Dallas City News

It was not a good Sunday for the Dallas Cowboys as they were embarrassed in front of their home crowd in a 47-9 loss courtesy of the Detroit Lions. Expectations were already tempered with a very good Lions team coming to town. Sadly, things went about as bad as one might expect and the Cowboys once again find themselves with a lot of questions. Here are 10 thoughts on this very distressing defeat on Sunday.

1. What a mess

It was a mismatch from the beginning. Everyone knew the Lion’s offense was going to be tough to stop and with a depleted Cowboys’ defense, things needed to align perfectly for Dallas to have a chance. It didn’t. Things came unglued rather early. The offense couldn’t score and the defense could stop the Lions from scoring. The Lions put up 492 yards of offense which was almost double what the Cowboys did.

2. No touchdowns for you!

The Lions don’t have a stellar defense, but you wouldn’t know it by how the Cowboys offense played. The Cowboys never found the end zone in this one. What is sad is they moved the ball down the field a few times, but similar to last week, they couldn’t punch it in. Whether it’s settling for field goals or throwing picks in the end zone, the Cowboys offense is very bad at scoring in the red zone. When the field shrinks, the offense wilts.

3. Dak was bad

In a game where they needed a great game from their quarterback, Prescott wasn’t up to the task. He finished the game 17/33 for 178 yards and two interceptions. There actually could have been more picks as passes were deflected and up in the air for grabs. Too many times, Prescott threw into tight windows or just let the ball get away from him. This is looking like 2022 again. Should we be worried? We know Dak is capable of better, but he did not look good on Sunday.

4. Sloppy ball security

The Cowboys offense turned the ball over five times in this game. It wasn’t just the Dak picks. Cooper Rush got in on the action too when he underthrew a pass of his own in the end zone. The Cowboys kept giving it away with a lost fumble from Ryan Flournoy and KaVontae Turpin. Five giveaways are really bad. The Cowboys’ offense hasn’t been that sloppy since 2014 when Tony Romo threw four interceptions and Dez Bryant and Felix Jones each lost a fumble.

5. Admit you have a problem

For some reason, Mike McCarthy loves taking the ball first to start the game. It would be smart if they could carry out some great offensive plan, but they can’t. The team’s running game is hanging on by a thread, but the coaching staff is completely oblivious to it. They start the game trying to establish some balance, but it never works. Instead, they stall out and put too much pressure on the passing game. The Cowboys either need to fix their rushing attack or deviate from it so they can have a fighting chance.

6. No protection up the middle

While everyone was worried about the tackles holding up in this game, a lot of pressure came from the inside. Defensive tackle Alim McNeil was a beast as he got loose and sacked Prescott twice in this game. The Lions disguised their pressure well and Dak had defenders in his face a lot in this game. That’s a bad situation to be in when they had to rely so much on their passing game.

7. Lions feasted on the defense

Many will point to the 184 yards the Cowboys’ defense allowed on the ground as the big problem for the defense. And they’re right. David Montgomery and Jahmry Gibbs had their way, each averaging over five yards per carry. But the defense also fell victim to too many broken coverages. Whether it came from trick plays or all day to throw, the defense allowed passing plays of at least 35 yards to four different Lions receivers. Any way the Lions offense wanted to attack, the Cowboys had no answers.

8. It was over by halftime

It’s been a rough go for the Cowboys over their last four games at home. For some reason, they struggle early and never come out of the rut. Again and again, they put themselves into deep holes before the first half is even over.

This is very weird. They just haven’t been ready to play on their own turf and they repeatedly put themselves in tough spots before halftime even rolls around.

9. A clever return

After the Lions scored a touchdown with 36 seconds left in the second half to go up 27-3. McCarthy used two of his timeouts to salvage what little time he could so the offense had a shot to get points before the end of the half. And it was a good thing he did because the special teams came up with a nice fake reverse that was just enough of a step in the wrong direction to spring KaVontae Turpin loose for 79 yards. Sadly, the Cowboys could only muster a field goal, but the excitement was good while it lasted.

10. The Lions hold a grudge

Everyone remembers how the game ended last year when these two teams faced off. The Lions almost escaped with a victory when a two-point conversion was negated by a penalty when an offensive lineman failed to report eligible. We knew the Cowboys were in for it when the Lions trotted backup offensive lineman Dan Skipper on the field on the Lions’ first offensive play of the game. Two other times, they tried to get cute with their lineman, first with a pass attempt to Taylor Decker and then later Penie Sewell almost scored on a lateral, only to be negated by another penalty. The Lions’ coaching staff was adamant about sending a message and tried to stick it to the Cowboys for how things ended last year.