DALLAS — Those most responsible for the Cowboys’ failure in a demoralizing Week 2 loss to the Saints were obvious. For once, nobody even thought to blame the $240 million quarterback.
Perhaps because Dak Prescott finished with more tackles than Jordan Phillips and half as many as Linval Joseph, both veteran interior defensive linemen.
It was, of course, unfortunate that Prescott’s tackle was necessary to prevent a potential touchdown return on one of the two interceptions he threw. Team owner Jerry Jones stood outside the losing locker room, describing the 25-point loss he just witnessed in a game that erased a 16-game home winning streak as being “extraordinarily disappointing.’’
Coach Mike McCarthy echoed the same sentiment.
"We did not improve from Week 1 to Week 2, and that's the biggest disappointment,’’ McCarthy said. “The results speak for themselves."
As a coach working on the final year of his contact, McCarthy no doubt recognizes he cannot allow that to happen again without putting his continued employment in further jeopardy. The pressure on McCarthy and his coaching staff intensifies this week as they prepare for the Baltimore Ravens.
The rushing offense and run defense remain concerns, just as they were when McCarthy and the front office hired Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator and began its light remodeling of the roster in the offseason.
The Ravens are a prove-it matchup for the Cowboys defense.
Baltimore leads the NFL in rushing and no other team has run by-design a higher percentage of their offensive plays since 2017 than Baltimore, at 44%, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
That is hardly surprising since reigning MVP Lamar Jackson is arguably the greatest running quarterback in NFL history and the Ravens also have one of the most physically imposing running backs in Derrick Henry.
Henry might be running with extra motivation and more fury than usual. He signed with Baltimore in free agency, saying he was disappointed the Cowboys ignored him. Having paid Ezekiel Elliott and then Tony Pollard at the top of the market, the Cowboys front office decided they would not pay big money to that position this season.
So Henry is running against the Cowboys, rather than for them, on Sunday, which reminds me that perhaps the only thing more troubling than the Cowboys’ playoff debacle against the Packers was their offseason reaction to it.
Except for the draft, they didn’t do much and maybe not enough. Jones said Prescott would have to accomplish more with less.
McCarthy emphasized improving the run game on offense and the run defense. Yet both remain blinking-light liabilities. Presumably, when McCarthy mentions the importance of complementary football, he doesn’t mean the rushing offense and the run defense being equally poor.
Yet here we are. The Cowboys are averaging just 85 rushing yards per game and allowing 141.5 per game on defense. In Sunday’s loss, Alvin Kamara scored four touchdowns and the Saints rushed for 190 yards, 134 of it gained before the ball carrier was contacted by a defender.
They ignored free agency until late in training camp when they signed the aforementioned defensive tackles Phillips and Joseph. They were supposed to stop the run and serve as role models for second-year player Mazi Smith. They were frequently knocked off the ball, even turned around, by Saints blockers and making it impossible for Dallas linebackers at the next level.
The coaches must determine whether their talent eroded to point they’re incapable of competing at this level or is it a matter of their late arrival leaving them physically unprepared because they missed the entire preseason and are playing themselves into shape.
Micah Parsons has excluded Zimmer’s scheme or play-calling for blame and twice questioned the overall effort on the defensive side of the ball. Zimmer has directed criticism to himself, as coaches must do to retain locker room credibility.
“I don’t really think it was an effort issue,’’ he said. “That team beat us off the snap quite a few times … We didn’t get moving quick enough … I just got to do a better job.”
The same could be applied to McCarthy, who is the offensive play-caller and starts every game with a 15-play script. Ezekiel Elliott, who started Week 1, wasn’t part of that against the Saints. Rico Dowdle started and both he and Deuce Vaughn were provided touches before Elliott checked into the huddle. At that point, the Cowboys were behind 14-3.
McCarthy uses the sequence of scripted plays at least partly to gain a sense of how the opponent intends to play the Cowboys defensively, but that’s also how running back-by-committee sometimes looks. Ultimately, Dowdle played two more snaps than Elliott.
Expecting huge production out of Elliott - the only running back in NFL history whose yards per game has decreased for seven straight years - was probably unrealistic, especially behind an offensive line with two rookie starters.
As it is, wide receiver CeeDee Lamb has provided the only substantial runs. The Cowboys have a three runs of 10 yards or more. Lamb contributed two of them. With three touchdowns in 24 possessions, Prescott is considering whether he should use his mobility more, describing it as a huge part of the offense and something the 31-year-old quarterback should bring to life.
There might be at least one more logical option before reaching that point of desperation. It may be time to provide veteran Dalvin Cook the opportunity to bring some dynamic plays to the running game.
While Cook and Elliott rank fourth and fifth in rushing yards over the last five years, both are 29 years old and appear to be descending players. Interestingly, Cook finished last season with the Ravens. One member of the coaching staff describes him as still having good feet and quickness, plus receiving skills.
“Dalvin looks good,’’ McCarthy said. “Understanding that a big thing for a vet is just the terminology, frankly, and just the language adjustment. I think he has progressed very nicely since he’s been here. He’s a natural of an outside zone runner that I’ve competed against. He looks good. He’s getting there.”
Which direction this team and its season are going will be determined by how they compete against the Ravens at home, where the Cowboys never lose, except for playoff games and season-openers.
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