Last week’s report card was (shocker here) not great for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys are reeling after a second-straight loss dropped them to 1-2 on the season. The Ravens were well on their way to a blowout win, but a mad dash for a fourth quarter comeback resulted in a three-point lipstick-on-a-pig type loss for the Cowboys. So who did well in this one? Let’s hand out some grades.
Quarterback
It took a while for Dak Prescott to get settled in this game – though his offensive line didn’t make things easy on him – but this turned into a vintage Prescott performance. His 52.9% completion rate doesn’t tell the full story in this game – one that saw him pressured a season-high 14 times with three drops, three throwaways, and a pass batted at the line of scrimmage – but Prescott was surgical in this game.
He recorded three big time throws, including a perfectly placed touchdown strike to KaVontae Turpin, and ran in a score on top of his two touchdown passes. Prescott piled up 379 passing yards on the day and was the driver of this offense in the fourth quarter. It still wasn’t enough, but if the Cowboys can get that performance consistently going forward, they’ll be in good shape.
Grade: A-
Running backs
Just like last week, the Cowboys got down so big so early that their running backs rarely had a chance to carry the ball. That makes it difficult to truly grade them in this one, but Rico Dowdle once again flashed real potential.
Ezekiel Elliott and Deuce Vaughn competed for snaps behind Dowdle, as the pecking order of this running back room has become a little more clear now. Whether that results in a good rushing game or not remains to be seen, as we’ve gotten very few snaps with these runners in normal game situations. This Sunday, though, was extremely average in overall production.
Grade: C
Pass catchers
The pass catchers had an interesting day. CeeDee Lamb put up one of his worst performances of his career, with three drops and a fumble inside the 10-yard line. He still finished with four catches for 67 yards, but Lamb knows he left meat on the bone.
Outside of Lamb, though, things were pretty good. Turpin caught all three of his targets, Jake Ferguson nearly hit 100 yards receiving, and Jalen Tolbert stacked another reliable game on top of last week’s performance. Even Hunter Luepke flashed, in particular with a big 24-yard catch-and-run late in the game. This is rare to say, but the pass catcher group was held back by Lamb this week.
Grade: B-
Offensive line
This was a pretty lousy game for the offensive line. Prescott was under constant duress, getting sacked three times and the offensive line allowing 11 of the 14 pressures on the day. Each starter on the line gave up at least two pressures, and Zack Martin actually led the team with three pressures allowed.
The offensive line struggled in run blocking too, rarely opening up holes for any of these running backs. That’s somewhat understandable against this Baltimore defensive front, but it was an otherwise all around bad day for this unit.
Grade: D
Pass rush
The Cowboys’ pass rush had a very quiet day in this one. They tallied just eight pressures on the day and came away with zero sacks. Half of those pressures came by way of Micah Parsons, who was the only defender to get a hit on Lamar Jackson.
In fairness, though, the Ravens offered exceedingly few chances to even rush the passer. Jackson had just 17 dropbacks in this game, with six of them being either play-action or a screen pass. Still, this talented pass rush should be able to do more.
Grade: C-
Run defense
The run defense proved once again to be unreliable, as the Ravens built their lead through a heavy dose of read-option plays with Derrick Henry. The powerful runner carried the ball 25 times for 151 yards and two scores, with five carries going for 10 yards or more. Jackson also ran the ball 14 times for 88 yards and a score.
The defense did figure things out in the second half, making several stops against the run in the second half of the third quarter and beyond. That helps them earn a non-failing grade here, but it still wasn’t enough to get the job done.
Grade: D
Pass coverage
The grade here is similarly impacted by the lack of passing attempts in this game. Baltimore smartly opted for a run-heavy attack, but their few passing plays were methodical. Jackson threw the ball 15 times, but only one of them went beyond 10 yards past the line of scrimmage; that was the touchdown pass that came on a broken coverage play with Jackson on the move.
Other than that, Jackson took a dink-and-dunk approach that perfectly complemented the Ravens’ lethal rushing attack, and there was very little the Cowboys could do to stop it. That doesn’t earn them any brownie points, but it does make it hard to grade them too harshly.
Grade: C-
Special teams
Another week, another high grade for the Cowboys special teams unit. Brandon Aubrey has officially laid claim to being the best kicker in the league, and he did so in a game that included Justin Tucker. Aubrey’s 65-yard field goal broke a franchise record and earned him the distinction of second-longest field goal in history.
Aubrey took things up a notch with an expertly executed onside kick that the Cowboys recovered, which allowed Dallas to make a meaningful comeback attempt. Had the defense been able to make a stop on the last drive, Aubrey almost certainly would have had a chance to drill a ridiculous game-tying field goal. Alas, the Ravens succeeded in keeping the Cowboys’ best player (in 2024, at least) off the field in that critical moment.
Grade: A+
Coaching
Coming off a game like the Saints loss, the Cowboys should’ve been pumped and ready for this one. Instead, they didn’t even look like they knew there was a game to be played until the fourth quarter. That lack of preparation comes back on the entire coaching staff.
The worst performance, though, belongs to Mike Zimmer. He went away from his usual utilization of two-deep safeties and chose to load the box in an effort to stop the run. That strategy was ill-advised, as it allowed the Ravens’ powerful offensive line to get on undersized (relative to linemen, that is) safeties even quicker. It was an old-school approach to a new-school offensive scheme, and not a good look for the veteran coordinator.
Grade: D-
