Derrick Henry shows the Dallas Cowboys, owner Jerry Jones exactly what they're missing

ARLINGTON — What do the Dallas Cowboys have to do to get their self-described running-back-committee going?

Before owner Jerry Jones answered that question, he had a question of his own: how many total yards did the Cowboys rush for in Sunday’s 28-25 loss to the Baltimore Ravens?

The answer: 43 yards on 13 carries: an average of 3.3 yards per attempt.

“Double that,” Jones then said, insinuating that would be a sign of progress for the Cowboys’ running game.

Or, he could’ve tripled that — and it still wouldn’t have been as much as what Derrick Henry did to the Cowboys on Sunday. Context makes that fact sting even a little bit more.

Henry spends his off-seasons living in the Dallas area. He has a home here, and when it came to find his next NFL home this off-season, he viewed the Dallas Cowboys as a “perfect” situation. They needed a running back, and the former Tennessee Titans star said he was willing to be the one — if the Cowboys picked up the phone.

They never did.

Instead, Henry signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens. And instead of filling one of the Cowboys’ biggest needs, he reminded them of what they missed out on, rushing 25 times for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

“I hold myself to a high standard,” Henry said. “I definitely wanted to come out here and be able to have an impact to give us a chance to win by the way I played. I feel like the first two weeks I kind of got going a little slow. But like I said, we’re all tied in together, and we all just want to come out here and execute and be able to win – and we did that today. Being in Dallas – this is where the offseason is [for me and] where I spend most of my time in the offseason. It felt a little good today for sure.” 

It sure looked like it. Henry stiff-armed, picked up momentum and barreled his way through the Dallas defense, living up to the “Juggernaut” nickname Cowboys corner Jourdan Lewis gave him during the week. There was a glaring difference between his performance and those of his counterparts on Sunday.

“Hats off to him,” Jones said of Henry. “He had a great day today. I have all the respect in the world for him, but that’s what happens when you don’t sign good ones: they can come back and have a great game against you. But the bottom line is, we couldn’t do that.”

Because, Jones said, they didn’t have the financial flexibility to do so.

“Why can’t you buy a mansion when you live in a different type of house? We couldn’t afford it,” Jones said. “You can’t make that all fit. Simple as that.”

There’s that sting for Cowboys fans again.

The Cowboys entered the 2024 off-season with just over $2 million in salary cap space. But that was before they released Michael Gallup, and before they restructured multiple veteran deals, and ultimately way — way — before they signed quarterback Dak Prescott and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to extensions.

After all the off-season moves, the Cowboys now have nearly $24 million in cap space. If the Cowboys had done that earlier, then maybe they could’ve added Henry, or “bought the mansion,” as Jones said.

But they didn’t. Instead, they chose to re-sign Ezekiel Elliott to go with Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, and veteran Dalvin Cook, who continues to wait in the practice squad wings. It’s a group that Jones has repeatedly said he likes. He even said this week that questions about the position were contrived by a media narrative.

After the first two games, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said there wasn’t enough sample size to determine how effective their running back committee was. It needed more work. McCarthy, once again, reiterated that thinking.

“Attempts. We don’t have enough run attempts,” McCarthy said. “It’s 20 pass attempts at halftime. You know, we’re definitely down the road that I didn’t want to be in. I thought our guys, you know, for the looks that they had, I didn’t feel discouraged about the run game at all.”

Triple their output from Sunday, and maybe their would be reason to be encouraged about the running game.