I woke up this morning thinking it was a dream. Nope. The Dallas Cowboys really suffered their worst loss of the Jerry Jones era on Sunday. The Detroit Lions strutted into AT&T Stadium and obliterated the Cowboys by the score of 47-9.
To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I’ll be honest and say that the only reason I didn’t get up and walk away from the television was because I knew I would have to sit and write about the game today. I am a man of the people.
So many things went horribly wrong on Sunday afternoon. If I wrote about every single one of them, the 2025 NFL season will kick off before I’m done. Where should blame be placed? The way the team has looked this season, we can point fingers at several levels of the organization.
We can blame Jerry Jones and the front office for not doing anything to bolster the roster after Dan Quinn and Aden Durde poached several players from the defense. We can also blame Jerry Jones and the front office for not adding another playmaker on offense at the running back or wide receiver position.
Blame can be placed on the players for not executing on the field. This team has too much talent to put the product on the field that we have been seeing so far this season.
The players aren’t solely to blame for the Cowboys‘ woes. If you ask me, coaching has been the main reason for the performance of the team this year. There are three main culprits, and they are all named Mike.
Mike McCarthy
Let’s start at the top with the head coach. At the end of the day, Mike McCarthy is responsible for everything under the coaching umbrella. Wins and losses, discipline, and accountability all fall in his lap, and ultimately, blame is placed on his doorstep when things aren’t going well.
The difference with McCarthy is that he is also the main play caller for the offense. He took over play-calling duties last season when Kellen Moore departed for Los Angeles.
As the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, McCarthy is always on the hot seat, but it has to be burning right now after what happened yesterday. The offense was terrible, scoring only nine points on three Brandon Aubrey field goals, and turning the ball over twice in the red zone.
Excluding the final two drives with Cooper Rush under center, first down proved to be McCarthy’s enemy once again. One week after showing pre-snap motion and calling a great game to get players open, McCarthy reverted back to his old ways.
On 17 1st down plays, McCarthy called a run on 10 of those plays, but only averaged 1.1 yards per carry on those rushes. Constantly putting Dak and the offense in 2nd & 9 down and distance isn’t a recipe for success.
After establishing pre-snap motion and even orbit motion against the Steelers, all of a sudden McCarthy forgot how successful it was, and went back to a static formation on 90% of offensive plays.
The first speed jet motion across the formation didn’t occur until there were only three minutes left in the entire game, and the second team offense was trying to improve on the nine points on the scoreboard.
McCarthy calling a stagnant offense after successfully implementing some variety the week before is a prime example of this organization refusing to get with the times and evolve.
Mike Zimmer
The next Mike on the list gets the blame for the defense’s terrible performance. People are quick to point out how injuries have affected the defense, and it’s not Mike Zimmer’s fault.
I understand the defense is missing all the following players:
- DE Sam Williams
- DE DeMarcus Lawrence
- DE Marshawn Kneeland
- EDGE Micah Parsons
- CB DaRon Bland
- LB Eric Kendricks
That’s quite a list, and quite a hit on the depth of the defensive line, but other teams deal with injuries all the time and don’t look as terrible as the Cowboys looked in their three home games this season.
At the end of the day, every player on the roster is an NFL player, and looking as terrible as the defense has looked has less to do with the players on the field, and more to do with coaching and leadership.
Players running wide open through the secondary could have been blamed on the players getting used to Zimmer’s system, but enough is enough. We’ve had several examples this season of adjustments needing to be made, and it’s Zimmer’s job to adjust.
If he makes it through the bye week, he needs to dig deep in his coordinator bag and put a better product on the field.
Mike Solari
Offensive line coach Mike Solari was another one of those Mike McCarthy hires that is backfiring. The play of the offensive line has regressed.
The Cowboys were forced to shuffle the offensive line last week in Pittsburgh after rookie LT Tyler Guyton went down with a knee injury. Everyone swore the group of Tyler Smith, TJ Bass, Cooper Beebe, Zack Martin, and Terence Steele was the best five combination moving forward.
Well, how did that work out? Dallas finished with 53 yards rushing, allowed Dak to get sacked four times, and were part of an offense that turned the ball over five times.
Aside from Tyler Smith, the offensive line has not played well, and something needs to change.
If all three of these Mikes have their jobs after the bye week, then the Dallas Cowboys aren’t serious about winning, and we can pack up this season and start getting ready for the draft.