Due to acquainted miscues, the Dallas Cowboys are off to their worst begin in years
The Dallas Cowboys don’t run the ball nicely. Their much-hoped-for defensive turnaround hasn’t materialized.
Unable to rely on both, the Cowboys have hinged their playoff hopes for a 3rd straight season on the best arm of quarterback Dak Prescott. The end result? Their worst file by way of six video games since 2020.
“The effort is true, the battle is true,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer stated. “Mistakes are killing us.”
They continued in a 23-13 loss to Green Bay on “Sunday Night Football” that left the Cowboys 2-4.
As they chase their first playoff berth since 2023, a lone silver lining has been the dreadful state of the NFC East, the place the Cowboys aren’t out of competition because of the up-and-down struggles of division-leading New York (3-2-1), a rash of accidents in Philadelphia (2-4) and the regression of Washington (1-3-1).
All 4 groups within the division have a adverse scoring differential, the one division this season to do this.
What makes Dallas troublesome to rely out was seen on the scoring drive that pulled it inside 23-13 with 44 seconds to play in Sunday’s fourth quarter, after Prescott led a 13-play, 78-yard drive capped by his scramble away from two tacklers earlier than throwing a landing move on the run.
Prescott’s capacity, coupled with receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens — their 862 mixed receiving yards getting into Sunday had been second-most by a duo within the league — left Dallas seventh within the league in factors scored getting into Week 6.
Yet what makes Dallas troublesome to rely on was additionally on show simply 4 minutes earlier within the fourth quarter. Needing 11 yards on fourth right down to proceed their drive and reduce right into a 23-7 Packers lead, Prescott narrowly prevented a sack earlier than lofting a move that sailed out the again of the tip zone, not near any explicit Cowboys receiver.
The reliance on Prescott largely paid off to start this season, as he threw eight touchdowns in opposition to only one interception by way of his first 4 video games. In the final two, although, Prescott has two touchdowns and 4 interceptions. The latter whole doesn’t embody an interception Sunday that was negated by a Green Bay penalty for roughing the passer.
Dallas’ protection “performed a ok recreation for us to go on the market and win this,” Prescott stated. “We simply didn’t maintain our personal on offense.”
Struggles in opposition to Green Bay are nothing new for the Cowboys, who’re 1-11-1 of their final 13 conferences in opposition to the Packers. Entering Sunday’s recreation, the Cowboys had allowed at the least 30 factors of their final six video games in opposition to Green Bay, the longest streak of any crew in opposition to Dallas within the franchise’s historical past.
Yet a lot of what has ailed Dallas in opposition to Green Bay applies to the remainder of their opponents, as nicely, and has left them hardly ever capable of make constant progress towards changing into a professional playoff contender.
Since Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn left to teach Washington in 2023 on the heels of manufacturing the league’s fifth-best protection, the Cowboys have been a defensive sieve, with three totally different coordinators in as a few years. The Cowboys ranked second-to-last in scoring protection in 2024, and useless final final season earlier than hiring Christian Parker, a first-time coordinator at any degree, to design a turnaround this fall. The Cowboys memorably stopped wrecking-ball Baltimore working again Derrick Henry twice on fourth-and-short throughout a Week 3 win; additionally they have ranked second-to-last in yards allowed, and resorted to hiring the retired defensive coach Mike Pettine final week to assist Parker.
When Dallas linebacker Dee Winters picked off Green Bay’s Jordan Love early within the first half by anticipating a route from Matthew Golden, it was the Cowboys’s first interception this season. They had been the final crew to file one.
Apart from that takeaway, Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love hardly ever appeared bothered. When Dallas pressured Love on greater than half of his 44 dropbacks, he accomplished 11 of his 19 passes, anyway. Though Green Bay’s 23 factors had been the second-fewest allowed by Dallas this season, the whole may have simply been greater, after Packers receiver Matthew Golden dropped what gave the impression to be two probably landing receptions; after one drop, the Packers’ drive stalled and settled for a discipline objective. The Packers additionally picked aside Dallas on third down.
They weren’t the one ones to take action, nevertheless. Dallas entered Week 6 permitting opponents to transform greater than 52% of their third-down opportunities, the league’s highest proportion.
Before his promotion final yr to go coach, Schottenheimer helped design the Cowboys’ offense that has leaned closely on Prescott; on Sunday, he tried 54 passes, finishing 34. But even the passing recreation that has usually been one of many league’s best has generated simply 29 whole factors over its final two video games.
“We put ourselves in a gap,” Schottenheimer stated. “There’s a method out of it.”
