Playoffs? Playoffs?! After the Dallas Cowboys lost at home to the Minnesota Vikings, they aren’t eliminated from the postseason. However, their chances are very bleak. The Cowboys squandered opportunities
to build a lead and control the game, and the same problems that have plagued them all season once again resurfaced in a game they had to win. It’s a somber feeling around Dallas today. Here’s why the Cowboys fell short on Sunday night.
Not equipped to handle the pressure
This could have a double meaning. The Cowboys had their backs against the wall, and losing would be detrimental to their playoff chances. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known for his exotic blitzes and confusing the protection for opposing quarterbacks. He did just that on Sunday as the Cowboys couldn’t muster any big plays to counter Minnesota’s aggressive looks. They didn’t handle the pressure of the playoff chase, or the Vikings defense.
It also doesn’t help that, at one point, Dallas was playing with their third left tackle, and the Vikings’ edge rushers were collapsing the pocket. Historically, Dak Prescott is pretty good versus the blitz and has made teams pay for committing so many players to rush the passer. That didn’t happen. Prescott was pressured on 48% of his dropbacks against the Vikings. When blitzed, Prescott completed 8/15 passes. The offensive line didn’t do a good enough job at protecting Prescott.
Brandon Aubrey’s off night
It says a lot about Brandon Aubrey that you expect him to make his kicks every time he takes the field, no matter the distance. So to say that him missing two field goals beyond 50 yards is uncharacteristic of him, that speaks volumes about his caliber as a kicker. That said, on a night where the defense wasn’t going to stop the Vikings, and the offense could put the ball in the end zone, every kick by Aubrey was magnified. It was the first time that Aubrey had missed multiple kicks in a game.
The Cowboys ended up losing by eight points, and they would have loved to have those points on the board late in the game. At one point, the Cowboys elected to bypass going for it on 4th-and-3 from the Minnesota 18-yard line and settled to take a 23-17 lead, likely signifying that the Cowboys were okay only needing a field goal to regain the lead if the Vikings scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive. That’s exactly what happened, and it backfired. Aubrey missed from 59 yards, and the Cowboys never got ahead of the Vikings afterward as Minnesota scored again to take a 31-23 lead, which they would not look back from.
George Pickens’ disappointing night
After the disappointing game George Pickens had against the Detroit Lions, Dallas needed Pickens to have a big bounce back. Minnesota made sure that didn’t happen. The Vikings showed heavy pressure on passing downs, putting players in both sides of the A gaps, speeding up Prescott’s time to throw and negating some of Pickens vertical game. They also rolled safety help outside the numbers to take away the possibility of Pickens beating them down the field. Although they often showed a blitz look, many times the Vikings would drop an edge player in zone coverage to Pickens’ side to take away the slant. Simply put, the Vikings were not going to allow themselves to get beat by Pickens, and the results were underwhelming at best. He posted three receptions on six targets for a ho-hum 33 yards.
J.J. McCarthy dismantles the Dallas defense
If you were to poll the 32 general managers and defensive coordinators in the NFL, respectfully, J.J. McCarthy wouldn’t be in the top tier of quarterbacks in the league. For the second week in a row, the defense did nothing to disrupt a quarterback who doesn’t handle pressure well. Last week it was Jared Goff, and this week McCarthy picked them apart standing behind yet another offensive line that was dealing with injuries. Christian Darrisaw missed last night’s game, and yet Dallas failed to sack McCarthy once. For further reference, here’s how ineffective Dallas was to slow McCarthy.
To make matters worse, the secondary was just as bad. Countless times the Vikings had open receivers but passes were either off-target or dropped. McCarthy and Justin Jefferson failed to connect on a few occasions but for everyone else, not a problem. McCarthy was 13/16 for 228 yards and two scores when not targeting Jefferson.
Whether it was Caelen Carson getting beat for 58 yards on 3rd-and-long by Jordan Addison, or safeties being isolated in coverage against receivers, nothing Dallas did was going to challenge McCarthy. Again, the defense failed to show up when they needed to and allowed over 30 points once more. Weekly, it gets harder and harder to justify why the defense is so bad. Furthermore, it gets harder to justify why Matt Eberflus is in charge of that side of the ball. Something has to change, and unfortunately, it will only come in the wake of further disappointment.
