FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys have been served some “humble pie” within the phrases of linebacker Eric Kendricks after their 44-19 loss towards the New Orleans Saints.
It's a good metaphor for their efficiency because the Dallas protection was solely the fifth since 2000 to permit a group to rating a landing on every of their first six drives to begin the sport. Saints five-time Pro Bowl operating again Alvin Kamara, alongside with new Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and his Shanahan tree offense, led the cost. Kamara went off for 180 yards from scrimmage (115 speeding on 20 carries and 65 receiving on two catches) to go alongside with 4 touchdowns (three speeding and one receiving), which now stands as essentially the most scrimmage touchdowns ever in a Saints highway recreation.
Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons referred to as Kamara “the main focus” through the week, and despite the fact that many across the NFL world are declaring that Dallas has a scheme subject with Shanahan tree offenses, citing postseason losses towards Kyle Shanahan's 49ers (2021 and 2022) and Matt LaFleur's Green Bay Packers (2023), Parsons would not assume the disappointing efficiency towards Kamara and the Saints had something to do with scheme. Worse, he felt it had to do with the protection's effort.
“To me, it had nothing to do with the scheme,” Parsons mentioned Sunday. “I thought [defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer] called a pretty good game. There was a man (coverage) play we had in a screen (Kamara's 57-yard receiving touchdown), but at the end of the day, that's life. No play is going to be a perfect call. At the end of the day, I believe we just got outplayed. Whoever played on that field, everyone didn't play to 100%, and that's just me being accountable and saying the truth. Everyone, we all got to play better. There's some plays I wish that I had back schematically, things that I wish I was in a different position. At the end of the day, I believe I still go out there and do 100 (percent effort). I just feel like there is a lot of BS.”
Head coach Mike McCarthy disagreed wholeheartedly with Parsons' evaluation. He believes his gamers want to be higher ready in order that they fireplace off the ball and make an influence inside 2.3 seconds — his measurement of how fast essential issues occur on any given soccer play. That's the message he gave to the complete group Monday afternoon.
“I wouldn't say it's an effort issue,” McCarthy mentioned. “They finished better than we did. I thought they played better than we did at the end of each play. Not every play but overall as far as the evaluations. So that's what we're focused on moving forward.”
Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer cited the Saints' offense being faster off the snap as his fault as a result of Cowboys defensive linemen have been slower with their fingers than their New Orleans counterparts.
“I don't really think it was an effort issue,” Zimmer mentioned Monday. “They quick-counted us a few times. Obviously, they had a good scheme, but it was things we worked on.”
When the subject of his defensive tackles got here up, Zimmer refused to blame Kamara's big speeding recreation on his inside linemen.
“Really most of the guys I didn't coach up good enough. It really isn't one spot. There were things that we didn't do well. We ran under some blocks. We had some perimeter run force issues. That's [on] me.”
How ready a soccer group is to play on Sundays is one thing McCarthy takes personally, which is why he's prepared for everybody on the group facility to get again and grind.
“Days like this are hard on everybody,” he mentioned. “I know these days, you got to get past them. Obviously I'm looking forward to getting out of here so then I'll get to watch the Baltimore film. It's a grind. You put so much into these. I think it gets harder. That's been my experience the older I get. These losses are harder. You want to make sure you're being consistent with your coaches and being consistent with the players.”
Zimmer, in the meantime, may be very assured in his protection fixing the problems it displayed Sunday. Why? Well, he is already completed it as soon as earlier than. Sunday was the Cowboys' second-worst defeat in a house opener beneath proprietor Jerry Jones (since 1989). Zimmer was in the identical function as Dallas' defensive coordinator for the worst one, a 41-14 loss towards the Eagles in 2000, a recreation often known as “The Pickle Juice Game.” The Cowboys have been taking part in in Texas Stadium on a 109-degree day. Philadelphia's gamers cited ingesting pickle juice for hydration as a key to their 306 speeding yards, 201 of which got here from operating again Duce Staley. Dallas turned it round within the speeding yards division the following week, permitting simply 98 towards the Cardinals.
“My first game here as a coordinator was ‘The Pickle Juice Game,'” Zimmer mentioned. “I vowed to fix it after that. If I didn't fix those, I wouldn't be standing here today. … I didn't allow [our defense] to use our strength (Sunday against the Saints), getting into third down situations and passing situations. I got to do a better job there.”
McCarthy views September soccer within the NFL as considerably of a trial-and-error interval, with tendencies not likely being established till a group is 4 video games into the season. That's why he believes Dallas' 33-17 highway win on the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 wasn't pretty much as good because it appeared, and that is why he would not consider Sunday's 44-19 loss towards the Saints is as unhealthy because it appeared.
“It was not good yesterday … but I said seven days ago (after the Browns game) that we have a lot of work to do,” McCarthy mentioned Monday. “That wasn't lip service. We have a lot of work to do. We looked like a young inexperienced football team at the game yesterday. It was my first impression in watching all three phases last night. After going through all the eval with everybody, we need to be better. Our young guys made mistakes at unfortunate times that were costly, but that's part of playing young players. With that, I'm calling on the veterans to help pull us through those moments and that starts with preparation.”
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