Cowboys vs Ravens stock report: Sunday was an indictment against America’s Team
Despite a last ditch effort to make things competitive, the Dallas Cowboys were embarrassed by the Baltimore Ravens. Our Stock Report features nothing but down arrows as a result.
It is not an enjoyable thing to be pessimistic about your favorite team. Around here we all have our collective opinions about the Dallas Cowboys, but the bedrock of them all is a shared common denominator. We want to see the Dallas Cowboys succeed and win.
Criticizing the team or noting their failures in certain areas does not make this untrue for any one person or fan. Great figures, coaches and players decorate this team’s franchise history and established expectations of the annual group that we all want to see upheld.
This did not happen in any way on Sunday, but as we wrote in our postgame recap, it did not happen beginning over the past offseason. Dallas was no match for the Baltimore Ravens not because of what happened on Sunday specifically, but because of what happened in March and April. Studying for the test 10 minutes before it begins is a bad habit.
Perhaps you are proud of the “comeback” that the Cowboys mounted against the Ravens on Sunday, but you’ll forgive me for finding it a bit hollow in overall nature.
This is our stock report following the latest mess this team churned out and all arrows are southbound, except one.
Let’s begin.
Stock Down: Dak Prescott
We are starting here because he is the leader of the team, but he was far from the biggest issue on Sunday. As a whole Prescott’s day looks great statistically, but like the rest of his teammates, he found his form far too late for it to truly matter. At the moment Prescott seems to be starring in weekly episodes of Chopped where he is asked to make filet mignon out of gummy bears and cheese, these days feel very similar to the early ones of 2018 and the infamous wide receiver by committee approach.
That said, he is correct in what he said postgame in that the offense has to do more to help the defense. The defense is a massive problem in and of itself right now, but they did stand tall after getting punched in the mouth a few times. Baltimore punted twice after their first two touchdowns and the Cowboys turned those into zero points. The quarterback owns his fair share of responsibility for that.
Stock Down: CeeDee Lamb
But so does the person who fumbled on the first possession in question and it was CeeDee Lamb. There are a lot of hot takes flying around right now about CeeDee with words like “quitting” and “pouting” being tossed about. That is not my style, but the broadcast did appear to show a player rather disinterested in what was going on around him.
It is fair to say that a lack of training camp is probably hindering Lamb’s effectiveness right now. While you can “blame” Lamb for that, it is hard to say that what he did was wrong as far as himself individually. Players have a right to take care of their business.
But that does not mean that you can check out of a game when your team is mounting a comeback of sorts (it still feels silly to call it that). When the heat is on and everything is intense, that is when you are needed the most. Given that last season featured similar discussions around Lamb when the Cowboys lost big-time games, this was just a disappointing thing to see happen.
Stock Down: Tyler Guyton
It feels so unfair to say this about him because he is being asked to climb quite the hill with no real knowledge of the lay of the land. Who would have thought playing left tackle in the NFL was hard?!
Guyton may very well wind up being a great player for this organization, but the reality is that he is not one right now. In fact, at the moment he is below average. Is that shocking? Is it a great surprise that through three NFL starts we are not witnessing the greatest tackle of all time? Depending on rookies is always a bold roll of the dice and here we are.
Stock Down: Terence Steele
The benefit of being green cannot be applied to Terence Steele as he is in his fifth NFL season and on his second contract with the Cowboys. Poor performance cannot be tolerated here.
You would think that with Guyton on an island (so to speak) that Prescott and the Cowboys could depend on the savvy veteran on the other side to stabilize the ship. That is not the case.
Steele is the second-longest tenured veteran on the offensive line. The quality of play that we have seen from him through three games does not reflect that.
Stock Down: Mike McCarthy
These are not ranked by any means, but you could put Mike McCarthy at the very top. McCarthy has done some incredible things (relatively speaking) throughout his tenure, and while we would all agree that he is not exactly in a stable situation, what we are seeing from both the head coach and offensive play-caller is unacceptable.
From a head coaching standpoint McCarthy has outdone Jason Garrett in just about every single way, except for one. This is a bit ambiguous but you will recall when we would talk about how the Cowboys players always put out effort for Garrett, although they finally didn’t at the end. We are seeing a ton of low effort left and right from this group right now. But how can you blame them when they know he is in a contract year? There is no stability. That isn’t McCarthy’s fault.
From a play-calling standpoint there is no design on offense. What happened to motion? To scheming players open? We have seen it! Sitting back and asking everyone to play hero ball is not a viable strategy yet here we are.
Stock Down: Micah Parsons
For what it’s worth, Parsons is still arguably the best player on this team, but he issued a note last week that this game would be a statement opportunity of sorts. Good for him.
But when you say things like that and fall short, it is representative that things in the house are not exactly in order. Parsons is only one player and he seems to be trying his hardest, but he is not a difference-maker right now. We are asking him to do more and be even more incredible. That is unfair in nature, but he has walked and talked like the kind of player who welcomes those opportunities.
Stock Down: Caelen Carson
Once again, seriously, depending on rookies at the beginning of their careers is not only unwise but potentially damaging to their long-term success. Caelen Carson looks nothing like the player who impressed all throughout training camp. He missed what appeared to be an easy tackle on Nelson Agholor that turned into a massive gain. That can’t happen.
Overall this “situation” is the one where Dallas deserves the least amount of blame. DaRon Bland’s injury was unpredictable and it set them up poorly. But this is where not hedging bets in advance of anything can come home to roost.
Stock Down: Mazi Smith
Honestly what more can we say? Piling on for piling on’s sake just feels mean. Unfortunately, the Cowboys do not have much of a choice here due to poor play, injuries and whatever you want to call what happened with Jordan Phillips. Expecting Smith to be great because he was a first-round pick last year is screaming into the void.
Stock Down: Mike Zimmer
The only other candidates who the Cowboys reportedly considered for their defensive coordinator position outside of Mike Zimmer were Rex Ryan and Ron Rivera. This always felt sketchy to me.
Zimmer looks like he is no match for the NFL’s modern game and how could he be? He’s been out of the league for a few years. We know his name and have memories of group’s dominating under his command so the nostalgia in us wanted this to be great like the reboot of any sitcom from our youth, but none of those shows ever work out. This one hasn’t either.
What’s more is that a hallmark of sorts of Zimmer’s past is that groups are rough and tough and have fight and nastiness to their games. This Cowboys defense allowed 158 yards on Sunday as a result of broken tackles. You cannot tell me that this is a group who plays with discipline.
Stock Up: Brandon Aubrey
The dude hit a 65-yard field goal. He rocks. That’s all I’ve got.
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