DALLAS — Adversity. It's woven into the DNA every NFL season for every team.
Injuries, poor play, and questionable coaching made for a triple-shot of early season adversity, and it resulted in a crash-landing for the once high-flying Cowboys against the Cardinals. It's not all gloom and doom for Cowboys fans, though.
Many of the issues versus Phoenix, particularly on defense, are correctable.
But can they do it this week against the Patriots?
One of the biggest storylines we're following this week will be running back Ezekiel Elliott's homecoming. He's coming off a week when he averaged five yards per carry on 16 rushes versus the Jets. The Patriots ran the ball 40 times out of 69 offensive plays overall. Bill Belichick will test the Cowboys run defense that was awful in Arizona.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said he talked to Elliott on the phone for the first time in a long time.
"His spirits are great. He's excited," said Prescott. "It'll be good to see him."
Not sure if the Cowboys defense will agree with that sentiment. Don't mind what you hear on the national talk shows. The most glaring issue in the Cardinals debacle was the Cowboys run defense. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will put Micah Parsons and company to the test right out of the gate.
Cowboys Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn said he was "upset and hurt" by his squad's effort. I expect the appropriate response. It shouldn't take long to figure out if the Cowboys have shored up their run defense issues. This is so key to getting back to the pressure-packed, chaos-inducing style we saw the first two weeks of the season.
Cowboy defenders talk about it all the time. They've got to earn the right to rush the passer by stopping the run. It will be an early key on Sunday.
A Quick Look at the Weekend Ahead
- Who: New England Patriots at Dallas Cowboys
- When: 3:25 p.m. on Sunday, October 1, 2023
- Where: AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
- Weather: Partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 90s, and lows in the low 70s.
- Watch: FOX (Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi)
- Listen: KRLD-FM 105.3 The Fan (Brad Sham, Babe Laufenberg, Kristi Scales)
- Last Meeting: Dallas 35 - New England 29 (OT) (October 17, 2021, in Foxborough, Mass.)
- Series Record: Dallas leads 56-34-1
X’s and Joe’s
The Cowboys offense couldn't come to the rescue against the Cardinals.
Dak Prescott and company moved the ball well in between the 20's but the red zone was woeful. They got inside the Cards 20 on each of their four second half possessions and came away with zero touchdowns. They've converted just 3-of-11 red zone trips for touchdowns in the last two games.
Execution is an issue but play calling must be addressed, as well. Here are a couple of snap shots displaying the lack of separation on a couple of crucial red zone calls.
The Cowboys gambled with three minutes left in the third quarter and went for it on 4th-and-3 from the Cardinals 4-yard line.
See the picture below: There's nothing open that would have made a difference. Each white jersey in the end zone is draped with a defender or two! Tony Pollard has room in the flat, but there's a defender waiting on him. Prescott ended up trying to extend the play by rolling to the right, but there was nothing there.
And here's a snapshot from the final nail in the coffin.
Late in the fourth quarter on 3rd-and-6, once again, there's next-to-no separation here. Scanning from right to left, both Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb are covered on the bottom of the frame. We'll get back to Brandin Cooks in a moment, but that's Jake Ferguson with a defender on his back and Pollard again, in the flat has a defender waiting on him.
As for Cooks, the only place that ball should be delivered is high and toward the back of the end zone. And that begs the question: Why would you have your most diminutive receiver running this route? The design wasn't great, so Prescott should have just thrown it away. Trying to fit it in and getting it intercepted made a bad situation even worse.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy's new "Texas Coast" offense has to do a better job of being more creative in creating space inside the 10-yard line. It will be a major focus this week and moving forward.
Being without three of their five starting offensive lineman certainly made a big impact. Guard Zack Martin (ankle) and center Tyler Biadasz (hamstring) were limited in practice on Thursday and Friday. Tackle Tyron Smith (knee) didn't practice at all on either day. The probability is low that Smith will be ready, and Martin and Biadasz may go down to game-time decisions.
Random Stat of the Week
Since joining the Patriots, Belichick has dominated the Cowboys with a 5-1 record. He's 6-3 all-time against Dallas in his coaching career.
There's another milestone stat on the line for the venerable Pats coach: A victory Sunday would be NFL win number 300. Belichick would join Don Shula and George Halas as the only head coaches in the NFL's 300-win club.
Cowboys Fan Bandwagon Meter
Prediction time: Joestradamus speaks!
The Cowboys stinker against the Cards is a not-so-subtle reminder of the mental and physical prep it takes to get ready for an NFL Sunday. I think they learned the lesson and play well against the Pats, but not well enough to cover the 6.5-point spread.
Cowboys win it, 30-24.
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