It's always difficult to write about the Dallas Cowboys after a disappointing loss. After watching the Cowboys fall to the Los Angeles Rams 35-30, it might be time to admit that all of Cowboys Nation might have set the bar too high for this year's team. Maybe they just aren't as good as we all thought or hoped they would be coming off of a playoff season.
Fortunately, there are a lot of games to play and hopefully the Dallas Cowboys can turn things around quickly. They have a tough matchup next week against the Green Bay Packers, but they have their bye the following week to gather themselves. Hopefully, things will only get better from here on out.
Having said all of that, let's jump into The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly for the Cowboys this week against the Los Angeles Rams. As always, please feel free to use the comment section at the end of the article to share any of your thoughts and opinions on this topic.
The Good
It's always difficult to look back and find some positives from a game the Dallas Cowboys probably should've won. When both teams went in at halftime, it looked as if the Cowboys were on their way to another victory because they were finally able to get Ezekiel Elliott involved on offense.
Ezekiel Elliott looked much like the player we saw last season. The same one that led the NFL in rushing and the same one that was in conversation to win NFL MVP. He was effective in both the running and passing game, finishing with 85 yards with one TD on the ground and 54 yards through the air and one TD.
Unfortunately, as effective as Elliott was in the first half, things didn't go quite as well the second half against the Rams. I don't think it was anything to do with Elliott. I think it had more to do with the offensive playcalling and the adjustments the Rams defense was able to make. But, at least the Ezekiel Elliott we all grew so fond of last season has finally made an appearance. It might've been the only good to come from the game.
The Bad
Deciding what the bad was for the Dallas Cowboys against the Los Angeles Rams was easy one for me. The Jared Goff led Rams offense was able to move the ball at will up and down the field pretty much the entire game. Luckily though, they had to settle for seven field goals and just two touchdowns. It could've been a lot worse.
I knew that the defense would go through some growing pains due to all of the youth playing for the Cowboys, but none of the veterans are really stepping up either. Sean Lee has been one of the only consistent veteran players, and his absent was absolutely one of the reasons the overall performance of the defense was so bad.
Todd Gurley was able to rack up over 200 total yards of offense, 121 rushing and 94 receiving. I don't think he would've had as good of a game as he did with Sean Lee playing. But, even Jared Goff was able to carve up the defense. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 255 yards and two TDs. Unfortunately, the entire defense is to blame and it might be time to admit they are a lot worse than we wanted to believe.
The Ugly
I started to go a different direction here, but ultimately I decided the ugly this week for the Dallas Cowboys against the Rams was the performance of the special teams. I honestly believe that it was a special teams for the Cowboys that allowed the Rams to get back into this game and ultimately come away with the victory.
I think two plays in particular ended up resulting in 10 points for the Rams offense. The worst of the two was when rookie return specialist Ryan Switzer muffed the punt, allowing the Rams to recover. This led to the first touchdown for the Rams. The other special-teams letdown was when Pharaoh Cooper returned a kickoff into Cowboy's territory. The defense was able to hold them to a field goal, but it was still points on the board.
If not for those two bad plays on special teams, the Dallas Cowboys would've likely come away with a victory. They only lost by five points to the Rams, but that 10 point swing because of poor special-teams play was more than they could overcome in the end. This will absolutely have to be cleaned up as soon as possible.
