The Dallas Cowboys suffered their most embarrassing loss of the 2019 season on Sunday, falling at the hands of the previously winless New York Jets 24-22.
Trailing for pretty much the entire afternoon, Dallas came all the back from 21-3 to give themselves a chance to tie the game and force overtime. But, after Dak Prescott ran in for a touchdown to cut the Jets’ lead, a Jamal Adams blitz forced an incompletion on the two point conversion.
The Cowboys now sit at 3-3 and the sky seems to be falling in Arlington. Let’s get into my game notes from this horrid loss.
- Let’s just start with head coach Jason Garrett. I’ve been somewhat of a Garrett defender in recent years, feeling that he’s built a strong culture in Dallas. The players seem to fight for him, and rarely are his teams completely undressed like they’ve been time and time again the past three seasons. But, man, Garrett’s clock management and decision making have been downright awful as of late. Down 21-9 in the fourth quarter the Cowboys showed no sense of urgency on offense, handing the ball off on nearly every first and ten. This wouldn’t be as big a deal if the runs were successful, but they often weren’t. He then settled for a field goal down 21-9, an inexcusable decision considering the win probability added (or lack thereof) had the kick been made. Then, with over 40 seconds left and plenty of time to score, Garrett called an absurdly stupid time out. Dallas scored, missed the two point conversion, and never had a chance to get the ball back because they lost their time out. An awful, awful day for Garrett and the Cowboys coaching staff.
- Dak Prescott was generally good on Sunday, battling through adversity on offense to give the Cowboys a legit chance to win. But it’s time for him to really take control of the offense. He needs to get them out of unfavorable looks pre-snap, and audible out of some of these atrocious run calls. The fourth and two in the second quarter is the best example of this. Prescott has to see that Dallas is at a numbers disadvantage at the point of attack and is running to the short side of the field. Get out of the play, man. As stated earlier, though, Prescott has produced much more good than bad this season overall. He’s still the guy in Dallas, and the highs can still be high this season if the health around him (specifically on the offensive line) gets right.
- Chidobe Awuzie might not be good, guys. Awuzie got beat clean off the line by Robby Anderson for a 92 yard touchdown, and this is becoming quite the trend for the Cowboys young corner. Jeff Heath should’ve gotten more depth and helped Awuzie in his coverage, but this breakdown looked to be 100% on Awuzie from the broadcast angle. Typically, Awuzie gets beat at the catch point after being in good positioning. This week that was not the case, he just got beat.
- Jourdan Lewis finally got playing time at cornerback and Cowboys Twitter rejoiced. Lewis had somewhat of an up and down performance, but his highs certainly outweighed any lows. Lewis’ interception kept the Cowboys alive in third quarter, and his forced incompletion on third down gave the offense a chance to go and try to tie the game. Let Lewis keep getting snaps, and let’s see if he can do any better than the rest of this underperforming defense.
- Robert Quinn was once again a bright spot on an otherwise disappointing defensive line. I’ve been quite the supporter of DeMarcus Lawrence as he’s gotten off to a “slow” start statistically in 2019. But, man, not being able to come through with production against the Jets’ bad offensive line is not a good sign. No doubt he’s been getting double teamed at an unreal rate, though, which has helped Quinn get free.
- Ezekiel Elliott had arguably his best day of the 2019 season thus far, but he just doesn’t look like himself on some these runs. Not as elusive or explosive as he once was, Elliott has become more of a bruising back that will get you 3-5 yards on most carries. This is totally fine, and his vision and contact balance are still elite, but Dallas should be utilizing Tony Pollard more to increase their big play potential on the ground. Especially with so many of their normal passing games weapons out with injuries.
- Brandon Knight was once again impressive at right tackle. Filling in for La’el Collins, Knight had himself a nice day both in pass protection and as a run blocker. A few times Knight executed really strong pulls to get Ezekiel Elliott free to the second level. Knight and Zack Martin pulling and leading for Elliott is a pretty sight for the Cowboys offense. Don’t get me wrong, he was far from perfect, but for a backup right tackle he had a nice afternoon.
- Michael Gallup’s drops hampered the Cowboys offense heavily in the first half, but he had a rather strong second half performance. If Amari Cooper is going to miss significant time, as it sounds like he might, Gallup is going to have to be consistent with his hands for four quarters. I have no doubt that he will be next week.
