Sunday was incredibly frustrating for the Dallas Cowboys. Losing in general stinks, but losing when you are favored to win is particularly hard to swallow. Dallas was favored to beat Carolina and it was the second
time this season that they have lost as a road favorite (the Bears loss in Week 3).
Like that day in Chicago, this particular Sunday featured an incredibly poor performance from the defensive side of the ball. The Cowboys are setting some history this season in this way, but we are always curious exactly what that history looks like.
Thanks to Stathead and Pro Football Reference we can literally figure this out. Each and every week we examine the latest Cowboys outing through the lens of the past.
Here are this week’s Historical Notes.
Javonte Williams had a ton of targets
Something that immediately stood out to me when looking at the box score was that Javonte Williams had eight targets in the game. That feels like a lot for a running back.
It turns out that instinct was on track. This is every game that the Cowboys have played in the Dak Prescott era in which a running back was targeted at least eight times. While there are 15 listed, Dak missed the Cardinals and 49ers games in 2020 so there are only 13 games of this type total.
The Cowboys are 6-7 (seriously, not a reference to the ongoing internet joke/meme) in those games.
Things are officially worse than 2020
Let me say that total yards is not the best way to evaluate anything, but it can be a helpful guide nonetheless. Through the first six games of this season the Cowboys have allowed 2,470 total yards against them. They are one of just three teams to eclipse 2,400.
You can see that they have the 2020 group (shout out Mike Nolan) beat by 10 yards. They now only trail the 2013 version of “defense” that this team played.
Rico Dowdle’s big day
Obviously Rico Dowdle had a huge performance against his former team. He even trolled them after in a move that you have to respect because history is written by the winners.
All told Dowdle had 239 total yards from scrimmage. He was the first to hit the 230 mark since Calvin Johnson in the infamous game at Detroit in 2013. Yes. That one.
Dowdle was only the seventh player ever to hit 230 total yards from scrimmage against the Cowboys in a regular season game. It should be noted that Eric Dickerson did it in the playoffs as well. Not that that helps.
George Pickens is special
Through his first six games with a star on his helmet, George Pickens has reached 500 yards and caught six touchdowns. That is a career high in a season for him, by the way (the touchdowns).
Since 1970 there are only two players to reach 500 yards and have six touchdowns receiving for the Cowboys. George Pickens is the latest and he has joined Amari Cooper in that capacity. You likely recall that Cooper’s first six games came midway through the 2018 season as that was when he was acquired.
Interestingly the Cowboys also sort of acquired Cooper in a contract year. This isn’t exactly true as Dallas landed him when he was in his fourth season and the Raiders had exercised his fifth-year option for the 2019 season, but the point is that the Cowboys traded for him (and he had high levels of success) when he was already eligible for an extension.
