Cowboys roundtable: Discussions on last week’s loss, the running game, and Week 3
Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the Roundtable. This week we have David Howman, RJ Ochoa, Brian Martin and Tom Ryle.
The Cowboys defense allowed 35 before halftime, what was the biggest problem on defense?
On Sunday we saw a monumental loss for the season home opener. The defense was extremely underwhelming and generated very little pressure up front while the secondary failed to contain anything. The game ended in a huge 44-19 loss and the immediate reaction was to ask how bad the Cleveland Browns are and did that put fans into a false sense security.
Tom: This is a trick question, right? The first half was a display of defensive ineptitude that has to include, well, everything. They couldn’t get a stop as the Saints scored a TD on all five of their possessions. There was no pressure on David Carr, and the Saints averaged a staggering 20 yards per attempt. It is not unusual for teams to still be figuring out each other in Week 2, but this looked like Mike Zimmer and the Dallas defense didn’t even know who they were preparing for. What is disturbing is that this was something we’ve seen too often: the Cowboys got punched in the mouth a couple of times early and never recovered, and that was especially true on defense.
RJ: Ultimately I think the issue is not having a proper plan for the Kyle Shanahan-style offenses. Once Dallas gets in a hole against this sort of system they are pretty much done. Couple this with the fact that the offense was only able to produce field goals for the most part early on and the quicksand quickly became overwhelming.
Brian: The better question would be what wasn’t the problem with the Cowboys defense in Week 2 against the Saints. They couldn’t stop the run, the pass rush was nonexistent, and the secondary gave up way too many chunk plays. All in all it was an abysmal performance. Hopefully they can rebound and get back to doing all the little fundamental things correctly moving forward, otherwise we may want to start getting use to performances like this.
Howman: Simply put, the defensive line was unable to put up any resistance against the Saints offensive linemen. That’s especially concerning given that Dallas specifically brought in Linval Joseph and Jordan Phillips to fortify their trenches for such games, but those two were terrible in this one. Hopefully it’s just a case of the two veterans shaking off the rust after being late additions to the team, but if not, this could be an early warning sign for this defense.
The Cowboys offense is averaging 85 rush yards per game. Both Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott lead the team in rushing with 56 yards each. Although the Saints game saw a lot of playing from behind which meant passing a lot, are you worried about this running back room yet, or the offense in general?
The running game was always a concern and with the Cowboys ranking eighth-worst in total rush yards in the first two weeks. It seems fans concerns are justified so far. How long the team can wait to add Dalvin Cook will be the big question on fans lips. But the big question should be which is worse, the Cowboys running back corps or the defense’s struggles in stopping the run, averaging 141 rush yards allowed per game.
Tom: For me, it’s the overall offense. Once again, they kept having to trot Brandon Aubrey out there as they stalled in the opponent’s end of the field. Add in that factor about trying to play catchup from the very first New Orleans possession, and it’s too early to know if the running game is an issue or not. I suspect the issues run deeper than that.
RJ: I’d be curious to see who hasn’t been worried about the run game for a while now and even though the script of things changed it is hard to see how things can be truly and totally effective. Every single rusher generated negative RYOE for the Cowboys against New Orleans. They simply do not have a playmaker or someone who can make more with less back there. It sounds like that is asking for a lot and the purpose in saying this is not to call for heavy resources to be spent there, but some resources do. They made this bed.
Brian: I’m not surprised at all Dallas’ new running back-by-committee has struggled to find any success on the ground through the first two weeks of the 2024 season. The Cowboys brass in their infinite wisdom believe they could get starting production out of the bunch of players who should be backups. Outside of doing something drastic like trading for an upgrade, we can continue to expect the Cowboys rushing attack to be more of a hindrance than a help moving forward.
Howman: Look no further, RJ, because I am not the least bit worried about this running game right now. The Cowboys started their season off against two of the best defensive lines in the NFL, and in one of them they were playing from behind almost the entire game; of course they don’t great rushing numbers. But Rico Dowdle has flashed some juice and explosion as a runner, while Ezekiel Elliott has shown promise in short yardage, downhill running situations. The run game isn’t why the Cowboys lost, not even close, and I have faith that they’ll be serviceable for the year.
This weekend the Cowboys take on the Baltimore Ravens. What are the main keys to success on offense and defense for Dallas in order to get a victory?
The Dallas Cowboys will host the Baltimore Ravens for the Week 3 clash at AT&T stadium. Kickoff will commence at 4:25 p.m. (ET) and will be on Fox. As much as a threat the Ravens are on offense, the team has yet to win a game this season and are on the brink of going 0-3, something this team hasn’t done since 2015. The last time the two teams faced each other was in 2020, and saw the Ravens win 34-17. The Ravens currently lead the series between the two teams 5-1.
Tom: I said it last week, they need to play a complete game. They absolutely failed on Sunday. On paper, they have the talent, but once again we have to question the character of the team. Again and again they just look soft when up against a tough opponent. That for me is the one question that has to be answered correctly for this season to not wind up like last year, or worse. Sadly, I don’t have a good feeling about it.
RJ: It goes without saying that they are going to have to stop a different kind of rushing attack. The book continues to be read by opposing offenses that motion is how to break this team’s brain and I would anticipate Baltimore will pull out all of the stops to avoid starting their season 0-3. Dallas is about to get anything and everything that a well-coached team with dynamic playmakers has to offer. Buckle up.
Brian: I’m actually not expecting much from the Cowboys in Week 3 against the Ravens, offensively or defensively. They have yet to prove they can compete with good teams and Baltimore is definitely in that category. Having said that though, defensively the priority should be stopping the run. Offensively they need to find another playmaker outside of CeeDee Lamb. No one else is really stepping up so far this season and teams are going to start taking No. 88 out of the game because of it.
Howman: Defensively, you have to account for Lamar Jackson. The rest is secondary, because Jackson can wreck games if he’s left unchecked. I believe Mike Zimmer used DeMarvion Overshown as a spy in Week 1 as a test to see if he could handle Jackson, and I suspect we’ll see more of that this week. Offensively, sustaining drives is the key here. The Ravens defense is built on wreaking havoc on early downs to set up high leverage third downs. The Cowboys need to move the chains early and often and extend drives, much in the same way they did against another great defense this past week. Hopefully their own defense shows up to play this time though.