Suddenly, the NFC East has become a division nobody wants to win.
After ripping off three straight wins, the Cowboys were positioning themselves for a chance to contend in the division, but they lost on Thursday Night Football to the Lions in a game filled with the kind of errors and miscues that doomed this team earlier in the year.
Then, on Monday night, the Eagles refused to accept the gift their rival had given them. Another inept performance on offense led to a loss to the Chargers, the third loss in a row for Philly. That streak feels likely to snap this week with the Raiders coming to town, but it’s inexplicably left the door open for Dallas.
Consider it cracked open, though, because the Cowboys have plenty of flaws they need to fix still. Our own Tom Ryle and David Howman debate whether that’s feasible this late in the year.
Tom: Let’s start with the low hanging fruit. Too often the defense has just lain down and given up big plays.
For a few games it looked better, but against the Lions, they surrendered six plays of 20+ yards. One was a 35-yard run, but the rest were Jared Goff tearing it up through the air. The real culprit seemed to be the lack of a pass rush with just one sack of Goff. It’s hard to see how this can be fixed. They may be able to beat several of the teams down the stretch. But one game should be against Justin Herbert who just delivered an incredible performance against the Eagles despite his injured hand. And the Eagles had tons of pressure, only losing because they just kept giving the ball away.
David: I’m not ready to bail on this defense just yet.
The Lions are a good team, especially on offense, and their line is the source of their identity. The pass rush being slowed by that unit doesn’t concern me, because most teams struggle against them. The Cowboys defense still ranks 20th in EPA/play and 16th in success rate since adding Quinnen Williams, among others. To quote my favorite haunting HBO docudrama, that’s not great but it’s not terrible.
Justin Herbert is a better quarterback than the one they just faced, but his supporting cast is less impressive, specifically an injury-plagued offensive line. You can see that in looking at Herbert’s games this season: he’s had some phenomenal ones but also has five games with a sub-60% completion rate. That’s way better than J.J. McCarthy, the next quarterback on the schedule, so I’m not totally discouraged about the defense’s chances of a rebound.
If I’m looking for a concern, though, I have two, the biggest one being these slow starts on offense.
Tom: It’s like they need a quarter or so to all get on the same page. I think it’s partly the issues at offensive tackle. The interior of the line seems to be good, but things just don’t click outside. It leads to more pressure on Dak and limits the running game.
More importantly it gives the opponent a chance to get an early lead. That’s never good for anyone. With how tenuous the situation for the Cowboys they need to flip that script. It is hard to point to an obvious solution, but maybe it’s as much execution as anything.
David: I think you’re on to something with the tackles. Even before Tyler Guyton was injured, the ends of this offensive line have been an issue. It takes a bit for Dak to settle in because of it, and eventually he just trusts his playmakers to make up for it. And, thankfully, he’s got the playmakers to do just that.
Another thing I’m just as concerned with is special teams. The Cowboys are third in the league in special teams penalties and penalty yardage. Opponents are also averaging the 31-yard line as their starting field position, one of the higher numbers in the league and certainly a contributing factor in the defense giving up so many points.
Brandon Aubrey is obviously amazing, and KaVontae Turpin is an electric returner, but the rest of this unit has been downright sloppy lately. Even Turpin has drawn a flag each of the last two weeks for, inexplicably, calling for a fair catch and then running after catching the ball. It’s simple, inexcusable mistakes that are costing this team, and the worst ones are coming on special teams.
Tom: I’m glad you brought up the special teams. They had a significant role in the Detroit loss. Both the touchdown drives that sealed the win for the Lions started less than 60 yards from the end zone because the coverage was so inept. On average they only had 59 yards to go the entire game. That’s hardly a formula for success for the Cowboys.
That’s one thing the coaches can work on. It might actually be solvable with coaching and a bit of cussing. The rest we will have to see.
Dallas is in the unfortunate position of having to rely on a ton of other things to go just right to make the playoffs. It’s a hole they have been digging all season. Of course we hope they climb out. Clearly, however, we need to be prepared for failure.
See More:
