A few days after the Cowboys physical loss to the Giants, I feel a little different about the defense against Washington on Sunday.
The mistakes were obvious after Dallas gave up 394 yards and couldn’t get off the field. Brian Schottenheimer said the Giants were the more physical team, but I don’t think Dallas played soft.
I feel like that was one of the more physical games I’ve watched in a while. New York wanted that kind of game and Dallas stayed right there with them. We could see the Cowboys’ physicality after they forced four fumbles and recovered one.
The guys were around the ball all night. There was effort.
What bothered me the most was Dallas had the chances to end possession, but didn’t.
Now Washington comes to town with some of the same things in their offense that gave Dallas problems against the Giants.
Washington is Fine Playing this Kind of Game
The possession numbers against New York look horrible until you break them up.
Dallas had the ball for 14:53 in the first half, and New York had it for 15:07. Fourteen seconds, that’s basically even.
Then the second half happened. New York had the football for 21:33 and Dallas had it 8:27. If we break it down, that is 71.8% of the second half going to the Giants.
The Commanders showed me they could play the same game. They had the ball for 33:20 against Philadelphia while running 67 offensive plays and rushing for 132 yards. The Eagles only had 53 plays.
For comparison’s sake, the Cowboys ran 52 against the Giants.
I don’t know how you see it, but that is a lot of football for one side.
The Dallas defense just played 68 snaps, so another Sunday pushing 70 snaps on the defensive side of the ball is the last thing this group needs.
We know Washington doesn’t have to rip off a bunch of big plays, the Cowboys just lost a battle by a million cuts. If you kept up with the Commanders and Eagles game, you know Jacory Crosky-Merritt ran 16 times for 63 yards against Philadelphia.
The Commanders were perfectly fine with taking four yards here, six there, and getting another first down, they made Philadelphia tackle.
Does that sound familiar? If it does, it is because New York just did the same thing to Dallas.
Jayden Daniels adds another layer because Dallas let Jaxson Dart run for 54 yards. Daniels had 31 on five carries against the Eagles.
Same type of players and I hope it won’t make the defenders start seeing ghosts.
Third Down has to Look Normal Again
The official number says New York went 9 for 11 on third down, but it was actually 9 for 10. The last third down was a kneel at the end of the game by Dart. So, Dallas got one third down stop all night.
No matter how you try to dress that up, it’s terrible. To make matters worse, it wasn’t short third downs the Giants converted. It was third and ten and three different third and nine plays.
If you’re a half glass full kinda person, Washington was 5-of-15 on third down against Philadelphia.
If Washington suddenly goes from 33% against the Eagles to 60 or 70% against Dallas, then we can all look at this defense as an issue.
I don’t want to see this become a pattern.
Dallas Never Got the Run Game Going
Dallas did not run the ball enough. We watched as the Cowboys ran the ball 18 times and Javonte Williams had 12 of those carries for 41 yards. I know we didn’t have the ball very often, but those numbers won’t cut it.
The bright spot was Dallas didn’t need a ton of possessions to score. The Cowboys got touchdowns on three of their six offensive drives and scored on both possessions in the second half.
Dallas cut it to 28-20 with 5:26 left and never touched the ball again. That’s why I’m not worried about Dak Prescott and the offense reinventing the wheel this week.
Getting the offense the ball is the biggest issue.
Washington’s Defense Can Make this Ugly
The Commanders had three sacks and 10 tackles for a loss against Philadelphia. The Eagles punted the ball seven times.
Ten tackles for loss is the number that worries me a little because Dallas couldn’t run the ball last week. I guess the bright side is Dak wasn’t sacked, so the pass protection held up, but the run game has to get going.
I feel like if Washington starts blowing up runs and puts Dallas in long second downs all afternoon, the whole game plan could change. This could get the Cowboys behind schedule, making third downs harder, and Washington gets more chances to control the pace of the game.
Sounds familiar.
Washington controlled possession in week 1 without even playing great offense. If changes aren’t made, it could be another long day.
The Communication Can’t Look the Same
Christian Parker has to fix this issue before Sunday, and I think he will take care of it, and we will see a different defense. Communication is key in this defense, and it was lacking against New York.
The Isaiah Likely touchdown before halftime is a good example. Dallas adjusted to the formation and somehow ended up with two defenders taking the same guy while Likely went uncovered.
The defense screwed up because of communication.
The Devin Singletray stretch was worse because we watched New York go back to the same area repeatedly. Three catches in five plays that looked like this:
13 yards, 7 yards, and then capped off with 9 yards and a touchdown.
I hope we see a defense that knows what they’re doing against Washington.
The Commanders showed against the Eagles what Jayden Daniels can do when he settles in. He struggled in the first half, then went 12 for 18 and two touchdowns after halftime.
You give him easy throws because two guys are covering the same receiver or somebody loses the flat, he’s going to get comfortable.
We don’t need a perfect Sunday, just clean up the mistakes. Dallas was physical enough against the Giants, but the rest needs to work itself out this week.
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