Dallas City News

The Dallas Cowboys never stood a chance against the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore played like the better and, quite frankly, hungrier team. They stormed into AT&T Stadium, and even if they let things get dicey near the end, they had a happy flight home.

We know the game was bad because we (unfortunately) watched it, but what can some deeper data tell us? The folks at NFL Next Gen Stats are incredible and have some information that is going to make you feel rather sad.

Let’s begin.

Derrick Henry had himself a day against the team who didn’t want him

It was reported over the offseason that the Cowboys did not even call Derrick Henry with regards to his free agency. Henry had 174 total yards and two touchdowns against the team that passed on him and was his usual difficult-to-stop self against.

All told, Henry forced 12 missed tackles against the Cowboys defense, the second-most by a player in a game this season (this information was all as of Sunday night’s game beginning for full context).

Ultimately the Cowboys defense allowed 158 total yards against the Ravens that were a result of missed tackles specifically. That is the most that any defense in the NFL has allowed in that capacity in any game so far this season prior to Sunday night.

Lamar Jackson did not have to do much to have a day

Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson did not have to stress too much as a passer against the Cowboys with how easily he was able to dump things off. This kind of sounds like an indictment against Jackson, but it is really a testament to his great decision-making and the Ravens’ ability to get open.

Jackson averaged 3.2 air yards per attempt against the Cowboys. That is, amazingly, the lowest mark in a game over his entire career.

His only pass over 10 air yards was the 13-yard score to Rashod Bateman.

Mike McCarthy has got to design a more creative offense

This is also a criticism of Dak Prescott for what it’s worth. But it is clear that the offensive design that Dallas is trotting out is not intimidating or fooling anyone.

On Sunday against the Ravens, Prescott threw into a tight window on 35.3% of his attempts. This was the highest rate for Prescott in a game since Week 4 of 2018 (Dallas barely beat the Detroit Lions that day) and if you recall that was the infamous “wide receiver by committee” season.

On these throws specifically Prescott was 5 for 18 for 66 yards with a -7% completion percentage over expectation. That is, if it isn’t obvious, quite poor.

Dak has to make better decisions, but multiple things can be true at the same time. Clearly the Cowboys do not have playmakers who are gaining enough separation to the point that he is pressing the matter. What’s more is, as noted, Mike McCarthy is not properly devising anything to scheme anyone open.

These are issues that will continue to plague the Cowboys if they are not rectified immediately. They are only 1-2 so nothing is unsolvable (those 2018 Cowboys fell all the way to 3-5 and won the NFC East before advancing to the Divisional Round), but the situation is rather intense. We are somewhere around DEFCON 2.