The Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Baltimore Ravens was devastating and self-inflicted. Each unit did things that cost the team, but the coaching staff, especially, was a negative. In the future, there are still positive things to take in. The defense made some big plays in clutch situations. The left tackle continues to look good, both receivers got going, and the running game improved. The defense seems to have an improving young core to build momentum with, and the front office just traded for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. for the next 14 games.
The main storyline heading into Week 4 trip to Houston could be that, looking back to training camp, a 1-2 start seemed like a death knell, but now it looks very survivable. The next two games Dallas plays
are against winless teams in the Texans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then they go to the Green Bay Packers, who currently have one win, against the New York Jets. That’s three winnable games, and three of the five games after that are the Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and the Tennessee Titans. This season isn’t over, so the storylines going into Week 4 are still about winning games.
The defense might still play poorly, but they’re improving
The Cowboys' defense allowed nearly 200 rushing yards, a 75% completion percentage, and a game-losing 27-yard pass with seven seconds left, which led to a field goal that won the game 34-31 for Baltimore. Those stats make the defense sound terrible, and they might be bad, but they had a bunch of injuries in the defensive backfield and still made a lot of positive plays. They had three drives that ended in three-and-outs, forced a four-play turnover on downs, and an eight-play turnover on downs. They had only one game last season, with five drives that ended without points. It was against the Las Vegas Raiders.
They held Derrick Henry to 89 yards on 26 attempts, only 3.4 yards per carry. They stopped him twice on 4th-and-1 rush attempts. The third-down defense was significantly improved, holding Baltimore to 3-for-9 on third down (33%). Add the 0-for-2 they held the Ravens to on fourth down, and that is winning football defensively. They still have plenty more to get better at, but their defense has made improvements from Week 1 to Week 3, and now they have a big, long, press-man corner in Porter Jr. to add to the unit.
The rushing attack finally showed up
In the first two games, Javonte Williams ran the ball 24 times for 71 yards and one touchdown. That’s an average of under three yards per carry, and the running backs had zero explosive runs. The Cowboys' offense relies on play-action passing to be at its best, but they didn’t have any part of its rushing game working for it which makes the play-action passing game tougher to pull off because defenses don't have to respect the run.
This changed against the Ravens. Williams ran the ball 19 times against Baltimore for 98 yards and a touchdown, including two explosive runs. Williams' ability to run for over five yards per carry will completely change an already top-five offense. It improves their chances of controlling the game, gets the team into better down-and-distance situations, and makes them better in goal-to-go situations. A good run game also helps the defense by giving them rest and reducing possessions for the opponent.
Poor situational coaching cost Dallas against the Ravens
On the first offensive drive, the Cowboys averaged over 7 yards per rush with Javonte Williams. They got the ball to the five-yard line, and Williams ran it four yards down to the one. Brian Schottenheimer then called two straight passes, an incompletion, and a sack—this led to settling for a field goal. Later in the game, with Dallas down 31-28, the Cowboys once again got down to the two-yard line with a timeout and didn’t give the ball to Williams again.
They attempted a fade to George Pickens, then a pre-snap penalty forced them to pass, but the coach, knowing the defensive backfield was decimated by injuries, decided to have Dak Prescott throw the ball away on third down to ensure a game-tying field goal. The offense is the strong unit on the team, and the coach plays for the tie instead of going for the win with them. The coaches made things worse by kicking the ball out of the end zone, taking no time off the clock, and then making a poor defensive call that gave up a 27-yard pass and allowed a 56-yard game-winning kick to Baltimore. The coaching staff cost the players this game.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: 3 Cowboys storylines looking ahead to Texans after Rio Ravens loss
