Team ownership responsible for Cowboys' early season soft spots

Late into the night time on Sunday, the ocean of discontent was washing over the Dallas Cowboys.

They’d suffered a considerably embarrassing 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at residence, in a sport that wasn’t a lot of a battle till the ultimate half of the fourth quarter. The protection had been flattened for an absurd 274 speeding yards. The offense had been largely toothless a lot of the night time, undermined by a scheme that's struggling to search out steadiness between an atrophied operating sport and inconsistent passing assault. All bonded collectively by a solid of gamers who seem to have misplaced curiosity in masking their frustrations.

You may see it within the face of quarterback Dak Prescott, who was captured on video side-eyeing reporters as he walked to the Cowboys’ locker room — declaring to seemingly everybody in earshot, “Jump off if you want. Please. Please, please, please.”

You may additionally see it within the disappearance of wideout CeeDee Lamb, whose absence within the locker room was famous by a number of reporters on social media. Later, you might hear it within the voice of head coach Mike McCarthy, who navigated his method by means of clichés about Dallas needing to look “straight into the mirror,” being “a work in progress” and needing “to clean our own house.” Right about that point, McCarthy’s predecessor with the Cowboys, former head coach Jason Garrett, was wielding a sharper edge on the pregame present of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” doling out eyebrow-raising criticism that successfully labeled Dallas as soft.

“Everybody understands this about the Cowboys now,” Garrett stated. “They’re not a physical football team — we have to go in there and run the ball. The last two years they were dominant at home. [But] I think teams have found a formula. Run the ball, get ahead. That’s what silences that pass rush. The Ravens controlled most of the ballgame because they handed the ball off [and] dominated the line of scrimmage.”

This just isn't a chaotic tough patch the Cowboys noticed coming. Not after anchoring the offense with monster contract extensions for Prescott and Lamb. Not after changing departed defensive coordinator Dan Quinn with crew ownership-favored Mike Zimmer. And definitely not after Dallas beat the brakes off a gifted Cleveland Browns crew 33-17 on the street in Week 1, then heading again to the pleasant confines of AT&T Stadium for Weeks 2 and three.

But right here the Cowboys are, sputtering at 1-2 after back-to-back residence defeats to the New Orleans Saints and Ravens — destroyed by operating video games in each losses, whereas being concurrently pissed off by their very own offensive errors and inconsistencies. The latter of which bought so unhealthy towards the Ravens that Fox's Tom Brady dropped his manicured broadcasting facade for a second following a Dallas false begin within the third quarter, lamenting in a disgusted tone, “Another penalty. Oh my god.”

He would possibly as effectively have been talking for most (if not all) of the Cowboys fan base, which was nothing wanting apoplectic on social media for the vast majority of Sunday’s loss.

Maybe the lone silver lining for Dallas was that failing to drag off a miraculous comeback late within the fourth quarter assured this loss received’t be glossed over. Instead, it is going to be targeted by means of how Dallas bought right here, with a soft defensive underbelly that may’t cease operating video games — to not point out an offense that feels extra predicated on finesse than ever (and vulnerable to falling out of steadiness when it’s trailing in video games). That was all uncovered once more for a second straight week, when Ravens operating again Derrick Henry pounded Dallas for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

Henry was flanked by quarterback Lamar Jackson, who threw for 182 yards and ran for one other 87, whereas gathering each a passing and speeding landing. Jackson additionally helped ice the Cowboys on Baltimore’s closing drive, throwing and speeding for two key first downs that ended the sport. Along the way in which, Jackson was by no means sacked and barely below vital stress.

It showcased actual issues with the Cowboys. Some of that is extension-related salary-cap points. Some of it's scheme. Some of it's player-driven. Some of it's monetary stubbornness and an absence of creativity. All of it, in some sense, will be traced to ownership errors that occurred way back (just like the failures to do the Lamb and Prescott extensions earlier) or extra just lately (slicing monetary corners at operating again). Sprinkle in draft picks who haven’t contributed the way in which Dallas hoped (see the vast majority of the 2023 class) and there’s a cause why sure elements of the depth chart really feel skinny and troubling. And all of that is even earlier than we get to the match between Zimmer’s system and the gamers carrying it out.

I need to watch out to not drop the hammer on that final level as a result of it’s nonetheless early and fixable coordinator kinks can someday linger into the center of the season at first comes collectively. But clearly, the defensive entrance is now a large crimson flag for Dallas, with the entrance seven trying fully out of types in back-to-back weeks that noticed the Cowboys quit a mixed 464 speeding yards and 6 touchdowns. While it’s not precisely the Mike Nolan-era panic assault, there may be undoubtedly one thing odd happening contained in the scheme. That a lot was made apparent by DeMarcus Lawrence, who informed reporters there was an excessive amount of “hero ball” being performed, to which Micah Parsons echoed that gamers must do their jobs. At one level Sunday, Lawrence and Parsons have been seen having an animated dialogue on the sideline, too.

These aren’t the sorts of issues that get introduced up when a scheme and its personnel are functioning accurately. Nor are they a difficulty when the celebs in a defensive unit are in a position to cowl up for soft spots. Neither Lawrence or Parsons have been in a position to do this for two straight video games. If that continues in Thursday’s street sport towards the New York Giants, you'll be able to guess all the things about these defensive points goes to get considerably amplified.

Sunday night time, crew proprietor Jerry Jones stated it wasn’t a personnel downside. Or a training downside. Or even a spending downside — which he defended after getting pressed about not courting Henry prior to his signing with the Ravens. Instead, Jones handed all of it off as merely issues that must be labored into form. He solid all of it as solvable issues. But make no mistake, they're Jerry’s issues. And in the event that they aren’t resolved quickly, that’s what everybody will probably be specializing in in a season that may slip away as shortly as the enjoyment of that Week 1 win.