The Cowboys fell victim to the same sort of things on Sunday.
The Dallas Cowboys concluded their season with a 23-19 loss versus the Washington Commanders. Seeing the Commanders celebrate their last-minute win as they prepare for the postseason is sobering. The Cowboys came into this season with sky-high expectations before everything careened off a cliff. Injuries played a factor, yet losing another game at home sends the Cowboys into the offseason on a sour note.
Dallas also has to begin the offseason immediately as they have to decide on Mike McCarthy’s contract, which will expire on January 14th. In what could be McCarthy’s last game as coach of the Cowboys, some constant issues hamstrung the team from getting a win against their NFC East rival. What went wrong for the Cowboys today is issues that have lingered all season and were their undoing.
Trey Lance needed more reps to develop
There’s a controversy circulating about whether the team starting Trey Lance was for the team to avoid paying a contract incentive of $250,000 to Cooper Rush, which Jerry Jones has denied. In a way, it would appear the Cowboys are genuine in saying that. Trey Lance was acquired for a fourth-round pick and hasn’t seen much playing time. Seeing what the Cowboys paid to get Lance and starting him today makes sense, considering both Rush and Lance are unrestricted free agents this offseason. The decision to start Lance isn’t a problem on its own. Lance has enticing traits and is still a young player at 24 years old. His start versus the Commanders only accentuated how much growing he has to do.
Against Washington, Lance had his moments. He scrambled for first downs, and he demonstrated his exceptional arm strength. Yet, there were times when he was late to hit his receivers in stride or was trying to be too perfect with his accuracy, like when he short-hopped a would-be touchdown pass Rico Dowdle right before the half.
These aren’t new topics regarding Lance. We’ve seen these trouble areas from him since the preseason. With that said, he had a respectable performance. He completed 20/34 passes for 244 yards. Unfortunately, Lance’s inexperience, coupled with other areas, was why Dallas couldn’t get the win.
Poor attention to details
Penalties have been a thorn in the Cowboys’ side this year. The Cowboys committed eleven against Washington. While a holding penalty during a big play on offense can be deflating at any point in the season, what is disappointing is the pre-snap penalties that set the offense backward during the game. Dallas committed five false starts, putting the offense behind the sticks before a play could happen. Rookie offensive tackle Tyler Guyton committed two of them, one of which caused receiver KaVontae Turpin to look visibly frustrated with the penalty. After that, he was subsequently benched in favor of Asim Richards.
Some of it can be attributed to a different cadence with Trey Lance at the line of scrimmage. Still, you expect more from your first-round offensive lineman, who has routinely committed penalties. Veterans also made mistakes. Jake Ferguson had a false start penalty along with a drop pass. Tight end Lunda Wells had a spirited conversation with Ferguson on the sidelines as if to say enough was enough. The defense played well and could have put the Commanders away a lot sooner if not for drops and penalties at inopportune times.
Red zone issues
It’s great that Brandon Aubrey was perfect, making all five of his kicks (four field goals and one extra point) but that’s too much of a good thing. The Cowboys’ offense disintegrated once they reached the red zone. The glaring mistake was the previously mentioned poor throw by Lance to Dowdle, but that’s only one occurrence. Dallas was 1-6 on their drives in the red zone. They also outgained the Commanders 378 to 269. The one time they did score in red zone was a touchdown to Dowdle but that was only his second touchdown of the season. It’s been a recurring theme this season. Dallas goes on a long drive, and they must settle for a field goal.
They ranked 27th in red zone efficiency. On Sunday, the Cowboys went on long drives, winning time of possession by almost 15 minutes to milk the clock only to come up short once getting deep into Commanders’ territory. It’s also surprising that the offense didn’t call any quarterback-designed runs for Lance inside the five-yard line when they had done so between the 20s.
