Historically speaking, we are watching one of the worst Dallas Cowboys teams to ever exist.
It is easy to speak in hyperbole nowadays. Everything is the best or worst ever. So and so is the Greatest Of All Time. Anywhere and everywhere you look, like the sentence that you are currently reading, people exaggerate a bit. It is the way things go.
Unlike the one you just read, this next sentence is not hyperbole: We are watching one of the worst Dallas Cowboys teams to ever exist. This is factually and objectively true, unfortunately.
Amazingly, there are still seven games left of this monstrosity, but through their first ten games played, the current Cowboys are touching the most rarified of toxic and unbreathable air.
How do we know this, exactly? Thanks to the tools that Stathead and Pro Football Reference offer we can sort things by way of team and NFL history at large and I am sorry to report that we are seeing some things that nobody should ever have to.
55 passing attempts in a game is rare and not ever a good thing
Quarterback Cooper Rush had 55 passing attempts on Monday night against the Houston Texans. It is conventional wisdom that throwing the ball this many times in a single game is a bad idea, and the results are overwhelming proof of that.
This was only the eighth time in franchise history that a Cowboys quarterback had at least 55 passing attempts. The team is 0-8 in every single one of those games.
Congratulations to Rush though on joining a list that now features Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, Dak Prescott and himself.
We saw the 50th instance of a Dallas Cowboys QB throwing for 350+
Among the results of Rush’s many attempts were enough completions to go for north of 350 passing yards (354 to be precise).
This marked the 50th time that a Cowboys quarterback has thrown for at least 350 yards in a single game. Obviously Rush has only done it once which is true for the majority of players on this list.
Bet you didn’t think you’d read something about Gary Hogeboom today!
Only one rushing touchdown at home to this point is rare for the Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys have played five games at home so far this season. You know this. What you may not have totally remembered or realized is that the Cowboys have only a single rushing touchdown through these games specifically. It was a Dak Prescott rushing touchdown so for the record they do not have any from an actual running back.
Nevertheless, this is only the third time in franchise history that the team has had one or fewer (so none) rushing touchdowns through their first five home games.
We are in 2001 and 1988 territory!
This is now tied for the third-longest losing streak at home in team history
If we expand our search a bit then we obviously know that the Cowboys have lost six consecutive games at home with the playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers that completely broke, dismantled and disintegrated this franchise into an irrecoverable mess. I digress.
Monday night’s loss to the Houston Texans at home put the Cowboys in a tie with the 1960 version of themselves (another team you do not want to be compared to) for the third-longest losing streak at home ever.
That season, and the one at the top of this list, were ones that did not take place in the Cowboys’ current home building which means Dallas is currently in the middle of the second-longest losing streak in the history of AT&T Stadium specifically.
It is not common to have three consecutive home games with ten or fewer points scored in each
A moment ago we expanded outwardly, but if we isolate things a bit by focusing the microscope then we can see a particularly gross infection plaguing this team. Consider the last three home games specifically: Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans.
Dallas scored nine, six and ten points in those games, respectively. They are the first team across the entire NFL to have three straight home games with ten or fewer points scored in five years.
Think about the teams on this list. This is poor company.
This is the only team in franchise history to have three straight home games with ten or fewer points scored
In closing, I was curious once I got down the rabbit hole of this three-game stretch with ten or fewer points scored in it.
Assuming you had the same thought that I did, I will offer the answer sobering answer you were afraid of.
This is the first team in Dallas Cowboys franchise history to have three straight games at home with ten or fewer points scored in each of them.
Any time any franchise record or mark is set is notable when you are talking about a team that has been around forever like this. What’s more is we are talking about a specific phenomenon occurring and over a multiple-game stretch. This isn’t a one-off or single event.
These are the dark times, my friends.
