Dallas City News

The Cowboys may have been able to make things close on Sunday, losing by just a field goal, but the fact remains that they sit at 1-2 so far on the year. The good news is they get a chance to get right back on the field, with a road trip to face the suspect Giants.

The bad news is that, for the second straight week, the Cowboys looked lifeless at home against a really good team. Dallas couldn’t get anything going for the first three quarters, and finally broke out of their malaise in the fourth, but it was too little and too late. Despite that, Jerry Jones made comments following the game that basically amounted to “Everything is fine, nothing to see here.”

As is often the case, Jones’ comments have provoked a strong reaction from the fanbase. Our own Tom Ryle and David Howman tackle the question on everybody’s minds: is this guy for real?

Tom: If you mean does this indicate how the team is approaching the season, it is far too real. The running game is dismal, and that is about equally due to a lackluster running back group and an offensive line that is very much a work in progress. The line’s issues also are causing too much pressure on Dak Prescott. We did see some hope for the receiver group, as both Kavontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert had productive days, but the connection with CeeDee Lamb is not clicking the way it should, and there were far too many incompletions overall. On defense, they are giving up far too many easy yards on the ground, while the secondary is also having a hard time. There are multiple places this roster needs to be better, but Jerry is content to play the hand he is dealt.

Of course, that is because Jerry is the dealer. It is one more case of the dysfunction that comes with having the owner and general manager being one person. And let me point out that the Giants just beat the Cleveland Browns. While that may be more about the Browns being a hot mess, it still means the Thursday night game may not be the cakewalk some expect.

David: The moment I get worried about facing Daniel Jones is the moment I give up football entirely. The only thing that could complicate things this week for the Cowboys is traveling to New Jersey on a short week, but the Cowboys ought to be accustomed to that by now.

What they’re not accustomed to, as it’s become clear now, is facing tough opponents this early in the season. With the uptick in NFL teams who don’t play their starters in the preseason, we’ve seen a trend in which teams don’t really start to hit their stride until Week 3 or Week 4. That helps contextualize the Cowboys right now, at least in my mind. The Cowboys team we saw in the fourth quarter is winning the NFC East and potentially making some noise in the playoffs.

The challenge, of course, is bottling that up and extrapolating it over the rest of the season. But that brief glimpse we got in this game is a team that is built to contend. That would line up with Jerry’s contentment with the personnel, and I really don’t think this roster is bad or even subpar. I have felt that this is a team that needed a little longer in the oven, and it might just be time to take them out and enjoy a feast.

Tom: You might reconsider that comment about Daniel Jones, because he had a very nice day against the Browns, who are supposed to be pretty good on defense. And the problem with looking to the fourth quarter against the Ravens is that we don’t know if that is the true nature of a team that looked entirely different for the preceding seven quarters of football.

I hope that the team finally found its stride at the end of the Baltimore loss, but it is nothing more than hope, and it could well be wistful thinking, because this roster just has so many deficiencies. Really good coaching could go a long way toward alleviating things, but my confidence in Mike McCarthy and Mike Zimmer has plummeted. I do agree that the Giants are a less formidable opponent than they have faced over the past two games. So far, Dallas has failed to rise to the occasion, and they are going to have to look a whole lot better this week to offer any chance to salvage a season that is teetering on spiraling out of control.

David: I just have such a hard time doubting the ability of this roster. The core nucleus of this team is the same as last year, which won 12 games for the third straight year and was a pretty darn good football team. Sure, they didn’t deliver in the postseason, but this is almost the same exact team, especially in the positions that matter most.

The biggest change is on defense, with Mike Zimmer taking the reins. His scheme is notoriously complex, so I’m not entirely shocked to see a bit of a learning curve on that side of the ball. But Zimmer knows what he’s doing, and the veterans on this team – namely Eric Kendricks and Linval Joseph – should help the players get up to speed on the scheme before too long. The defense has flashed at times in all three games, and those flashes have looked promising.

The offense finally got some things going too, especially in the passing game. CeeDee Lamb is learning firsthand why offseason training programs are important to participate in, but he and Prescott will be back to their game-wrecking selves in no time. Like I said, the core nucleus of a really good team a year ago remains intact. Perhaps the players aren’t performing up to their capability, or the coaching has stumbled a bit out of the gate, but from a purely roster building standpoint, this is another team that’s right at the top of the league in terms of pure talent.

Tom: There are definitely some talented players from last year, but they lost some key players, and it was generally accepted the roster was not as good as they had last season once the offseason acquisitions were done. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one, because I think the roster is where the real issues lie, no matter how the coaches do.

David: Well, to quote a former Cowboys player, “if the owner ain’t trippin’, we good.”