ARLINGTON — The numbers and the eye test showed another pitiful performance by the Cowboys’ defense Sunday.
The Ravens, a 28-25 winner at AT&T Stadium, didn’t do anything different than what the home team had seen before on tape from them. Derrick Henry runs the ball. Lamar Jackson runs the ball. The offensive line is physical. The rushes come off the tackles. The Ravens use run-pass options with Jackson.
It’s nothing complicated.
Yet, this Cowboys defense played as if defending the running game was something new. They played the passing game, particularly in key moments, as if the forward pass was born Saturday night.
“Hero ball,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said of the problems.
“The same thing, now we got people trying to be Supermen,” defensive end Micah Parsons said. “People just got to own their jobs, bro. We don’t need no Supermans at all. We just need 11 guys playing together and right now they’re just not in unison.”
The Cowboys allowed 274 rushing yards on 45 attempts. Jackson, a quarterback, attempted just 15 passes.
Henry, the man fans and some in the media wanted the Cowboy to sign while ignoring the financial implications of it, rushed for 151 yards on 25 carries. Henry, a running back, ran as if this was the 1980s when running the ball was the first option in an offense.
Jackson rushed for 87 yards, slipping past defenders for most of the day. He wasn’t sacked at all. Nope. Not once.
Parsons was the only man credited with a hit on Jackson in the pocket.
The numbers show a Ravens team that averaged 6.1 yards per carry.
“We do what we supposed to do, we win the game,” Parsons said. “At what costs are we going to keep doing this to ourselves?”
The Cowboys’ front seven was pushed around most of the day. You can’t dispute this looking at the numbers and from watching the contest. In the passing game, there were mistakes, too.
In the first quarter, rookie cornerback Caelen Carson missed a tackle on receiver Nelson Agholor in the open field. Agholor took off before getting tackled after a 56-yard gain. Two plays later, the Ravens took a 14-3 lead on a Henry 1-yard run.
“That’s a play I got to make, just a play I need to make,” Carson said. “I expect more from myself and I feel like that’s a rookie mistake. But I expect better from myself.”
The Ravens’ struggles at closing games revealed themselves as the Cowboys rallied with 19 fourth-quarter points.
During the comeback, the defense was asked to make a stop. Just one stop to give its rallying offense a chance in a one-score game.
With 2:36 left, faced with a third-and-6 from the 25, Jackson completed a 9-yard pass to Zay Flowers on cornerback Trevon Diggs.
Flowers had some room to make a play because Diggs gave him space to avoid getting beat deep. But Flowers ran his route just beyond the first-down marker to get the completion.
“I got to make that play, regardless what situation we’re in,” Diggs said. “At the end of the day, I got to make that play.”
The frustrations with this Cowboys’ defense are growing. There is tension in not making plays. Parsons continues to believe in defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer’s scheme and while that’s fine, the personnel is lacking.
The front seven, particularly the front four, isn’t good enough. You don’t need to know how to work a coaching clicker to realize this. Over the last two weeks, the Cowboys’ run defense has allowed 464 yards.
Those same men have just one sack, a Chauncey Golston chase-down of Derek Carr last week. Jackson is difficult to bring down, much like Deshaun Watson was in the season opener in Cleveland. But the Cowboys had six sacks that day.
None on Sunday against Jackson.
Lawrence and Parsons were on the sidelines having an animated discussion about scheme. Parsons didn’t deny the conversation, calling Lawrence a “big brother” and that they want the same thing.
It seems after three weeks, this Cowboys defense is badly in need of something. You can’t change the entire scheme or personnel.
You have to hope things improve when the Cowboys visit the Giants on Thursday night.
“Having a game plan but not following the game plan,” Lawrence said. “It’s just small things. Once we get out of playing little league football and back to play pro football, we’ll be all right.”
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