Jerry Jones’ post game was interesting after Broncos loss – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
The Cowboys have resources to make this roster better, but their inconsistency has already put them in a tough spot to do so.
What Jerry Said
Jerry Jones is not happy that his team is 3-4-1 eight games into the season, but does anyone actually believe that he is not happy if he gets his media time?
“I am not happy at all with winning three ball games. At all,” Jones said after Sunday’s loss in Denver. “Can we play better? Of course we can play better.”
Jones said he will consider making trades if they can bring in players who will help the Cowboys contend.
“If I saw a proposition for us to help this team, no matter what this score was today, then I would look at it on the merits of helping this team. And if you’re talking about trading for a player or trading a player, I would completely look at it on the merits of the team, both for next week or the weeks after or for the longer term,” Jones said. “Today would not affect a decision on trading for a player.”
Let’s be real, trading for one player is not going to help this Cowboys defense, it starts at the top with the way that Matt Eberflus tries to run it without the personnel to do so, and then the roster is also an issue.
It is truly amazing how many times players are running wide open on this defense, and trying to rush 4 and hoping James Houston and Donovan Ezeiruaku can create pressure is just not going to work.
One trade is not going to help this defense, and yes, keeping Micah Parson would have probably helped, they would still have been below average at best.
Schottenheimer: ‘Bigger changes’ coming after Cowboys bye week – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The Cowboys go from one opponent they have a bad history with to another in the Cardinals before their bye, needing a home win in the worst way now.
When asked on Monday if he believed the Cowboys had any players, on either side of the ball, that played to the standard, his answer was as short as it was sharp, and he also included himself and his coaching staff in his criticism.
“Not really,” he said. “I don’t think anyone coached well, either.”
It was another defensive outing draped in production poverty, save for the interception by cornerback Trikweze Bridges on the opening drive but, even then, the Cowboys’ offense failed to get into the end zone despite having more than one chance at doing so with the goal line in sniffing distance — 1st-and-goal from the Broncos’ three-yard line — settling for a field goal.
Penalties, a lot of them, on both sides of the ball, mixed with poor execution and some play calls that Schottenheimer and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus most certainly want back, to torpedo any chances the Cowboys might’ve had at stealing one in the Mile High City.
It was a mess of a showing by Dallas, and Schottenheimer promises some potentially major changes are on the way, but not this week — as they prepare to host the Arizona Cardinals on Monday Night Football ahead of their bye week.
“There’s always reasons to change, and there will be change,” he said. “I can promise you that. I can show you that. We’ve already had meetings, and we’ve talked about those changes. We’re in the mode right now of where we’ve got kind of a one-game season.”
It sounds as if Schottenheimer’s changes will require two weeks to install, hence the pause.
“I just say that because we’ve got Arizona before the bye and, really, bigger changes to our style will happen over the bye week,” he added. “That’s when we get a chance to say, ‘OK, now we’re looking back at nine games. What were those issues and did we get them corrected?’
“No? Well, now we need to do this and we need to do that.”
Cowboys trade buzz: Broncos loss proved Dallas has no business making big-time move – RJ Ochoa, Blogging The Boys
Many of the Cowboys offseason moves on defense have not worked out so far, but waiting until this next offseason to revaluate still feels like the right decision compared to rushing into a trade.
It goes without saying that “anything can happen” and that the Cowboys can rip off a bunch of wins and be in the proverbial tournament at regular season’s end. Crazier things have certainly happened.
But the lack of fight and competition between Dallas and Denver on Sunday should serve as a sobering reminder as to the gap that exists between the Cowboys and the NFL’s current elite. There are trades that could certainly help this team, even acquiring Maxx Crosby would provide assistance for future seasons and therefore carries merit, but reality has to be faced that 2025 may not be the year.
What would be particularly harmful for the short- and long-term of the Cowboys franchise would be some sort of panic trade as a result of how lopsided Sunday’s contest was. That would be reminiscent of the Mingo trade. Consider that the Cowboys dealt for Mingo last year right after falling to 3-5 on the season with their loss to the Atlanta Falcons. In addition to losing the game the Cowboys lost Dak Prescott for the rest of the season and were hurting for any kind of relevancy, to use the verbiage up top. They are teetering into that territory right now and if recent history is any indication they will do whatever they can to avoid fully falling into that space, like send a fourth-round pick away for no justifiable reason.
Lessons have to be learned. Medicine has to be taken. Hopefully the Cowboys are cautious and understanding of these ideas heading into next week’s trade deadline.
3 Cowboys who deserve the most blame for blowout loss to the Broncos – Maitland Rutledge, The Landry Hat
At some point, Dak Prescott is going to need to win a road game against a high-quality opponent, coming well short on Sunday by throwing two interceptions.
3. Dak Prescott
Make no mistake, Prescott has been a big reason why the Cowboys have managed to win three games so far with definitively the league’s worst defense. He had been playing at a high level for the past few weeks, but Sunday in Mile High, he pressed to overcome a deficit and it showed.
Prescott had his worst game of the season, throwing for only 188 yards along with two interceptions. This time though the interceptions came not because his receivers dropped passes, but because of him making poor decisions. For an offense that has to be borderline perfect with this defense, Prescott fell below expectations Sunday against a solid defense. Of course, that’s an impossible ask for any quarterback, but even Prescott would say he didn’t play well enough.
The first came at end of the half when he was looking to get in Brandon Aubrey’s range. Down 27-10, Dallas was looking to get a field goal off before halftime. Instead of only a two-possession deficit with getting the ball to start the third quarter, the offense blew a chance to trim the lead. They scored to start the third quarter to pull within 10, but a field goal would have made it closer.
While a 37-17 deficit in the fourth quarter already seemed insurmountable, the Bronco’s defense squashed any doubts by picking off Prescott in the red zone due to a miscommunication with CeeDee Lamb. Either way, it was a forced throw that Prescott didn’t need to make, even if the game was already decided.
After going four straight games with no picks, Prescott came back to Earth in Mile High country. A lot of fans may want to blame him a lot more for this loss, but the defense still deserves most of the blame. Prescott is allowed a bad game, but he definitely deserves some blame.
Key moments in Cowboys’ blowout loss centered on self-inflicted wounds, mental errors – Ben Grimaldi, The Cowboys Wire
It is really, really hard to find anything the Cowboys did well as a silver lining in the loss at the Broncos.
Matt Eberflus’ unit was set to get off the field on 3rd-and-7, forcing an incompletion, but defensive end James Houston had lined up in the nuetral zone and gave the Broncos another opportunity on third down.
The Broncos cashed in on their second chance. Nix found an open Troy Franklin for a 26-yard gain. Two plays later rookie running back RJ Harvey ran through Dallas’ defense like a hot knife through butter for an easy 40-yard touchdown. The Broncos took a 7-3 lead and never looked back.
That’s how quickly the game changed.
Two penalties in the span of eight plays and over the course of just 2:26 in the first quarter is all it took for the Cowboys to spiral out of control.
Dallas had an opportunity to take an early 7-0 lead, get the ball back and possibly score again to put the Broncos behind in their game scrip, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The series after giving up the touchdown, another pre-snap penalty caused a quick punt from the Cowboys to give Sean Payton’s offense the ball back. Four plays later the Broncos capped off a four-play, 62-yard scoring drive that ended with yet another wide-open receiver finding the end zone. This time it was Franklin for the 25-yard touchdown that put the Broncos up 14-3, and the game felt like it was over.
From there, Dallas never got in rhythm and the Broncos poured it on. Prescott had his worst week of the season, throwing two brutal interceptions while Denver’s offense dominated.
The Cowboys were given the opportunity early to seize control of the game, and they couldn’t get out of their own way. Mental mistakes reared their ugly heads once again as Jerry Jones’ franchise failed to get a signature win on the road.
Same old Cowboys, in the key moments of the game, they struggled to do the simplest things to give themselves an advantage.
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