Before the Dallas Cowboys kicked off their game against the Arizona Cardinals, Jerry Jones claimed on the Stephen A. Smith Show that he had already made a trade and was working on a few more. Despite Jones not stating who the team had traded for, we now know it was Logan Wilson from the Cincinnati Bengals, or was it Quinnen Williams from the New York Jets? It’s fair to ask, does it even matter?
The Cowboys lost another game after they played sloppily, and the defense continued to hemorrhage yardage at an alarming rate. The loss essentially signals to the fans that a playoff appearance is highly unlikely with their upcoming schedule and all that has transpired with the team’s injuries. The one constant that the team had going for it was the offense, and they, too, only found the end zone once on Monday. Let’s all take a collective sigh and analyze how it went so terribly wrong for the Cowboys against the NFC West’s last-place team, the Arizona Cardinals.
Offensive tackles can’t get out of their own way or in the way of Cardinals’ pass rush
The first sign of trouble was after a promising drive to start the game; things appeared to be looking up for the Cowboys. They were marching down the field and on the doorstep of getting the early lead over Arizona. An assortment of things went wrong to undo the drive, but on their fourth-down try from the four-yard line, Tyler Guyton gave up a sack to Josh Sweat as Dak Prescott was trying to step up in the pocket looking toward the end zone. Guyton also got steamrolled later on Dallas’ last possession that led to a sack on Prescott, and overall, struggled with his technique.
Terrence Steele didn’t do much better either. He struggled mightily in pass protection and failed to keep the pocket clean for Dak Prescott. He was also was beaten for a sack by Josh Sweat. By late in the game, Dallas had seen enough, and Steele was benched in favor of Nate Thomas, who, as you might’ve guessed, also allowed a sack. For both Steele and Guyton, their lapses in pass protection are concerning to varying degrees. Guyton is a second-year player, so there is room for him to grow and improve, even with his inconsistency and poor reps happening at the most inopportune times.
The Cowboys invested heavily in him as a first-round pick, so he has a longer leash, but it hasn’t been inspiring from his rookie season to now. As for Steele, he has already been paid handsomely when he was given a five-year, $82M contract in 2023 and carries a cap hit of $18M or more in each of the next three seasons. Schottenheimer did promise changes following last week’s loss. Could something with Steele or Guyton be the change that the head coach had intimated? All the same, a productive year from Dak Prescott and his explosive offensive ensemble is being hampered because his offensive tackles cannot give him the extra time he needs to find his playmakers and it undid the team once more.
The stars not shining their brightest
Prescott threw an interception with the game well out of reach. Prescott’s interception now gives him six on the season, and three versus one touchdown pass over his last two games. Against the Cardinals, he and the offense couldn’t gain any momentum until the late stages of the game. That said, his offensive counterparts also had devastating mistakes.
Jake Ferguson had a terrible fumble as the Cowboys were already trailing 10-0. After being backed up by a penalty and facing 3rd-and-17, the Cowboys were hoping to salvage the drive and come away with some points. It’s unclear whether Dallas would have gone for it on fourth down, but with how good Brandon Aubrey has been within 55 yards, it’s very plausible that Ferguson’s fumble took points off the board for the Cowboys. Ferguson also had a drop on Dallas’ first drive that could have given the Cowboys a much shorter try on fourth down. Then, just when you thought the Cowboys might have a chance at an improbable comeback win, Javonte Williams fumbled the ball away late in the fourth quarter, and whatever sliver of hope the team had was soon dashed with the immediate change of possession.
What’s more maddening about those two fumbles is that Dallas was trying to get yards to give them a chance at points, but two of their best players couldn’t protect the football. Then, also in the second half, CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott were unable to connect on a fourth down to keep a critical drive going, which would have saved precious seconds on the clock. Prescott threw a pass to CeeDee Lamb where Lamb jumped too early to catch the pass, versus working back to the ball, giving Cardinals cornerback Denzel Burke ample time to break up the pass to force a turnover on downs. It appears that Lamb was supposed to break his route off earlier, and therefore, the timing between the quarterback and the receiver was off.
Still, a miscommunication between the two All-Pros led to an interception last week at Denver, and again, their not being on the right page dooms the offense once more. The Cowboys don’t have this margin of error to commit these fundamental mistakes, because of the final reason why they lost last night.
Even against a backup RBs and QB, the defense cannot stop anyone
To start the game, the Cowboys defense did an admirable job of stopping the run and earning the right to rush the passer on third downs. However, they couldn’t get off the field and Marvin Harrison Jr. was critical in Arizona sustaining drives. Multiple third down attempts from eight yards or longer were converted because Dallas couldn’t generate a pass rush, much less locate receivers running freely through zone coverages. Arizona converted 7/13 third-down conversions and forced the Cardinals into one three-and-out until the fourth quarter. Jacoby Brissett had it easy for most of the game, carving Dallas up for 9.3 yards per attempt and completed 71% of his passes. It’s as if there’s no bottom of the well for how bad the defense can be.
When Dallas came out of the half down by ten points, you hoped the defense would have some resistance with time to adjust after the break, but immediately Michael Wilson beat them for a 50-yard catch-and-run to open the second half. DaRon Bland was particularly overmatched in this game. He was picked on in pass coverage when defending Harrison Jr., only highlighted by Harrison Jr’s touchdown reception where he made Bland fall to the turf after a nifty release off the line of scrimmage.
There’s been an ongoing dialogue of whether the team should play more man coverage instead of almost exclusively in zone coverage, but some players struggle in man coverage as well. Markquese Bell, who is more of a hybrid linebacker/safety had his challenges with his assignment and it was punctuated after he was beat by Trey McBride for a touchdown. The defense gave up seven passes of 15 yards or more and are allowing among the most explosive plays in the NFL. Also, they didn’t produce any turnovers.
The defense is a complete failure and Jerry Jones threw a Hail Mary on the season by trading for a couple of new defenders. It might just be too late anyway.
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