The winning streak is over. It seemed like a tough ask for the Dallas Cowboys to win three straight games against the three teams with the best records last season, and sure enough, it was. The Cowboys fell to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night, 44-30, putting their playoff hopes on life support. It was a frustrating game to watch with a little goodness sprinkled in. Here are my 10 thoughts on this unfortunate loss in the Motor City.
1. Falling behind again
It wouldn’t be a Cowboys game if the team didn’t dig itself a hole early. They went down 21-0 against the Eagles two weeks ago, fell down 7-0 to the Chiefs on Thanksgiving, and then trailed 27-9 early in the second half. While the team does a good job fighting back into games, this repeated habit of falling behind is not a recipe for success. If you play with fire long enough, eventually you’ll get burned, and that’s what happened to them against the Lions.
2. They’re only hurting themselves
Another element that reared its ugly head was turning the ball. The Cowboys had a couple of costly mistakes against the Eagles and turned the ball over on their opening drive against the Chiefs. They were fortunate enough to overcome those miscues, but their luck ran out in Detroit. The Cowboys’ offense turned the ball over three times, once on a Jake Ferguson fumble, and twice on a deflected pass that was intercepted. On the other side of the ball, the defense didn’t force a single turnover. It’s tough to win football games when you lose the turnover battle, 3 to 0.
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3. Defense didn’t have it
It was great while it lasted, but the Cowboys’ defense didn’t bring the ‘A’ game to this one. At times, they made some plays, but far too often, they gave up big yardage plays to the Lions’ playmakers. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and Jahmyr Gibbs all had receiving plays over 25 yards. David Montgomery had a 35-yard rushing touchdown. Jared Goff had over 300 yards passing. At the end of the day, the Lions’ offense beat them in a multitude of ways as the Cowboys gave up over 400 yards and surrendered 44 points.
4. Losing CeeDee
The Cowboys were dealt a huge blow when CeeDee Lamb exited the game early in the fourth quarter after trying to make a one-handed catch in the end zone. It didn’t look good as Lamb exhibited the fencing response with his hands after coming down hard on his head. He was taken to the medical tent and quickly ruled out of the game with a concussion. Despite exiting early, Lamb finished the game with six catches for 121 yards. Without the team’s star receiver, the Lions smothered George Pickens, keeping him in check. Ryan Flournoy stepped up and had nine catches for 115 yards, including a 42-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
5. They gave themselves a chance
The Flournoy touchdown brought the Cowboys within three points with just under 10 minutes left in the game. And before that, Sam Williams blocked a field goal to keep it an 11-point game. The Cowboys turned around and kicked a field goal to cut it to seven on their ensuing drive. While the Lions eventually ran away late, at least there was a point in the fourth quarter when it looked like the Cowboys would have a shot, thanks to the blocked field goal and big-play touchdown from Flournoy.
6. Rough day for Fergy
Things did not go so well for Cowboys’ tight end Jake Ferguson. In the second quarter, Ferguson was flagged for illegal hands to the face, negating a would-be pass interference penalty drawn by Pickens that would have set the Cowboys up 1st-and-goal. He also fumbled the ball after trying to gain extra yards on a 3rd-and-21 play. And late in the game, he was flagged for offensive pass interference, although that call looked bogus. Ferguson kept fighting, though. He made a couple of tough catches and wisely pounced on a Dak Prescott pass that was ruled a lateral, saving what could have been a disastrous play.
7. Turpin is broken
It’s tough to understand what goes through the head of KaVontae Turpin when he fields punts. Whenever he should let the ball bounce, he doesn’t. When he should field it, he doesn’t. And whenever he tries to call a fair catch, apparently, he doesn’t do that either. For the second-straight game, Turpin has been flagged for an illegal fair catch. While that seems silly, he’s also just not doing much good in the return game. He didn’t elude anyone and just ran straight into the defender. Meanwhile, the Lions had some tight-end-looking fella running back kicks, and he was taking them out to the 50-yard line, setting up his offense quite nicely. That’s not supposed to be how this works.
8. Javonte hits 1,000 yards
The free agent signing of Javonte Williams has worked out well for the Cowboys, as he’s been a stable fixture for the team’s rushing attack. Entering the game, he only needed 45 yards to hit the 1,000 mark for the first time in his career. Williams hit that mark exactly on his one-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. The veteran running back finished the game with 67 yards on 17 carries. He has 1,022 yards on the season and needs just 57 yards to pass Rico Dowdle’s rushing total last year.
9. Another record for Aubrey
With the Cowboys’ offense struggling to get in the end zone early, all the team’s points came courtesy of Brandon Aubrey. The All-Pro kicker finished a perfect 5/5 on field goals, but three of them went for more than 50 yards, making him the first kicker in NFL history to have three 50+ kicks in the same game. Aubrey hit a 63-yarder early in the game that had plenty of leg and looked good from 70 yards. It’s only a matter of time before he kicks the longest field goal ever, to which he’ll have that record too.
10. 9% chance at the playoffs
With the loss to the Lions, the Cowboys’ playoff chances dropped to 9%. That’s not good. Had they won, those odds would have jumped to 39%. That’s a huge difference and signifies just how big a blow this defeat was for them. It’s not completely over, as they still have four games and crazy things have happened, but now it looks like their best chance to get into the postseason will come from an outright collapse from the Philadelphia Eagles. Fingers crossed.
