Sunday’s Dallas Cowboys loss was really bad, but particularly so relative to team history.
The Dallas Cowboys were all kinds of bad on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Some late heroics made the mess more tolerable from a box score standpoint, but Dallas was down 28-6 when the Ravens decided to take their foot off of the gas. This move almost cost Baltimore, but it didn’t and that’s what ultimately matters.
It was a horrendous game for the Cowboys, the latest unfortunate masterpiece they have painted with their questionable brushes.
Thanks to our friends at Stathead and Pro Football Reference we are able to contextualize the game in certain respects relative to the longstanding history of the Dallas Cowboys.
It was a historically bad day from the run defense
In case you were unaware the Cowboys let the Ravens run for 274 yards on them. An opposing team reaching such a high mark is not a common thing in franchise history.
It was only the ninth instance in franchise history in which this happened. Coincidentally the most recent occasion was also against the Ravens back on that weird Tuesday night in 2020.
Speaking of history, the rushing performance is historically bad
You do not need to comb through any sort of history to know that the Cowboys are really bad at running the ball right now. But just how bad are they?
Through the first three games of the season the Cowboys have 221 rushing yards. This is the third-fewest rushing yards they have ever had through the first three games of any season.
Those were some dark days.
It should come as no surprise that the rushing margin was dreadful
While the Ravens ran all over the Cowboys, the Cowboys themselves did very little of that. Dallas only produced 51 yards on the ground to Baltimore’s 274. This was the third-worst rushing margin in a single game in franchise history.
That this came immediately after Jerry Jones proudly shouted about how great the Cowboys rushing attack was and against Derrick Henry of all people is ultimate theater.
Derrick Henry had a career day against the Cowboys
Forgive me for the screenshot here being long and thing. The issue is that Derrick Henry did something against the Dallas Cowboys that nobody ever has. Not one.
Getting specific here, Henry reached three certain thresholds against the Cowboys. He had over 150 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and over 20 receiving yards. Nobody, you read that right, has ever done that in a game against the Cowboys. Until now.
