I wanted to know why the Cowboys haven’t won against the Arizona Cardinals at AT&T Stadium. The explanation of the “The Cardinals just have our number” isn’t good enough for me.
The four regular season losses at AT&T stadium, and the one loss at Arizona in 2023, have a connection, but before we blame the attitude of this team, we need to start with the football portion of the Cowboys.
There’s much more to these losses than just saying the Cowboys gave up or were outplayed. Self-inflicted problems is where it starts.
Dallas’ Offense has Underperformed Against Arizona
Let’s go all the way back to 2014. We had Brandon Weeden starting at quarterback against the Cardinals. In the game, he went 18 for 33 and 183 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
Dez Bryant caught two of his 10 targets for 15 yards and Dallas lost 28-17, with seven of Dallas’ points coming from a Tyler Patmon pick six.
Andy Dalton started in the 38-10 loss in 2020. Ezekiel Elliott lost two fumbles, and Dallas finished the game with four turnovers. Arizona rushed for 261 yards and added a 80-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk.
Dallas couldn’t protect the football or stop big gains. A recipe for disaster.
I know neither of these games belong to Dak Prescott or the current team, but the Cardinals’ kryptonite against the Cowboys seems to be real.
The 25-22 Loss Wasn’t as Close as it Seems
In January 2022, Dallas entered the fourth quarter trailing 22-7. If you remember in that game, the Cowboys scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, but the comeback followed three quarters and one touchdown.
Elliott and Tony Pollard combined for 25 yards on 12 carries. The worst part was the Cowboys going 3-11 on third down and committing 10 penalties for 88 yards.
Prescott actually led the team in rushing with 20 yards. That should tell you how bad the running game was for Dallas. On the bright side, Dallas did score on both of their redone possessions.
A much different problem than the Cowboys driving down the field and settling for field goals, which brings us to 2023.
The Cowboys Wasted Chances in 2023
This is the year we watched a shootout. Dallas out gained Arizona 416-400 and held the ball for 34:33. If those were the only numbers you saw, would you think it was a win?
Well, you would be wrong. It was a 28-16 loss.
The Cowboys drove up and down the field and scored one touchdown on five red-zone trips. Arizona scored touchdowns on both of its chances. Oh, and let’s not forget, the Cowboys were still undisciplined, committing 13 penalties for 107 yards.
Dallas also gave up 222 rushing yards. We can also talk about Prescott’s interception, and the defense allowing 7.4 yards per carry.
The Dallas offense had enough firepower to make this a blowout, but moving the ball up and down the field doesn’t matter if you can’t get the ball across the goal line.
Last Season the Cowboys Offense Scored 10 Points Again
In 2025, the final score was 27-17, but seven Dallas points came from a blocked-punt touchdown. Yes, I know the defense was terrible, and it should be pretty obvious from Arizona gaining 340 yards.
The offense wasn’t as much of an issue as the Cowboys gained 333 yards, another small difference in yardage, but it tells us very little about how the game went.
Dallas committed three turnovers without forcing any, and it failed on three fourth-down attempts, scored one touchdown in three red zone trips and allowed five sacks.
I get it, these aren’t specific failures on the Cowboys part, but calling Arizona a team the Cowboys just overlook doesn’t explain a lot of these past problems. The past problems are still present in this team today.
What I found doesn’t shine light on one specific issue for every loss, but all of these issues created wasted opportunities for the team. Just think about it, in 2020 and 2023, the defense got run over. In 2022, the offense couldn’t do anything, and 2025 was wasted chances.
The turnover problem never went away. Giving the ball to the Cardinals 11 times with just one takeaway across five losses causes a lot of damage to overcome.
Dallas has too many things it still needs to fix, but giving the ball away and a lackluster offensive performance could spell doom for the season, because the rest of the season are must-win games for the Dallas Cowboys.
Was this helpful?
1 Comment