The Cowboys were terrible on Thursday night and managed to make history in the worst possible way. With the loss to the Buccaneers, Dallas became just the second team since 1975 to go 0-4 at home. It’s what we’ve come to expect from the Cowboys’ exceptionalism over the past three decades — because extreme mediocrity has been their brand.
It would be easier to win over fans if there was a single fault link, something you could easily point to and say: “This that’s why Dallas loses.” Unfortunately, there’s no answer to what went wrong, no silver bullet, nothing to focus on, fix, or improve. Sure, you can point to Jerry and Stephen Jones as the problem—and they’re not wrong. there is problems, but there are many problems. Dallas has shuffled coaches over the years, made dumb trades, invested big money in their stars, and yet they’re still going to lose to a winless football team with a backup QB under center making his first NFL start.
As mentioned, Jerry and Stephen Jones are big problems. They have a problem for a long time. Jerry, the platonic ideal of a meddlesome owner, has made sure he’s the smartest guy in the room for the better part of four decades. Jones boldly stated that his team would improve by going out when it came to knocking down Micah Parsons — which they didn’t. He was the driving force behind the trade of a first-round pick for DT Quinnen Williams, citing Dallas’ need to bolster its defense. Williams has objectively disappointed since his arrival, projecting his future as an average starter rather than someone you trade. It was a team that had three straight 12-win seasons under Mike McCarthy, whom Jerry fired after failing to get the Cowboys over the hump — handing the keys to Brian Schottenheimer, a middling coach in his own right. Stephen has always been there to meet his father’s worst tendencies, typified by his trade to Joey Porter Jr. Make no mistake: He’s a phenomenal football player, but this is the kind of visionary deal you make when you’re convinced the team is one player away, not for where Dallas is right now.
Brian Schottenheimer is a problem. The Cowboys coach now has a 9-12-1 record, has dragged the team down since his arrival and clearly hurt Dak Prescott’s play. Schottenheimer admitted that it changes a lot at the QB position, which is a wild reception when you have a 10-year specialist under center and you treat him like a third-year QB who needs to rebuild. Furthermore, Schottenheimer had no answers as to why the clock management was so bad at the end of the Cowboys’ loss to the Ravens in Brazil. It turns out that hiring him was a huge mistake and Dallas would be a better team now if they had kept Mike McCarthy or the promoted Kellen Moore instead of losing him, or if they had kept Jason Garrett at this rate.
It’s not entirely his fault, though Dak Prescott has also become a problem. One thing that destroys NFL offenses is not necessarily bad QB play, but inconsistency. Unfortunately for Prescott, he turned out to be an incredibly inconsistent quarterback, capable of phenomenal highs and equally stunning lows. One game he’ll look like an All-Pro worthy of a Top 3 QB, then he’ll play like he did Thursday night against a defense ranked 21st in pass defense entering Week 5. Dak weather became QB. If CeeDee Lamb gets open regularly and the run game clicks – then he will pick teams apart. Get into a bit of trouble and Prescott will tend to force the ball instead of solving the problem. something happening and eventually getting himself into a hole.
To avoid being left out Dallas defense is also an issue. It was believed that the hiring of Christian Parker away from the Eagles would allow this team to emulate Philadelphia’s defensive success, but instead it was a mess. Despite having strong talent on that side of the ball, the defense is near the worst in the league in every statistical category. The Cowboys are 24th against the pass, 30th against the run, 28th in points allowed and 30th in total defense. When you have a porous defense, it becomes one of the worst features of the Dallas offense, putting the team in a hole and asking Dak to get out of it – leading to a lot of unnecessary turnovers.
Oh, and special teams allowed blocked field goals in back-to-back games for good measure.
The worst part of all of this for Cowboys fans is that there is no easy way out. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it’s just a coaching problem, QB problem or defensive issues may take time to fix – but it all comes down to the Joneses at the top. Neither Jerry nor Stephen go away, and their incredible ability to make terrible decisions speaks volumes when billionaires get involved. The Cowboys are in the mix again, mediocrity is their trademark and there is no running.