The Dallas Cowboys found a way to lose another game they could've won. They faced off with the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and went toe-to-toe down to the last second of the contest. The Ravens got the ball with seven seconds left after Dallas chose not to go for a touchdown on third-and-goal and also chose not to squib-kick the kickoff. Lamar Jackson hit Zay Flowers to set up a game-winning field goal for Baltimore.
This was a game dictated by poor decisions on offense and special teams, leaving the door open for the Ravens offense to take the win against a defense decimated by injuries in the defensive backfield. What was learned from the Cowboys' Week 3 contest is that the young defense is improving, but their offense, and especially
the coaching staff's decision-making on that side of the ball, has to help win these games. The money is on the offensive side of the ball, so they have to pull wins out of games like this one.
Schottenheimer's play-calling hurt the Cowboys' quick start
Dallas didn’t run the ball from the 1-yard line on second or third down. The offense rushed for over seven yards per attempt on the opening drive, with two rushes of eight yards and one of 17 yards. The first dynamic run of the season from anyone not named Dak Prescott. The two plays to get them to the 1-yard line were four-yard runs. Shottenheimer got too cute and called two pass plays, and the Cowboys had to kick a field goal.
On their third drive, up 10-7 on a second-and-six, Shottenheimer split the running back out wide while averaging 6.1 yards per attempt. At a time when the Dallas offense should be protecting its defense, Williams could’ve been used to run or for a play-action pass. Dallas threw the ball all four plays on that drive and ended up punting. The momentum shifted in favor of Baltimore mainly due to their head coach and play caller.
The offense had chances to put the game away and failed
With the team up 28-24, the defense got a three-and-out, making the Ravens punt the ball back to the Cowboys' offense with 7:29 left in the game. Asking them to milk seven minutes is a lot, but if they can drive down and score a touchdown, they go up two scores with less than five minutes left. Instead, Dallas went three-and-out, running two balls up the middle for a total of four yards and then throwing an incompletion.
After a Baltimore touchdown, Dallas drove down inside the five and couldn’t punch it in to win the game. They threw a pass, took a false start penalty, had a QB scramble, and then inexplicably threw it away on third down. The defense was missing multiple defensive backs, so not going for the game-winning touchdown on third down was an awful decision. One long completion and a timeout later, and Dallas loses 34-31.
The Cowboys rookie class is making plays early in their careers
The Dallas defense played well enough to win. Were they still a bad defense overall? Yes, and they should still look to improve the roster on that side of the ball, but given the situation, the defense did enough, and the rookie class is a major part of that. They forced a three-and-out on the first defensive drive, but the Cowboys couldn’t score a touchdown from the one-yard line. The defense then caused a turnover on downs when rookie Caleb Downs tackled Derek Henry in the backfield. The rookie class's first big play set up the offense for the early touchdown from the 30-yard line.
In the second half, Jaishawn Barham made two huge stops. One on third-and-one, where he got a tackle for a four-yard loss, and then a goal-to-go tackle of Henry, causing a turnover on downs. LT Overton made a big play at the goal line later, but Baltimore scored two plays after negating the impact of his play. That doesn't change the fact that the defensive rookies are making plays, and the more snaps they get, the better they should get. More experience, better instincts, less reaction to fatigue. The foundational pieces are there.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: What was learned from Dallas' Week 3 loss to the Ravens?
