ARLINGTON — The Cowboys’ offense is a stain that needs more than bleach to clean up.
In 24 offensive possessions, Dallas has scored three touchdowns.
The Saints scored five in the first half of a 44-19 wipeout of the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The defense had something to do with the inability to slow down the Saints. Offensively, the Cowboys weren’t competitive.
“It was tough; obviously they got the better end of us,” said receiver CeeDee Lamb, who caught a 65-yard touchdown pass. “They played a better game than we did. They finished better than we did. And personally, it sucks to take, but realistically, you just got to take it and move on and obviously grow from it and become a better team by next week.”
Before addressing next week, the Cowboys need to solve some issues.
The running game hasn’t found an identity. In the season opener against Cleveland, it was blah as Ezekiel Elliott started.
On Sunday, Elliott didn’t touch the field until his team was down 14-3 and 15 offensive plays had taken place. No wonder he wasn’t in the best of moods when he declined to speak with a reporter after the game. Elliott is one of the more accessible players on this team.
What could he say?
Rico Dowdle started with Deuce Vaughn taking the field before Elliott. The Cowboys overall averaged just 3.2 yards per carry. The three running backs had 17 carries for 57 yards combined. There were no jet sweeps to Lamb, something we saw last week in Cleveland. Instead, receiver KaVontae Turpin got one for 2 yards.
Quarterback Dak Prescott said he needed to “watch the tape” before giving an honest assessment of the run game. Dowdle said the Cowboys were forced to pass more once they got behind two scores.
In truth, you might give this trio of Elliott, Dowdle and Vaughn one more week before it’s time to elevate Dalvin Cook from the practice squad.
After two weeks, the Cowboys have 170 rushing yards with a 3.7 average. The Saints rushed for 190 on Sunday.
Against the Saints, Prescott was intercepted twice. The first pick occurred when receiver Jalen Brooks stumbled out of his break as the ball was thrown. The second interception was safety Tyrann Mathieu making a play on the ball. He also separated receiver Jalen Tolbert from a reception with a hard hit late in the first half.
Now, the Cowboys didn’t have tight end Jake Ferguson, who was out with a bruised knee. Prescott was asked where his team missed his starting tight end and he replied “everywhere.” This wasn’t anything against the replacements, but on a fourth-and-4 in the fourth quarter, Prescott’s pass to Brevyn Spann-Ford fell incomplete. It was one of those contested catches you needed to see made.
Prescott pushed the Cowboys into the red zone three times and came up with no touchdowns. After just two weeks, Dallas is 1 of 4 in the red zone.
“That’s unacceptable,” Lamb said. “And I think the guys can also vouch for that.”
After signing the richest contract in franchise history, Prescott has been average. He said as much after the game against the Browns last week. There were some communication issues with Lamb, maybe due to the contract holdout that cost the duo practice time in training camp. But Prescott badly overthrew Tolbert in the fourth quarter with a pass that went into the end zone.
What could be happening with this Cowboys’ offense is just the world of the NFL. You did see the Ravens, the Cowboys’ next opponent, fall to 0-2?
“I tell you, my expectations are crazy high and go off of wins,” Prescott said. “So I’m not going to give you a great, maybe a realistic answer. I guess you say I’m seeing it well, I’m saying seeing it well, put the ball where I want to.”
The only positive for the offense is kicker Brandon Aubrey finishing drives. He’s made all eight of his field goal tries in 2024.
Yay, team.
“But we want to score touchdowns,” Prescott said. “I mean, outside of the big one to CeeDee, get in the red zone three times, I guess, right, 0-3 in the red zone, and you’re not going to win games that way. Damn sure, not against an offense that’s rolling like that.”
It’s too early to panic and say this thing is falling apart.
Lamb said the offense is “growing.”
Sunday afternoon, you marveled at what the Saints produced.
Then you watch the Cowboys and wonder, where is this offense going?
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