Three days removed from the worst postseason performance I’ve ever seen in my lifetime of watching the Dallas Cowboys, it still doesn’t feel real.
Apparently, it wasn’t only the worst postseason loss of my lifetime, but the worst playoff loss in Cowboys history in regards to the 48 points allowed.
Watching the Green Bay Packers come into AT&T Stadium and do whatever they wanted to do to win 48-32 feels like a fever dream.
Jordan Love looked like Aaron Rodgers in his prime, completing 76% of his passes and throwing three touchdowns on his way to a near-perfect QB Rating (157.2).
Romeo Doubs looked like prime Davante Adams, hauling in six receptions for 151 yards and a touchdown, including three catches of 20+ yards.
Cowboys Nation is in a space of complete disbelief, not knowing how it’s even possible to play so poorly to end a season full of expectations.
I don’t have the answers either, but we can try to dissect just what went wrong, and what led to the shocking loss.
Lack of Effort
If any of the players saw the heading above, they’d come for my head on social media for assuming they gave no effort.
My retort would be, “Is that what you call effort?”.
According to Merriam-Webster, effort is defined as “a vigorous or determined attempt”.
Did anyone see any vigor or determination out there?
I saw bad body language, arguing amongst themselves, no hustle on plays downfield, and dejected faces on the bench before the first quarter was even over.
That script should have been flipped on the Packers, not the other way around.
Dallas seemed to be playing the role of underdog, coming in with some hope, but quickly getting that hope squashed by the Packers scoring on their first drive followed by a quick 3 & out.
The Cowboys should have been the aggressor, putting their foot on the gas early to crush the Packers’ spirit that they were clinging to.
Instead, their poor effort gave the Packers life that they would use to cruise to a 27-0 lead before anyone noticed the Cowboys were on the field.
Why Change What Got You Here?
Perhaps even more alarming than the lack of effort is the scheme changes we saw for this game.
The team that took the field on Sunday afternoon was nowhere near the team we saw throughout the year.
This goes for all three phases of the team.
Let’s start with the offense.
Don’t let the final stats fool you. Dak Prescott threw for over 400 yards, but that’s to be expected after falling into a 27-0 hole.
On the first two drives, Mike McCarthy called run plays on 2nd & 10, something we haven’t seen since before the sweeping changes in play-calling after Week 5.
What’s also puzzling is the disappearance of pre-snap motion from the offense.
Dallas lined up in a static formation most of the game, one of the main reasons they couldn’t move the football until it was too late.
On the defensive side, Dan Quinn inexplicably played most of the game in a zone scheme.
The Cowboys ranked as one of the teams who most lined up in man coverage while their defensive line wreaked havoc.
One of the plays that had me throwing my hands in the air asking “What the hell are you doing?” was a 3rd & short play where DaRon Bland was lined up 10 yards off the ball in coverage.
The Packers’ wide receiver ran a simple two-yard out pattern and caught the pass for a first down with no resistance from Bland.
Part of the problem of changing your scheme from what you usually run is the communication needed to make zone schemes work.
The players must talk to each other to pass off coverages in zone schemes.
Packers players running free with no one around them on the television screen tells you that communication wasn’t working.
Dallas, ranked with the most QB pressures in the NFL throughout the regular season, only managed to pressure Love four times.
On those four downs, Love was a perfect 4/4 for 113 yards and a touchdown.
To make matters worse, Micah Parsons was in coverage more than we’d like him to be, especially on a day when the defense was struggling to generate pressure.
Old Demons
The Packers came into Arlington with a perfect gameplan on both sides of the ball.
Matt LaFleur and the offense must have studied the Cardinals, 49ers, and Bills games to see how much Dallas struggles with pre-snap motion.
On nearly every play, a wide receiver or tight end was sent sprinting across the formation prior to the snap, adding to the Cowboys’ confusion on defense.
The motion man was almost always utilized to kick out the defensive end or outside linebacker while a guard or tackle pulled in the opposite direction to create a seam for Aaron Jones.
This is the pin and pull technique that allowed the Cardinals, 49ers, and Bills to rack up a combined 658 yards in just those three games, a whopping 35% of the season total allowed.
For Prescott and the offense, “the blueprint” reared its ugly mug again, this time at the hands of Packers’ DC Joe Barry.
There was nothing about the Packers defense prior to the game that scared anyone, but boy did Barry and the players show us we were all wrong.
Barry ran simple zone concepts with only four down linemen rushing.
It completely stymied the Cowboys’ passing attack, as Prescott held the football at an abnormally longer rate, leading to a season-high six scrambles for 45 yards.
Sound familiar? It’s the same concept of defense ran by Arizona and San Francisco (on multiple occasions), and was first discovered by Broncos’ DC Vic Fangio in 2021.
For some reason, that defense gives the Cowboys’ offense fits, and nobody has figured out how to combat it.
That’s really the story of 2023 for the Dallas Cowboys.
Playing great when they are allowed to dictate the flow of the game, but unable to overcome adversity when faced with it.
Unless changes are made, the 2024 season will be the same result.