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5 points: Observations from the Cowboys loss in Week 2

September 17, 2024
New Orleans Saints v Dallas Cowboys
Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

What was your biggest observation from Sunday’s loss?

The Dallas Cowboys couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced New Orleans Saints offense on Sunday, losing 44-19. Even on their worst day, Dallas hasn’t lost like that during the regular season in a long time. The game felt reminiscent of the Green Bay Packers ghost that haunted Cowboys fans all offseason but was hoped to have been exercised against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1.

However challenging it may seem, it’s important to remember something. Just as there shouldn't have been an overreaction to the Cowboys dominating the Browns last week, the loss to the New Orleans Saints shouldn't be an overreaction, believing the season is over.

Here are five observations from the loss that paint the picture of what happened in Arlington.

First Point: The Cowboys could not stop the Saints big-play offense

The Saints had their way with the Dallas defense from the opening drive until Mike McCarthy decided to wave the white flag and pull his starters late in the fourth quarter. Big plays in the NFL usually come in chunks of ten yards or more.

However, getting a seven-yard gain to set up a manageable second or third down and short is just as effective. New Orleans ran 56 plays total on offense. 24 went for seven yards or more, roughly 43 percent of the time.

Any time an offense can make it a manageable down and distance in their favor for almost half of the game, it will be a long day for the opposing defense.

That’s exactly what the Saints did under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. The Cowboys failed to live up to their expectations on Sunday for a defense that looked disciplined in Week 1, not allowing big plays to Cleveland’s offense and preaching discipline all offseason.

With the Baltimore Ravens coming to town, there must be a solution for defending chunk plays and fast. Otherwise, Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and others will have their way with this defense.

Second Point: The blame shouldn’t entirely fall on Dak Prescott

People on X (formerly Twitter) were criticizing the Cowboys quarterback as being at the center of the blame for the loss. While there were moments in which Dak Prescott could have been better, he isn’t the one who surrendered 44 points.

The Cowboys were already trailing 28-13 when Prescott threw his first interception. The interception wouldn’t have occurred if wide receiver Jalen Brooks hadn't fallen while running his route. These things happen occasionally, but the defense allowed four consecutive touchdown drives to New Orleans' offense. The interception was adding insult to injury to a game that was already getting out of reach.

Prescott deserves some blame on Dallas's first drive out of halftime, already trailing 35-16. Prescott made a bad throw that was out of reach of running back Ezekiel Elliott out of the backfield, which was a near walk-in touchdown.

Other than that and the late interception with the game even further out of reach, Prescott has played two solid weeks of football. The problem is the defense needs to be better, so the pressure isn’t solely on Prescott to pull them out of it.

Third Point: Dallas needs more DeMarvion Overshown on defense

The talking point coming out of Sunday’s game wasn’t just focused on what happened on defense, but on why second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown wasn’t on the field as much as last week.

In his first game as a pro in Week 1, Overshown led the Dallas defense in tackles and pressured Deshaun Watson for one sack and two quarterback hits. His explosive talent was talked about all week as being another piece of defense to take them to the next level.

Then, when the clock hits zero and the stats are compiled, it turns out that Overshown was on the field for less than 20 defensive snaps. Eric Kendricks led the way with 53 snaps, followed by Damone Clark (39) and rookie Marist Liufau (37).

During Monday’s press conference, head coach Mike McCarthy addressed Overshown’s drop in snap count, saying,

“Well, I just think like anything, you got a new scheme, you got young players. You make decisions on training reps in base, training reps in sub. Obviously last week, he [Overshown] was primarily gonna be part of the subpackage. We weren’t anticipating being in that much base going into the game, but that’s where the game went. Those things happen.”

Various analysts across Cowboys platforms seem to agree that the difference between personnel packages was the answer to a drop in snaps, but why wouldn’t Overshown be in the team’s base defense if he’s shown to be one of their top defenders? Hopefully, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer will examine that this week and adjust his approach.

Fourth Point: The Cowboys need to get creative running the ball

In Week 1, the Cowboys attacked the Browns using a few jet sweeps on offense that worked with CeeDee Lamb. In a similar package, McCarthy has also given those opportunities to KaVontae Turpin.

After two weeks, Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle's duo have produced 112 rushing yards. Across the NFL, 24 players have rushed for more than that alone. Three of the 24 are all quarterbacks: Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, and Kyler Murray.

As McCarthy has pointed out, there haven’t been many situations in which they’ve been able to run the ball effectively. Week 1 was undoubtedly better than Sunday, but against the Saints, they just fell too far behind, which forced them into passing situations for the rest of the game.

It will not be any easier against the Baltimore Ravens this week. The Ravens have defended the run better than everyone, allowing just 49.5 yards per game. If the Cowboys can add more variety to their run game, they could have a shot to open it up for Elliott and Dowdle.

Fifth Point: Hopefully, the finger-pointing doesn’t start

Luckily for the Cowboys, McCarthy has shown the ability to bounce back from a loss like this during his time in Dallas. After his team lets up 40 or more points (five times), McCarthy's record the following week is 3-1. If the team can find a way to beat the Ravens and go to 2-1 before a short week against the New York Giants, that would be perfect.

However, if the team gets beaten by Baltimore similarly at home ahead of the short week, hopefully, the finger-pointing for who to blame doesn’t begin. For example, look at the Jacksonville Jaguars. They sit at 0-2, and things haven’t looked great to start the year.

Running back Travis Etienne spoke after the game and said the team needs “hard workers, not talented guys,” in response to head coach Doug Pederson saying the Jags have a lot of talent in the locker room.

On his weekly podcast, The Edge, Micah Parsons discussed the loss and said that the effort of all 11 players on defense wasn’t there. He’s taken more of a role this year as a leader on defense, which is great to see.

Hopefully, the players in the locker room don't misinterpret the comments made in a public forum. Tension can rise after a few tough losses, so it would be great if the Cowboys could avoid that this weekend against Baltimore. Otherwise, another bad loss might push things over the edge.


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