It was as ugly of a performance as we’ve seen from the Dallas Cowboys in the Jason Garrett era. For the first time in a decade and a half, the Cowboys were shut out and it was a game full of bad pretty much everywhere you looked. Everywhere accept Ezekiel Elliott.
What a waste!
Elliott and the Cowboys offensive line played well for much of the game even with All-Pro Right Guard Zack Martin missing his first career start and losing starting Left Guard Xavier Su’a-Filo went out with an eye injury.
On the day, Ezekiel Elliott carries the ball 18 times for 87 yards and added another seven receptions for 41. 25 touches for 128 total yards is a good game, but with nothing else going right for the Cowboys it was a game that ultimately didn’t matter.
The one play where Elliott and the offensive line failed to come through was early in the game in a fourth and one that the Colts defense seemed to have snuffed out and blew up from the start. Elliott was able to convert a fourth and one later in the game. It looked like Elliott was close to breaking one for a long run several times but got tripped up at the end of the runs. He was his typical self this week. Taking runs that looked to be going for a loss and turning them into positive gains.
In the race for the NFL’s rushing title, Elliott has extended his lead on Todd Gurley to nearly 100 yards rushing. At 1,349 rushing yards on the season, Elliott will have a great shot to set a career high in rushing yards with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants remaining on the schedule. The Bucs have allowed the sixth most rushing yards and the fourth most rushing touchdowns in the NFL this season while the Giants have allowed the fifth most rushing yards and the seventh most rushing touchdowns in 2018.
It was a horrendous loss at a time when the Cowboys could have locked up the NFC East and there is zero excuse for it. They got out coached, out played, and were beaten physically on both sides of the ball and that doesn’t happen very often, especially to the defense.
But if we’re looking for something positive to take away from this game, it’s that with all the offensive line injuries and the poor play of the passing game, Ezekiel Elliott and the running game continues to find ways to shine. With as bad as the loss was, that’s something to hang your hat on.
All the Cowboys need to do moving forward is Feed Zeke!
I know we had our butts handed to us but I don’t know why ever writer calls it a “blowout”. To me, a blowout is having a 40 or 50 burger laid on your ass. There are 2 problems with the patchwork OL Zeke is playing behind: we’re not going anywhere with it and Zeke is taking a beating that’s affected his speed. I hope it’s just a temporary injury but by not having another back who can play a good portion of the game effectively Zeke has lost a step. Used to be once he hit the second level that there was a good chance he was gone. But now he’s being caught from behind more than ever and many times you can see him limping after he carries the ball. He was never taught how to avoid the big hit ala Emmitt Smith and, in fact, many times initiates the contact. He’s like a shorter version of Earl Campbell and I think his career is going to be just as short as a result. Let’s face it, without a dominant OL and a QB who protects the ball, we’re not going anywhere.
What is put on the field is a product of the coaching that is the overseer of the product that we see on the field. When they structure a team it’s based on what the coaching thinks not the players. So if you don’t have adequate coaching you’re going to have deficiencies in your quarterback in your running backs in your offensive line and on your defense. I’m not giving anybody a pass, yes our quarterback should do better with protecting the ball, yes we should have a better offensive line instead of the patchwork we see, and yes Zeke does limp from time to time when he breaks out to where we’ve seen in past Seasons he would go the distance. I’m a guy that likes to focus on the root of any situation, if you don’t plant the seed deep enough it’s not the ground fault that the tree didn’t flourish it’s the person that planted the seed. I’ve said it before, Dak Prescott will be better with a real, I mean real quarterback coach who can teach him NFL quality quarterbacking. The tools are there you just don’t have the coaching. I stated before what organization in the right mind is going to hire your backup quarterback to be the quarterback coach of your team. First of all he was a backup for a reason and then Kellen Moore loses his backup position to Cooper Rush. Come on man it’s the organization and everything starts from the top down. Stop blaming Dak Prescott. This is the Dallas Cowboys organization as a whole, spearheaded by Jerry Jones who don’t want to get rid of Kiss butt brown nosing people he can control so that he can do the interview at the end of the game instead of the coaches.
Obviously, you have never read all my other comments on this website. I agree wholeheartedly with you. I don’t blame the players as much as I blame the owner and coaches. Getting rid of Wade Wilson was a panic move, IMO. Giving his job to an unsuccessful backup QB makes no sense. Dak is still young and with young QBs it’s especially important to have good coaching so he can progress. I think this is Garrett’s last season and Linehan’s too. The worst part is we will never get a new GM.
I have written exactly what you have stated, just on different posts. I don’t blame Dak for where his progression is as a QB anymore than I blame Zeke for the problems with the OL. Firing Wade Wilson was a knee jerk reaction to Dak’s Sophomore Slump, IMO. Putting a poor backup QB in his place was just plain stupid. My biggest problem is I never know if Garrett is making the decisions or if Jones is, although I have a pretty good idea. The smart thing to do would have been to hire someone who’s known for his ability to develop young QBs. Also, instead of having 2 inexperienced QBs behind him the smart move would have been to sign Nick Foles while he was available. I thought it at the time but unfortunately so did Philly. I still think we should look for a QB like that this next off season: a veteran QB who has shown he can win when he has talent around him. As for Dak, he should be given 2 things: an incentive based contract and a good QB Coach. His faults are not that hard to correct, in my mind. And I think it’s important to hire an OC who will tailor his Offense around the strengths of his players instead of trying to get the players to tailor their game around his Offense. Of course the Salary Cap affects everything, especially with players like DLaw, Cooper, etc. coming up for new contracts (although I think Cooper is signed through 2019).
In the NFL when seemingly every game is within a score, getting beat by more than 3 touchdowns is a blowout.
I agree that they need to begin working Rod Smith in and limiting Elliott’s workload over the next couple of weeks to save Elliott for the playoffs. Best case scenario, they win this week and they sit Elliott vs the Giants.
Well, the reason I say that is because I remember Defensive players saying that if they held a team to 20 points or less, they should win the game. But I understood what you said; it’s just that in these days of big shootouts due to the restrictions the owners have put on Defenses 20 points doesn’t seem like that big a score. But that’s just my opinion.