It appears as if the New York Giants win was a mirage. That was definitely a worry after the contest, but the offense looked so good in that game. It stood to reason that that could be a proper formula week in and week out. Maybe not a sustainable formula, but it could have been one nonetheless.
That was definitely not the case on Sunday in Chicago. The Cowboys were out-witted, out-played, and out-lasted by the Bears in a performance that Jeff Probst would have been proud of had the game been on CBS instead of FOX. It was embarrassment of the highest order, and that it is all leading to Micah Parsons’ return to AT&T Stadium with a Green Bay Packers team ready to prove they are the proper fit for him feels just wonderful.
Before we can look to next week (through our hands as we try to shield from it all) we have to put Sunday in the Windy City in perspective. So begins the autopsy. Here is this week’s Stock Report.
Stock Down: Matt Eberflus
Personally I did not put a lot of stock into the narrative of Flus returning to Chicago to see a Bears organization that fired him in the middle of last season. The NFL sees people fired midseason all of the time. But as one user on Twitter put it so eloquently, it is a tough scene for Flus to get destroyed by a quarterback who looked largely dysfunctional under his watch. To be clear, Flus is a defensive mind and that context matters, but the point at large is difficult to ignore.
Forgetting that entire discussion point, the Cowboys defense made Caleb Williams look incredible. He posted arguably the best day of his career, he literally tied his career high in terms of touchdown passes, and he was not sacked a single time.
The day was made worse for Flus when the New York Giants looked moribund once more on Sunday night, emphasizing that Dallas was the antidote to their offensive woes.
Stock Down: Trevon Diggs
We should acknowledge that he appears to be playing hurt. That matters, but he is playing nonetheless.
Trevon Diggs was once a great cornerback for this team and but it looks like those days are behind us. He was among the weakest points on the defense on Sunday in Chicago and was being targeted with regularity. Who could blame the Bears when they were doing what was working.
The Cowboys appeared ready to acknowledge that this is Diggs’ last season with the team with how Jerry Jones publicly lamented him at the beginning of training camp. Everything involved here feels left-footed and the play on the field is representative of that.
Stock Down: Kaiir Elam
We have spoken a lot about how the Cowboys love former first-round picks and they have a track record of uncovering solid production in that realm. It stood to reason that Kaiir Elam could be of that ilk.
Three games in that certainly does not look to be the case. Elam has really struggled in the secondary and was equally picked on by Caleb Williams (a crazy sentence to type).
DaRon Bland has been out and Elam’s role has therefore not been exactly what it was supposed to be. None of that helps the play on the field, though.
Stock Down: Donovan Wilson
Dan Quinn revitalized the safety position for the Cowboys and it was such an incredible three-year run. Within that success was a career turnaround for Donovan Wilson as he thrived under DQ.
Wilson looks lost on defense. He is a hard hitter and that is great, but he is among those getting most beat in coverage by all sorts of pass-catchers from every team the Cowboys have played to date. He had the moment of heroism against the Giants when Russell Wilson chucked up an arm punt, but that was pretty hard to mess up.
It is one thing to get continually beat in the passing game, but Wilson is not enforcing anything on the ground either. There are a lot of weak points on this defense so saying one is bigger than another feels unfair, but if we are looking for that spot it might be here.
Stock Down: Kenneth Murray
This is partly another indictment against Matt Eberlfus as his thing has always been strong linebacker play from his group. There is absolutely none of that happening right now.
Context matters everywhere and the team is without DeMarvion Overshown who is clearly the best player at this position, but they made the decision to move forward with this bunch and specifically thought highly enough of Kenneth Murray to trade for him (another former first-round pick to the Kaiir Elam point).
We are three games in and that is a legitimate sample size. What about Murray has proven that he can help this defense? To be clear the same can be said for Jack Sanborn. It is hard to understand why Marist Liufau isn’t playing more, at the very least from the perspective of aiding the future.
Stock Down: Jalen Tolbert
When the Cowboys traded for George Pickens, they clearly did so with intent on upgrading their WR2 spot. They had to do this because Jalen Tolbert could not become the player that they needed over the course of his first three seasons with the team.
CeeDee Lamb left this game early which changed everything for the Cowboys offense. It pushed Tolbert into a more critical role and he was unable to do anything with it. That is a huge issue.
We are in the fourth year of Tolbert and that he can’t come in and make a difference is frustrating. It is what it is, but the team should have known that if either Lamb or Pickens had to miss time then they would not be able to rely on Tolbert consistently.
Stock Down: Brian Schottenheimer
The evaluation of Schottenheimer is done in two ways this season. There is head coach Schotty and offensive play-caller Schotty.
With regards to the latter, he gets a little bit of a pass here given the CeeDee Lamb injury. Just a little bit, though. Why Javonte Williams was not an option near the goal line and why Dallas forced things through the air is incomprehensible. Williams is really proving himself, although he obviously had the fumble.
In terms of the head coach, how could this the team can be this woefully unprepared. They have now made consecutive teams look robust when they otherwise appeared dim. Beyond all of that, why did Schotty have Dak Prescott and other offensive starters in the game with eight minutes left when they were down by 17. There may be a legitimate answer for that, but it is worth mentioning that they turned to Joe Milton at quarterback one possession later so the assignment was obvious, so to speak.
Static Stock: Javonte Williams
The fumble was really unfortunate. Nobody denies this. But it was partly just an absolutely amazing play from Tyrique Stevenson. Still, it should not happen. Williams gets the benefit of the doubt given his high levels of production. He has been quite the find and needs to be utilized even more than he already is.
Static Stock: George Pickens
Similarly to Williams, a ball getting tipped off of Pickens’ hands that winds up intercepted is really unfortunate. You have to put that on him on some level. But Pickens deserves serious kudos for stepping up and shining in the aftermath of the Lamb injury. He is proving to be a proper WR1-B as the team has heralded him to be. Athletically he is so gifted and it feels like a matter of time until the Cowboys really see him take over a game.
Stock Up: KaVontae Turpin
It is always nice to end on a positive and Turpin deserves some shine. He left last week’s game with an injury and fought to even play in this game. He took a huge hit on a big-time catch when things were already looking grim. Simply put, he is one of the most reliable players on the team and that deserves a clap when there are very few to go around.
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