Mike Nolan may be sprucing up his résumé right about now, because Cowboys fans may just welcome him back following Sunday’s defensive meltdown.
The Cowboys came into Carolina as slight favorites, and for
good reason. Their offense has been one of the very best in the league, the defense showed improvements a week ago against the Jets, and the Panthers simply aren’t that good. However, they’re undefeated at home this year, and that trend continued Sunday.
Dallas went three-and-out on their opening drive, but clicked into gear after that. A field goal on their second drive was followed up by a Donovan Wilson interception off a tipped pass, which led to touchdown pass to Hunter Luepke, the first of his career. That drive was set up by this impressive play from George Pickens.
Carolina responded with a touchdown drive of their own, and the Cowboys’ penchant for giving up wide open passes suddenly came back. With the score tied at 10 apiece, Dallas embarked on a long, methodical drive that ate up 77 yards and nearly eight full minutes. That drive ended with a touchdown to Jake Ferguson, and felt like the Cowboys twisting the knife. Even though the Panthers cut the lead to 17-13 right before halftime, Dallas seemed to be in control.
Things changed in a hurry.
Carolina got the ball to start the third quarter, and it took them just four plays to score a touchdown. A big pass to Jimmy Horn Jr. started things off, and then Rico Dowdle got wide open on a blown coverage for a 36-yard touchdown. Just like that, the Cowboys were trailing.
Each team traded punts after that before Dak Prescott found Pickens again, this time for a huge catch-and-run right into the endzone, putting Dallas back up 24-20.
Naturally, though, the Cowboys defense was unable to help out after that. Carolina had five different runs of at least seven yards just on the ensuing drive, and Bryce Young once again found a wide open Tetairoa McMillan in the endzone, once again with Wilson in coverage.
The Cowboys offense quickly moved the ball after that, with yet another huge play from Pickens setting them up right at the cusp of the red zone. After a big first down pass to Ferguson, though, there was a fumble on the snap exchange between Prescott and backup Brock Hoffman. Prescott managed to recover the ball, but it proved to kill the drive, and Dallas settled for a game-tying field goal.
That proved to be the moment that the Dallas defense needed to finally wake up, as they forced a three-and-out. Granted, they were helped out by consecutive penalties on the Panthers offense, but still: the offense got the ball back with a tie game and eight minutes left.
The first play became a drive-killing bust. Brian Schottenheimer called a rollout to the right with a toss back screen to Javonte Williams, but a Panthers defender dropped Williams for a loss of five. The next play was another screen to Williams, and it was stopped for a loss of seven. That resulted in a checkdown on third down, and the drive went nowhere.
Surely, there will be plenty of digital ink spilled about that final offensive possession for Dallas. The play calls were questionable, at best, and the execution was downright disgusting. However, let there be no mistake that the worst parts of that three-play series still pale in comparison to what happened next.
The Panthers got the ball back with just over six minutes left, starting at their own 14-yard line. All the Cowboys needed was one more stop. That was, apparently, too much to ask for from Matt Eberflus and his defense.
Carolina moved the chains on third down thanks to a pass interference penalty from Kaiir Elam, and then Young found a wide open Tommy Tremble three plays later on another third down. Eventually, the Cowboys did make a stop on third down: at their own 40, with 2:31 left to go in the game. But rather than kick the field goal and give the ball back to the Cowboys with plenty of time, Dave Canales opted to go for it.
And, for some odd reason, Eberflus dialed up a play that had Bland 12 yards off the line of scrimmage and three whole yards behind the line to gain. Anyone want to guess which receiver Young chose to throw to? Bingo.
After that, Carolina ran the ball three times before Young took a couple of knees, winding the clock down to three seconds before kicking the game-winning, walk-off field goal. The defense that has been such a liability all year for the Cowboys found one more way to completely rob their efficient, productive offense of a victory.
And now, the team drops under .500 again with a 2-3-1 record. Up next is a showdown with the Commanders, led by former Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. As if all eyes weren’t already trained on Eberflus, the direct on-field contrast next week will surely make the discourse revolving the embattled defensive coordinator even louder.
