Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images What would you say were the main reasons the Cowboys lost on Monday? The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t finish. Despite managing to keep up with a high-powered Cincinnati Bengals offense, the Cowboys couldn’t generate enough scoring to stay ahead and seal the win. The loss is deflating because it likely erased all chances the team would have had at making an improbable postseason berth. However, how they lost Monday feels so excruciating this time. Within a split second, jubilation abruptly turned into dread and despair with the Cowboys. It’s a shame because Rico Dowdle played a terrific game and looked like a feature runner for the rest of the season and possibly next year. Losses like this usually come down to a handful of plays. Yet, several factors cost the team the win tonight. Here’s where they went wrong. Special teams blunder This has to be at the top of the list. Amani Oruwariye’s special teams error instantly placed the Bengals in position to win the game. It’s unfortunate because Nick Vigil’s block on the punt was textbook; block the kick off the punter’s foot as coaches teach, and in the moment, you assumed Dallas would steal the victory. From Oruwariye’s perspective, he was trying to recover the blocked punt so that Dallas could take possession well within field goal range for Brandon Aubrey and not allow the ball to bounce further upfield after Vigil’s block. To an extent, you can understand why he took that approach. Yet, it burned the team in the end. Oruwariye left the game and went into the locker room with a towel covering his face; the disappointment and feeling of letting his teammates down was tangible. It hurts all the more when you consider that, for the most part, Dallas played with discipline and didn’t make too many mistakes to beat themselves, such as penalties. Ultimately, Oruwariye’s mistake gave an explosive Bengals offense the break they’ve been looking for and it was the beginning of the end for the Cowboys and likely their playoff aspirations. No answer for Ja’Marr Chase Ja’Marr Chase is the best receiver in football right now. He’s an exceptional talent. Dallas finally got all of their best cornerbacks healthy and playing together for the first time this season, and for Chase, it didn’t matter. He ran away from all of them. He tore into the Cowboys’ secondary and made several defenders grasp for air. Chase posted another incredible Monday night performance with 14 catches, 177 yards, and two touchdowns. Zac Talyor and the Bengals coaching staff unleashed Chase on the Cowboys in various ways, and the diversity of his routes made it hard for Dallas to corral him to minimize the damage. Here’s what the Next Gen Stats looked like regarding his route ran against the Cowboys. Ja’Marr Chase hauled in 9 of 11 targets on out-breaking routes for 122 yards and 2 TDs, the most receiving yards on out-breakers over the last seven seasons. Chase finished with 75 yards after the catch, giving him 626 YAC on the season, most in the NFL. Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/AndL5LhzBo — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 10, 2024 Chase ran for 75 yards after the catch, most of which were gained during his 40-yard game-winning touchdown near the end of the game. Chase’s unique connection with Burrow is nearly impossible to stop, and for Dallas, whenever Burrow needed someone to make a play, it was Chase who he turned to, and there was nothing Dallas could do about it. Not getting CeeDee Lamb involved enough In juxtaposition to how Cincinnati uses Ja’Marr Chase, Dallas inexplicably stopped utilizing CeeDee Lamb. It’s puzzling since Lamb started off the evening red hot with three receptions, 29 yards, and a touchdown on the opening drive. He also had a terrific play on a screen that was well-defended by the Bengals, and Lamb turned it into a 44-yard gain, shaking tackles from Germaine Pratt and Trey Hendrickson. Then suddenly, Lamb stopped being part of the equation. Yes, Lamb is managing a shoulder injury, but his toughness is never in question with how much he’ll tolerate to be on the field. The frustration he sometimes demonstrates seems warranted, and it appears that his vanishing act during games is out of his hands. After being targeted five times in the first quarter, Lamb was targeted zero times in the second, once in the third, and then just once in the fourth. He had six receptions for 93 yards, which feels very underwhelming given the circumstances. Whoever is responsible for this, Mike McCarthy, Rush, or Brian Schottenheimer, it doesn’t matter. As former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert put it: Idk why the Cowboys are having such a difficult time scheming CeeDee Lamb to get the rock. Dudes all around the league are getting 10+ targets a game — Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) December 10, 2024 The Cowboys staff needs to do better than this, and the Bengals involving Chase as much as they did only illuminates how much work the Cowboys have to do so as not to abandon their most useful offensive commodity. Pass rush didn’t get home enough While the Cowboys sacked Joe Burrow twice, it wasn’t enough. The pass rush for Dallas was often a step slow to get to Burrow, and as a result, he was able to extend plays to find his premier playmaker Chase. Micah Parsons’ footsteps were thundering behind Burrow all night, but he couldn’t reach him. In retrospect, Parsons was the only defender who consistently put pressure on Burrow. Parsons had 15 pressures against the Bengals and drew two penalties. However, the defensive line needed more. Osa Odighizuwa managed three quarterback hits, but outside of that, the defensive line didn’t do enough to disrupt Burrow. By the end of the game, Parsons looked exhausted. He was gassed, and rightfully so. Allowing Burrow to break the pocket as many times as he did ultimately was

Photo by John Smolek/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Cowboys are creeping up closer to a top 10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The Dallas Cowboys lost this past week which means that focus has now shifted for many back to the 2025 NFL Draft. Perhaps that has remained your priority all along, but it goes without saying the little winning streak had a few people mildly distracted. If you assign yourself to Team Tank then you are likely particularly pleased with Monday night’s loss as it came to the Cincinnati Bengals who began the game with a worse record than Dallas. Despite beating the Cowboys, the Bengals still currently sit ahead of them in projected NFL Draft order. At the moment the Cowboys hold the 12th overall pick. Tankathon If you are curious, the Cowboys sit behind the Bengals and New Orleans Saints due to the strength of schedule tiebreaker. Obviously it is ironic given that Dallas lost to both of them. There are currently four games remaining for the Cowboys and only one against a team in front of them in the projected draft order. That game happens to be this coming Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, but even if Dallas loses (the Cowboys are the underdog for what it is worth) they will still have one more win than the Panthers due at week’s end. Getting inside of the top 10 would require some luck in addition to losing more games for the Cowboys at this point. This has been the point of people wanting to tank for some time, but it is worth mentioning that Dallas would be at eighth overall if they hadn’t won their games against the Washington Commanders and New York Giants.

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images Here are our thoughts in the aftermath of Monday’s Dallas Cowboys loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Seasons like this often yield the same sort of responses from people. “The Dallas Cowboys are Murphy’s Law embodied.” “Don’t worry, the Cowboys will find a way to make it worse.” “If there is anything I trust the Cowboys to do it is to let me down.” You know the type of responses I am talking about. Odds are someone you know or interact with, maybe even you yourself, has offered these to someone at some point this calendar year. It has been a very long time since we felt truly good about this team, although the last two weeks did offer a bit of a reprieve from the doom and gloom with them winning back-to-back games against division rivals and even taking home one on Thanksgiving. Monday night was like the 6 A.M. alarm for the first day following a long and amazing weekend. It snapped us back to reality akin to Cinderella when the clock struck midnight. All we have now is a pumpkin and our collective thoughts. This weekly discussion is a space for those thoughts, 3 of them to be precise. Welcome to our Day After Thoughts following Monday night’s loss to Cincinnati. It really is difficult to contextualize just how bad this season is I’ve asked this before but will do again: What is the best moment you have felt as a Dallas Cowboys fan since the team’s playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers in January? It is a really difficult question to answer. Options include the KaVontae Turpin punt return against Cleveland or his kick return against Washington, or perhaps the Jalen Tolbert game-winner in Pittsburgh. That’s it. The turn of each significant moment in the NFL calendar has been met with overwhelming frustration by this team, something that their two-game winning streak helped mask, which the loss uncovered and revealed to the light once more. Given that the loss also effectively ended their playoff hopes (however faint they were), it has now cast them into the worst place you can be for an entire month of action… meaningless football. The Murphy’s Law proposition certainly feels like it has held true with this team with how they lost on Amani Oruwariye’s blunder. This team has found new and innovative ways to twist the knife of pain that they made sure to bury over the slow course of an entire offseason. What else can go wrong?! Rico Dowdle should have been used this way starting Week 1 Rico Dowdle has 329 rushing yards in his last three games played for the Dallas Cowboys. Given that he has had 18 carries at minimum in each of the last three games (no player since Ezekiel Elliott in 2020 has had such a streak for the Cowboys) it makes a lot of sense. Why is that, you ask? The point here is not that Dowdle is some game-changing running back who the Cowboys have been suppressing for over half of a season, but it is certainly obvious, and was way back when, that he is the best option on the team. Any carries in any other direction were inefficient by definition. Whether you do or don’t buy that the Cowboys wanted to make Zeke a thing again out of some level of loyalty to a favorite player of theirs (this would never happen, no way they would let a player un-retire from a totally different profession like, I don’t know, broadcasting, only to return and command a lion’s share of snaps at their position) they at best completely misevaluated the talent on their own roster by not committing to this path many, many months ago. A huge part of the operation has to be questioned and fixed. The Micah Parsons extension talk is just around the corner from all of this As things stand we have maybe a month separating us from the Dallas Cowboys having a new coach. Things can work fast once the regular season is over. Of course, that proposition still carries an “if” given that we do not know if the team will decide to retain Mike McCarthy after all. They are speaking positively of him in this current moment, but what else can they really say with a month to go as noted? One thing that is for certain is that the moment the dust settles on this disaster of a season the hourglass flips upside down for Micah Parsons and talks surrounding a contract extension for him. The Cowboys already burnt up some time in that hourglass by not getting it done last offseason and in not taking care of CeeDee Lamb or Dak Prescott until the eleventh hour they drew a ton of national attention to themselves (that maybe did not quite exist at the level it does now) for how they go about stalling on these massive deals. If the Cowboys are quick to get an extension done with Parsons, something that seems inevitable and an objective they would want to take care of, then they will prove that on some level they learned from the chaos of last offseason; however, if they delay and stall yet again then we can lower expectations around the head coaching search (assuming there is one) because no one will be able to save the franchise from themselves.

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images Rico Dowdle was one of the bright spots amid the Cowboys loss on Monday night. Monday night was a different kind of frustration for the Dallas Cowboys. Unlike every other loss this season, the Cowboys were very much in the fight against the Cincinnati Bengals. Dare I say they took things almost the entire distance before they ultimately succumbed. Obviously the Amani Oruwariye situation highlights the game and day in a way that makes everything else feel rather insignificant. Close only counts in horseshoes as far as competition is concerned and the Cowboys coming “close” to winning does nothing for actually earning a victory. Thankfully we can have and provide a little bit more context in our assessment of the game. This was the “best” loss of the season for Dallas in that they looked competitive all throughout which means that we have some atta-boys and demerits to hand out. Welcome to our stock report following Monday night’s disaster. Stock Up: Rico Dowdle It was absurd for the Cowboys to approach the running back position the way that they did through the first half of November. That Rico Dowdle is performing the way he is only exacerbated that absurdity. Dowdle looks incredible since being given a legitimate amount of touches which calls into even more question the way that the front office and coaching staff evaluated this thing from the jump. Consider that Dowdle’s performance was just the fifth this season across the league where a player averaged 7.3 yards per carry with at least 18 of them to his name. The Cowboys kept this from us! Stock Up: Micah Parsons We have talked about this a few times since he said it, but that Micah Parsons has done all within his power to try and drag this Cowboys team forward after saying he would not tank, and that he believed in them, is a very impressive thing. Parsons did not totally get home on Monday night, but he was an absolute menace snap in and snap out. He was emotional after the game, partly due to the devastation involving the DeMarivon Overshown injury, and even if you think that he should have done this or that, I’d offer that a player showing that kind of passion is a good thing for this team. Parsons is doing all he can and then some. Stock Up: Trevon Diggs A similar level of endorsement is deserved for Trevon Diggs after Monday night. Returning from injury, Diggs did all he could to try and help the Cowboys slow down Ja’Marr Chase. In an overall sense that effort fell short, but not because of any lack of effort from Diggs specifically. Getting that kind of play from one of the leaders on the defense who is already on his second contract, that is the right stuff. Stock Up: CeeDee Lamb Did you know that CeeDee Lamb is third in receiving yards this season? It is notable that CeeDee Lamb has not given up amid the dysfunction that has surrounded this Cowboys team for some time now. He has kept fighting. Lamb was mysteriously ignored for much of this second half (after being quite productive) which will never be something that makes sense. But he certainly did his part when he was involved. Stock Up: Marist Liufau The Overshown injury was and remains to be devastating, but the Cowboys obviously had to finish the football game after it happened and came close to winning it. Marist Liufau was a big reason for that. We have talked a lot about how the Liufau selection could/should have been a running back for the Cowboys. But his best work came when he was called upon in a moment of need on Monday night. He was spectacular. Stock Up: The makeshift offensive line Our last kudos goes to the Cowboys offensive line at large because they did an incredible job of surviving. Already down Zack Martin, the group lost Cooper Beebe before the game was over. That they were able to make things happen with so many backups playing is a real testament to the discipline from the collective. Stock Down: Amani Oruwariye Nobody wants to pick on the situation, but we have to acknowledge it. Amani Oruwariye committed an error that is coached in the early days of learning to play football. There are certainly some interesting ways to explore what could have been in his mind when he tried to field the ball after Dallas blocked Cincinnati’s punt attempt, but ultimately he was the culprit who touched it and made it live and opened the door for disaster. This cannot happen. Stock Down: John Fassel Some people were fine with Juanyeh Thomas returning Washington’s onside kick attempt when the Cowboys won there a few weeks back. If you feel it was a fine decision for Thomas, you can also acknowledge that him falling down after he recovered the ball was technically the correct decision to make. Understood? Cool. If you can indeed come to terms with the Thomas situation, then the Oruwariye one makes a second common sense flub that the Cowboys special teams group has had in a three-game stretch. How is this possible? We are not talking about some overly-aggressive fake punt attempts which in and of themselves are worthy of debate and potential criticism. What we are discussing here is basic, fundamental stuff that the Cowboys are getting wrong. John Fassel is either not instructing his unit of the literal rules of the game or is not having his messaging totally understood. Whatever the case, that cannot continue. Stock Down: Jalen Tolbert So much has happened to this Cowboys team this season and that has made evaluating the offense a difficult thing. That is fair. But did we not just note up top how CeeDee Lamb is managing to thrive? He is obviously CeeDee Lamb, but why can’t Jalen Tolbert find a similar path to success? We are

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images There were a handful of moments that were bigger than others on Monday night… including the one you are thinking. The Cowboys failed to notch their first three-game win streak of the season, falling 27-20 to the Bengals. It was a close game from start to finish, and while there aren’t any individual plays from this entire game that stick out in anyone’s mind, here are five plays that were massive in the final outcome of the game. Cooper Rush’s interception takes away points The Cowboys offense was on fire right out of the gate, moving down the field with ease and scoring a touchdown. The Bengals matched on their next drive to tie things up 7-7, but a huge play from CeeDee Lamb put Dallas right back in scoring range. Then, tragedy struck. Rush looked Lamb’s way on a quick slant, but the receiver never got there. He was knocked down by a defender, a clean play since it occurred within the five yard cushion, but that allowed Geno Stone to pick off the pass. There was really nothing that could be done differently here, as Lamb didn’t have time to evade the defender and Rush got the ball out before it even happened, but the play was huge. The Cowboys needed as many points as they could get, and turning it over in the red zone early on was devastating. Luke Schoonmaker’s penalty backs offense up The Cowboys were hot to start the third quarter too, scoring a touchdown on their opening drive and then picking off Joe Burrow right after that. With the game tied at 17 a piece, the Cowboys were moving the ball with some real potential. After a first-down conversion from Rico Dowdle, Rush got sacked for a loss of one yard. During the scrum, Luke Schoonmaker shoved a Bengals defender, who then put on an award-worthy acting performance and fell to the ground, drawing a flag. Schoonmaker was hit with an unnecessary roughness penalty, and since the foul occurred after the play, it meant the down counted and the 15 yards was then tacked on. Just like that, the Cowboys were looking at second and 26, and they predictably had to settle for a field goal. That’s a bitter pill to swallow after the drive looked destined for more. Joe Burrow finds Mike Gesicki on hot route Still, the field goal from Brandon Aubrey gave the Cowboys a 20-17 lead, and the Bengals needed to respond. The fourth quarter had just begun, and time was ticking away for them to reclaim the lead. A few big plays got them right on the cusp of field goal range. On first down, Burrow dropped back to pass, but was quickly greeted by Micah Parsons screaming down on him, completely unblocked. The quarterback fired a quick pass to Mike Gesicki over the middle of the field, who had beaten Donovan Wilson off his break. Gesicki picked up 13 yards and put the Bengals firmly into field goal range. More importantly, the quick thinking from Burrow prevented a certain sack that likely would have pushed them out of range for kicker Cade York, who tied the game up just four plays later. The whole punt block fiasco Yes, of course we’re going to talk about this play. The most impactful play of the game, without question, came right out of the two minute warning. A string of penalties for the Bengals and a third down sack set up a fourth and 27. Cincinnati came out to punt. The Cowboys did something great. And then something the exact opposite of great. Bro. pic.twitter.com/guErISs6BL — Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 10, 2024 Nick Vigil made a game-changing block of the punt that could have potentially sealed a game-winning field goal try for Aubrey, and Amani Oruwariye literally let it slip through his fingers. It was a mental error of Leon Lett proportions. Not only did it rob them of great starting field position, but it gave the Bengals a fresh set of downs. Three plays later, Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase for the game-winner. Cooper Rush doesn’t see wide open CeeDee Lamb As catastrophic as the blocked punt fiasco was for the Cowboys, it wasn’t the end. The quick score for Chase was actually a good thing, as it gave Rush and the offense the ball back with 61 seconds to score and all three timeouts. Before long, though, the Cowboys were facing fourth down and needing seven for the first down just on their side of the 50. Rush ended up firing high and incomplete to Jake Ferguson, but Lamb came wide open in the middle of the field right before he threw it. Man, CeeDee Lamb looks to be wide open on the final play of the game. If Cooper Rush just looks to his left, it’s first down and then some.#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/I0NlSW9s4h — Brandon Loree (@Brandoniswrite) December 10, 2024 Had Rush seen Lamb, the first down would’ve been an easy one, and Lamb probably gains plenty more. The offense would’ve been pressed for time to get up and clock the ball, but they at least would’ve had more of a chance than they did when Rush missed Ferguson, effectively ending the game.

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images The Cowboys are officially underdogs this week. The Dallas Cowboys have had such a poor season that they are now underdogs to the Carolina Panthers in Week 15. Fanduel has Dallas as 1.5-point dogs. It wasn’t long ago that the Panthers were labeled as the worst team in the league, but lately they have been making strides. The New York Giants and Las Vegas Raiders are now battling for the crown of worst franchise… for now. It would have been interesting to see what these odds would have been had the Cowboys resisted touching that blocked punt and blowing the game. If Dallas just left that punt alone, they would have gotten the ball already within Brandon Aubrey’s range. Would a win in that game meant totally different odds for this week? We’ll never know. Another interesting thing to take into account now is that the Bengals’ game effectively ended any playoff hopes for Dallas. Just how much will that loss, and the way they lost it, affect the team going forward? Will effort still be there? Will players be less likely to push through injuries and will assistant coaches start working on their résumés? Anyway, it all adds up to the Cowboys being underdogs on the road to the Panthers. It’s that kind of season.

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images The Dallas Cowboys lost on Monday night and we have some thoughts on what happened The winning streak of the Dallas Cowboys came to an end after losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-20 on Monday night. It was a competitive game going back and forth and being tied three times before the Bengals delivered the dagger late. There were some good things from this Cowboys football team, but it wasn’t enough and they dropped to 5-8 on the year, 1-6 at AT&T Stadium, and putting their hopes for a playoff berth on life support. Here are 10 thoughts on this Monday night 1. A GREAT START This game couldn’t have started any better for the Cowboys. The Bengals’ offense went three-and-out on their first possession and the Cowboys’ offense marched down the field and orchestrated a nine-play, 60-yard drive, capped off by an 11-yard CeeDee Lamb touchdown in the corner of the end zone. Just like that, the Cowboys jumped ahead with a 7-0 lead. 2. COSTLY TURNOVER The Bengals answered with an 11-play drive that went 70 yards to tie the game at 7-7. The Cowboys’ offense looked poised to answer right back with another score of their own, but those plans changed real quickly. Cooper Rush tried to hit CeeDee Lamb on a slant, but the ball got deflected and ended up in the arms of Bengals defender Geno Stone at the four-yard line. Just like that, the Cowboys came away with nada. This was the seventh time the Cowboys have turned the ball over in the red zone this season, the most in the NFL. 3. A CAREER BEST FOR RICO One bright spot for the Cowboys was the continued resurgence of running back Rico Dowdle. On the night, Rico rushed the ball 18 times for 131 yards for an average of 7.4 yards per carry. It was a new career high for Dowdle. The 26-year-old running back looked great as he was weaving through creases and showed good burst. It’s taken a while but the Cowboys running game is starting to show life and could mean more Dowdle in the future. 4. THE OLINE SHUFFLE What made the Cowboys’ rushing performance even more impressive was how they did it with a depleted offensive line. The team learned this week that they would be without Zack Martin for the rest of the year. They are also rolling with veteran Chuma Edoga at left tackle over rookie Tyler Guyton. On Monday night, they lost rookie center Cooper Beebe when he left the game with a concussion. This forced Brock Hoffman to slide over to center and T.J. Bass to play right guard. With all the shuffling the Cowboys have had on the offensive line, it’s crazy that the run game can stay afloat let alone get better. 5. MORE INJURIES The offense was without Beebe, but the defense suffered a huge blow when linebacker DeMarvion Overshown went down in the second half with a knee injury. It’s unclear the extent of his injury, but it doesn’t look good. Beebe and Overshown have been two of the better young players on this roster and it’s unpleasant to see them go down. The Cowboys have endured injuries to all of the All-Pros not named CeeDee Lamb, so now it appears the injury bug is coming after their future All-Pros. 6. GOING BACKWARD When Jourdan Lewis got flagged for pass interference it put the Bengals at their 46-yard line with 4:10 left to play in the game. They didn’t have much farther to go to get into a game-winning field goal position. It wasn’t looking good, but then two offensive holding penalties pushed the Bengals back. The tide had turned and the Bengals were forced to punt at their own 27-yard line, setting the table for the Cowboys to have a shot a game-winning drive themselves. 7. SPECIAL TEAM CRAZINESS When linebacker Nick Vigil flew up the middle and got his hands on the Bengals’ punt attempt, the crowd erupted. For a split second, we realized the Cowboys would get the ball already in Brandon Aubrey field goal range. But then we watched the ball bounce a little further and could see disaster before it happened. Backup corner Amani Oruwariye just couldn’t resist trying to catch the ball on a bounce in hopes of returning it. Unfortunately, he mishandled it and the Bengals recovered. You might remember a similar Now, it was Cincy sitting with a great field position with a chance to take the lead. 8. A TERRIBLE FINISH After the punt block snafu, things went south in a hurry. It only took the Bengals three plays to jump ahead, largely thanks to a pass to JaMarr Chase where he scampered to the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. Cincinnati went up 27-20 with just over a minute to play. The Cowboys just didn’t have it in them to answer. Cooper Rush stumbled trying to escape for a three-yard gain, got sacked for an eight-yard loss, and then threw a floating duck on fourth down that went incomplete. The Cowboys quickly turned the ball over on downs and the game was over. 9. NO ANSWER FOR CHASE The Bengals got their star receiver involved early in often. Chase finished the game with 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. While the Cowboys’ defense did a good job on his teammate Tee Higgins (two catches for 23 yards), they had no answer for Chase. He did a great job getting open and when he had the ball in his hands he churned out extra yards. On his game-winning touchdown catch, he caught DaRon Bland taking a bad angle and Chase was off to the races. 10. NO CHANCE WITH RUSH It’s unfortunate that the Cowboys can play well for a large part of the game, but ultimately be held back by the limitations of backup quarterback Cooper Rush. There were times he delivered some good balls