ARLINGTON — Once again, the Dallas Cowboys are at a loss trying to explain a blowout loss at home that was embarrassing and seemingly unconscionable based on pre-game expectations.
When you have no answers you usually come up with reasons and justifications that usually only make sense your head.
Coach Mike McCarthy’s key message to the team following Sunday’s 44-19 thrashing by the New Orleans, that was as non competitive and out-of-hand since the last time they took the field in a 48-32 playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers last January, was that they were not going to go undefeated.
Well, no one has since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
He might well have added that the Cowboys also weren’t going to break their now 28-year Super Bowl drought since their last title in January of 1996, which is likely a similar lock based on Sunday’s effort against the Saints.
While it was seemingly a complete 180 from last week’s performance in 33-17 victory at the Cleveland Browns, this was more indicative than the season opener because of the Green Bay feel to it.
New Orleans scored on its first six possessions and led 35-16 at halftime. The Packers led 27-7 at halftime an scored on their first seven possessions.
Saints quarterback Derek Carr completed 11-of-16 passes for 241 yards with two touchdowns, including a 70-yarder to Rashid Shaheed in the first quarter. Running back Alvin Kamara rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns, while the Saints totaled 190 rushing yards on 39 attempts — an average of 4.9 yards per carry.
Similarly, Packers quarterback Jordan Love completed 16 of 21 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns and had a near perfect quarterback rating of 157.1. Running back Aaron Jones added 118 yards and three touchdowns via gaping holes through and around the Cowboys defense.
You get the picture.
Never mind that quarterback Dak Prescott went out saying it’s useless comparing the two games because of so many differing factors on the Cowboys, including a new defensive coordinator, new players, a new scheme and the loss of tight end Jake Ferguson, who was out with a knee injury.
While Ferguson scored three touchdowns against the Packers, which was sorely missed against the Saints, it should be noted the Cowboys were down 27-0 before he made an impact last year.
And the more Prescott talked, the more familiarity rang through.
“I’m not comparing last year to this year. We’re talking two completely different teams, honestly,” an in-denial Prescott said. “So there’s no way to even go back and compare that. Maybe because we got beat, got away from us fast and we were here at home. But completely different and separate and I wouldn’t waste my time if I was y’all trying to compare those two.”
Got beat, got away from fast and being at home is kind of the point.
Even McCarthy got on it.
“I don’t think the last time we played here has anything to do with it. I understand the convenience of the criticism, and obviously I’m on the other side of it. We’ve had changes on defense. You know, some of the changes we’ve made, was ton put the emphasis on the run defense. It was not evident today. I mean, no doubt about it, they got the ball on our perimeter, you know, time and time again, in the second level. Once again, it’s saying we need to play much better. I need to coach better, and you never want to play that way, especially at home.”
Keep in mind that the Cowboys had won 16 straight regular-season games at home before the playoff loss to the Packers. That streak was officially broken against the Saints in almost identical fashion.
That the Saints run a similar offense to the Packers, born of the scheme used by San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who has flummoxed the Cowboys over the last three seasons is what makes it even more troubling.
“I think their offense versus our defense, the shifts and motions in the run game, particularly the edge stuff,” McCarthy said. “The ball was on the perimeter time and time again. So obviously, we didn’t have a good answer for that moving forward. Because it’s just like anything in this league, when you put it on tape, you’re going to see it again and again.”
Even worse was owner Jerry Jones promising after the game the Cowboys would get things corrected shortly after saying didn’t see this coming.
How could he not see this coming?
Outside of hiring Zimmer to replace the departed Dan Quinn, now the coach of the Washington Commanders, Jones did nothing in free agency to improve the talent on defense from last year’s unit that got ran over and ran through and offered little resistance against the Packers.
Zimmer was brought in to singularly provide an answer. Not only was it more of the same, it looked even worse against the Saints as the Cowboys offered little resistance.
“You have to recognize it,” McCarthy said. “The elite outside zone is a starting point of it. And we were not very good at all against it today. It’s happened in the past. We’re definitely going to spend more time on it.
That’s all we know how to do. And it was part of some of the changes that we made to the run defense, and it didn’t exhibit itself today.”
All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons said it was on the players and not the scheme. Well, Parsons had just two tackles and no quarterback hits against the Saints. He had two tackles and one quarterback hit and no sacks against the Packers last season.
The Cowboys did not stop the run or affect the quarterback.
The Cowboys had all off season to work on it.
What an already disillusioned fan base saw on Sunday was more of the same.
Things are not okay in Dallas.
And if they don’t do something during the season to fix something they didn’t do in the offseason it could get much worse.
