Why? Just why? Why do the Dallas Cowboys keep disappointing this badly? You’re at home on a short week, playing a winless team that is starting an undrafted free agent at quarterback. You would have never noticed with how poorly the defense looked.
Once again, they failed to limit explosive plays. If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wanted to gash them on the ground, they could. If they wanted to exploit them through the passing game, no problemo. This defense is a rudderless ship that cannot get out of its
own way.
As for the offense that was tabbed the Greatest Offense There Is (GOTI), not so fast either. The offense led by Dak Prescott was lifeless in the first half. Prescott was far from his normal self, and the offense paid dearly for it.
When you lose this badly, and in this embarrassing way, there’s no shortage of identifying where it all went so sour. We’re going to sit on this loss for a while. Here are the key plays that cost the Cowboys.
The drive that started it all, 1st QTR, 9:33, 3rd-and-4
The Cowboys were off to a fast start. After the receiving the opening kick, the Cowboys took a quick 7-0 lead and immediately put the pressure on Jalon Daniels and the offense to answer back. Facing an early 3rd-and-4, the Dallas defense does a good job in coverage, blanketing Tampa Bay’s available receivers.
However, Rashan Gary doesn’t keep containment on his side, and Daniels is able to escape the pocket to his right as he manages to get the first down running. This wiped away a 3-and-out opportunity. More than once, Gary failed to maintain the edge or make a tackle in space, and the Buccaneers benefited from it.
On Tampa Bay’s opening drive, the Buccaneers held the ball for 10:58 of game clock. During the drive, DaRon Bland drew a holding penalty. That nullified a sack and further kept the drive alive. That one play would have knocked the Buccaneers out of field goal range and ended an excruciating drive much sooner.
The Buccaneers more than doubled the time of possession in the first half versus the Cowboys. However, you can point back to Daniels getting out of the pocket initially to keep the chains moving and the Cowboys off the field, which foreshadowed a maddening evening.
Dak misses a big shot to CeeDee Lamb, 2nd QTR 9:29, 3rd-and-10
If we know anything about Todd Bowles, he’s going to bring to bring pressure and overwhelm your offensive lineman with extra numbers in the face of the quarterback. Historically, Dak Prescott is very good against the blitz, but something wasn’t quite right with Prescott for much of the evening.
After a Bryan Anger punt that landed inside the Tampa Bay 5-yard line and a rare 3-and-out from the defense, the offense had prime real estate. The Cowboys had the chance to take back the lead and the momentum from the Buccaneers.
Facing a critical third down, Prescott breaks away from a sure sack and, once he bails the pocket, has a clear shot down the field at CeeDee Lamb. If Prescott lays the ball out and puts some air under it, Lamb likely makes the catch and waltzes into the end zone.
Instead, Prescott throws it short, and it is very nearly intercepted. Had Prescott hit that throw deep, it likely changes the way Bowles attacks the Dallas offense the remainder of the night. Prescott has been terrific all season, but that was one he had to have. There was a lid on the Cowboys offense for far too long on the evening and that moment they needed to have to get out of that funk.
Bucky breaks free 3rd QTR 14:54, 1st-and-10
Take your pick of which explosive play allowed by the defense upset you the most. Was it the defense allowing a 3rd-and-21 to be converted after bailing out into a soft zone defense with easy access to Emeka Egbuka? Or was it DaRon Bland falling as Tez Johnson was wide open in the secondary and took it 64 yards?
Let’s settle on Bucky Irving’s 72-yard run to open the half. The Cowboys decided to aggressively blitz the run to stop Irving. For a moment, it looked to be successful. However, the defense didn’t show enough effort to rally to the ball to make the tackle.
It looks like Jaishawn Barham did a solid job redirecting Irving in the backfield, but instead Irving leaks out of the pile of bodies to set up Tampa Bay deep in Dallas territory. Still shell-shocked from what happened, the defense looks like they don’t know what hit them. On the very next play, Emeka Egbuka trots in for the score to give the Buccaneers the lead.
It’s an abysmal pattern, but this defense hemorrhages big plays at the worst possible time.
Bland drops the ball, 4QTR 3:58, 3rd-and-8
DaRon Bland had a rough night. Multiple times he was on the receiving end of huge plays that went against his team. He hasn’t been playing very well for quite a long time, but all could have been forgiven if he just made one play that slipped through his fingers.
At this point in the game, the Cowboys should be disappointed with how they had played against Jalon Daniels. They hadn’t been able to get him to the ground regularly; they were unable to cover his receivers, and they had allowed him to overcome repeated penalties by his offense.
Yet, with the Cowboys needing to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion, Daniels threw a pass right to Bland that he should’ve intercepted for a touchdown. This is the same player that has the NFL record for most interceptions returned for a touchdown in a given season. If there was any indicator that Bland isn’t the player he once was and probably wont ever be again, its that moment right there.
There are few play calls by Christian Parker where you feel he got the better of the opposing offensive coordinator. Dallas missed his call of the night. Parker dialed up a blitz to ensure that Daniels would be forced to get the ball out quickly, and Bland also knew it and was in perfect position. That play call was worth six points, and Bland couldn’t deliver.
Ferguson completes the hat trick 4th QTR 1:22
The Cowboys turned the ball over three times on Thursday night; two of them were because of balls that hit the intended receiver in the hands. Jake Ferguson’s mishandling of Dak Prescott’s pass resulted in effectively the game-sealing turnover, which left fans in attendance stunned.
For the second week in a row, Dak Prescott was engineering a late fourth-quarter drive. It looked as if he was going to get his sputtering offense in the end zone once again. At that point, the personnel was falling apart. Tyler Guyton had left the game; CeeDee Lamb was also on the sideline with a quad injury.
For as poorly as he had been playing, Prescott was doing his best to drag his offense to a tie. That is, until Jake Ferguson let the ball slip through his hands, off his helmet, and into the arms of Alex Anzalone.
In the last few weeks, Ferguson has mishandled the football several times. From a fumble in Brazil to a drop during the two-minute offense before the break, Ferguson had to come up with that catch at the end of regulation. It’s a shame that the game was ultimately decided by a simple pitch-and-catch that was poorly executed.
