If the Week 2 matchup with the Washington Commanders isn’t a must-win game for the Dallas Cowboys, it’s as close as it gets. Losing in back-to-back weeks against divisional opponents and dropping to 0-2 in the NFC East could be extremely detrimental to any hopes of making the playoffs. But a victory, could help them start turning things around.
To avoid yet another embarrassing loss, the Cowboys need to improve quickly across the board in all three phases the game. There are certain things they hopefully
placed a priority on this week in practice that could help turn things around heading into the matchup with the Commanders.
Communication
Communication, or the lack thereof, really hurt the Cowboys last week against the New York Giants, playing a big part in the embarrassing loss. It wasn’t much of a problem with the offensive side of the ball with all of their starters from a season ago reprising their role, but defensively the communication issues were bad. This issue resulted in players going virtually untouched for big plays due to blown coverages/assignments. Correcting this problem should have been prioritized this week heading into the matchup with the Commanders.
Accountability
Individual accountability needs to improve after the overall poor performance by the Cowboys last week in the season opener. Penalties, missed tackles, dropped passes, blown assignments… the list could go on and on. We could point to the finger at any given player and say they didn’t perform up to their typical standards last week against the Giants.
And, the same can be said about the coaching staff as well. No one seemed to be as prepared they should’ve been, but hopefully that’s all in the past. This is where the new leadership council should come into play, holding themselves and their teammates accountable.
Aggressiveness
Last week the Cowboys chose to punt instead of trying to convert a fourth down and less than a yard on the opening drive. It’s a decision that may have impacted the game more than we know.
Instead of trying to set the tone early by playing aggressive on what should’ve been a high percentage conversion on a simple QB sneak or even a “tush push”, they chose to play it safe, allowing the Giants to gain the momentum by scoring a touchdown immediately after. Once the momentum was lost, Dallas was never able to regain it. To combat that this week, they should be much more aggressive in their approach the game, in all three phases of the game.
