FRISCO, Texas — The question absolutely nobody with the Cowboys seems capable of answering is this: How does a team that was the most dominant in the league at home — a team that won 16 consecutive regular-season games over the previous two seasons — become incapable of winning even one home game?
Aura of invincibility one year. Incomprehensible failure the next.
“You can’t explain that,’’ wide receiver CeeDee Lamb said when I asked him. “We’ve just got to go out there and battle and put on a show for our fans. They pay top dollar to see us. They come out there every Sunday, not knowing the result, rooting for us, diehards. We’ve let them down plenty of times.’’
Even bad teams win at home. Except for two very bad teams.
The Cowboys and the Giants are the only teams in the league yet to win a single home game. So in that regard, backup quarterback Cooper Rush has the opportunity Sunday to do something that Dak Prescott never accomplished this season, and Prescott might not do it at all during the 2024 season depending on whether he returns from a severe hamstring injury.
They’re winless in three home games, and they’ve been embarrassed twice. The last time Jerry Jones sat in his AT&T Stadium suite, he observed a 38-point loss to the Lions that is the worst home defeat in his 35 years as owner.
Dallas has been outscored by 66 points in three home losses this season, 119-53. No team in NFL history has been outscored by that many points in their first three home games and made the playoffs.
Including the humiliating playoff loss to the Packers, the Cowboys have allowed 41.8 points per game in their last four home games. That’s the third-most in a four-game span in NFL history.
“We’ve got to go out there and stop the other team, no matter where we’re playing,’’ cornerback Jourdan Lewis said. “So that’s just preparing really well and understanding that every team is going to give the Cowboys their best, no matter what our record is.’’
Their record, especially at home, is mindbogglingly bad. The games have essentially been decided by halftime. The Cowboys have trailed by 15 or more points at halftime in four straight home games, including the postseason loss to the Packers, equaling the NFL record of the 2013-2014 Raiders.
It is the most shocking of many failures for this team. It will be enormously harmful for coach Mike McCarthy when Jerry Jones evaluates the head coach at the conclusion of the season.
In McCarthy’s five seasons, Dallas averages 32 points per game at home, the most in the NFL in that time span. This season, the Cowboys have scored 19, 25 and nine points in losing each of three home games.
And now they’ve lost their quarterback. The highest-paid player in the NFL.
Cooper Rush is capable of executing the offense against the Eagles. He fully comprehends his limitations and generally plays within them, although his only loss in six NFL starts came in Philadelphia when he was intercepted three times.
Confidence in him remains high. “We know what Coop can do,’’ Lamb said. “I know [Rush]'s ready to go out there and deliver. I know he's prepared all week and can't wait to see it."
The Cowboys are passing nearly 76 percent of the time — the highest rate in the league. Rush inherits one of the league’s worst running games, two rookie offensive linemen struggling to pass protect and the 31st-ranked scoring defense in the NFL. In all five of Rush’s five career victories as a starter, the Cowboys held the opponent to 17 or fewer points.
Obviously, Rush isn’t going to win a scoring contest. He didn’t get preseason snaps typically provided by backup quarterbacks because McCarthy dedicated them to evaluating and developing Trey Lance. But he threw 24 passes last week against the Falcons — one fewer than Prescott before the injury.
“Trusting those guys and being out there before with them is big,’’ Rush said.
If Rush wins as the starter Sunday, he joins Roger Staubach and Prescott as the only three quarterbacks in Cowboys history to win six of their first seven career starts.
It seems too much to expect Rush to win consistently with a team that couldn’t do that with Prescott.
"Yeah, I mean we're just trying to beat Philly," Rush said. "I mean it's kind of our approach this week. You've got to take them one at a time. It's a cliche, but it works. And, so, that's kind of the goal.’’
The process all starts with a simple task: Win a home game.
Lamb toughing it out
CeeDee Lamb finished the loss in Atlanta despite suffering a sprained shoulder. He intends to play through whatever pain remains Sunday against the Eagles, saying he has full range of motion and won’t require additional protective equipment.
“My shoulder is much better than it was on Sunday, I'll tell you that,’’ he said. “I've taken a big step throughout the week in these last two to three days if you will. I'm good. I was out there running today, getting right," Lamb said Wednesday. "It's more so pain. Obviously, the tolerance, the range of motion is all there. As you can see I battled throughout the whole game, the rest of the game, finished the game. Granted, I didn't play the way I wanted to, but it is what it is. It's going to take a little more than that to get me out as you can tell."
Lamb is the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in the league. He also demonstrated his pain tolerance and dedication to his team last week.
“I’m tough. And that’s not for show,’’ Lamb said. “That’s just me as my will to win and my love of the game. They’ve been trying to take me out since right after it happened, and I wasn’t going. And I landed on it three times and it was very brutal for me. It sucked. It was bad. With that, I don’t want them to be out there without me. They’re going to have that confidence that 88 is going to be over there, and I’m going to do my job. So I need them to lock in and do theirs, and with that, we’re going to have much success.”
Dak to IR?
Coach Mike McCarthy indicated the evaluation of Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury — a partial avulsion — will probably continue into next week. He could be placed on IR, requiring him to miss at least four games before the end of the week.
“I know he wants to keep playing, but I think it's important to go through the process and gather all of the information,’’ McCarthy said. “This is obviously a serious injury.”
The Mingo acquisition
Something that captured my attention with the Cowboys' trade acquisition of wide receiver Jonathan Mingo from Carolina: Mike McCarthy’s history of developing second-round receivers in Green Bay.
Whether McCarthy will be coaching Mingo beyond this season is unknown, but he was incredibly successful with receivers Green Bay drafted in the second round: Davante Adams, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Greg Jennings. They eventually performed like first-rounders.
“I’m glad they took a chance on me so I can show them what I can do,’’ Mingo said. “Somebody finally believed in me, so I can show them what I can do. I’m just happy to be here.”
Mingo ran a 4.46 40-yard dash with a 39.5-inch vertical leap and 10-9 broad jump at 6'2", 220 pounds at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
I asked CeeDee Lamb his first impression of Mingo: “He’s big,’’ Lamb said. “Big as hell… Nice speed, nice size, and a great route runner… Looking forward to working with him.”
The lack of rushing
Maybe the problem is not so much the head coach as the GM: The Cowboys have moved past the Raiders to rank 31st in the NFL in rushing offense with Rico Dowdle establishing himself as the No. 1 running back. They have played a franchise-record 22 consecutive games without a 100-yard rusher.
Meanwhile, three running backs who were unrestricted free agents and changed teams in the offseason are averaging 100 yards rushing per game: Derrick Henry, Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon.
The Cowboys decided they would not pay a running back this season so never pursued any of them or Josh Jacobs and Aaron Jones.
With the NFL's second-worst rushing offense, averaging 82 rushing yards per game, and the league's third-worst run defense, surrendering an average of 147.8 rushing yards per game, Dallas has been outrushed by 526 yards, the worst differential in the NFL this season.
A familiar face
The two teams ahead of the Cowboys in the NFC East are prominently coached by former Dallas coordinators. Dan Quinn is the head coach of the Commanders, Kellen Moore is the OC of the Eagles.
A quote Moore is virtually certain to remember this week occurred when the Cowboys allowed Moore to leave and McCarthy took over playcalling, saying, “Kellen wants to light the scoreboard up, but I want him to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense.”
With Moore calling the plays, the Eagles come here with three straight games in which they’ve accumulated at least 150 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns, their longest streak since 1953.
The Eagles have the NFL’s No. 2 rush offense (174.8 rush YPG), and the Cowboys have the NFL’s 30th-ranked run defense (147.8 rush YPG allowed).
Losing records
This seems interesting and likely to change Sunday: Saquon Barkley has never won against Dallas in 10 career games. Not only that but Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is 0-3 against the Cowboys in Jerry World, throwing more interceptions than touchdowns while completing just 61% of his passes.
There have been 64 instances of a QB starting at least three games on the road versus a single opponent since Hurts entered the league in 2020. The only one to post a lower QBR in that situation than Hurts in Dallas is Mac Jones at the Dolphins, according to ESPN Research.
Final thought
A final thought from CeeDee Lamb: “A lot of hits would have taken a lot of guys out. But with that, again, it's more so, I'm not just out there for me. It's a lot of people I'm representing. It's a lot of people I'm taking care of. And it's a lot of people that I want to go out there and inspire. So with that being said, I know somebody out there paid their last dollar to come watch me play. I'm going to be out there for them."