of the defense which was horrible in a number of historic ways. Not every record is a good one.
A reminder that the defense has been very bad this season
Obviously this year’s defense has been bad in their own way and on Monday night the Cincinnati Bengals took full advantage of that. By the end of the night the Bengals had amassed 433 total yards.
This marked the fifth instance this season in which Dallas has allowed 430 total yards against them. The 2024 team is now tied with the aforementioned 2020 squad as well as the 2015 group for the second-most times that this has happened to the team in a single season. With four games remaining the 2013 “record” is close to safe.
