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5 takeaways from Cowboys-Lions: Another dreadful start, another humbling loss at home

The AT&T Stadium boo birds were out for the Cowboys starting in the second quarter.

ARLINGTON — Every team faces adversity over the course of a regular season. Some more than others.

The Cowboys get to marinate in theirs over a bye week.

Detroit completely and utterly dismantled Dallas 47-9 Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium. The result elicited boos from the fans, starting in the second quarter, and sent the Cowboys meekly into the bye with a 3-3 record.

How bad was it? Head coach Mike McCarthy raised the white flag with 13:12 left in the game, sending quarterback Cooper Rush into the game for Dak Prescott.

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Oh, and one other tidbit. Jerry Jones turned 82 on Sunday.

Happy Birthday.

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A dreadful start

To say the Cowboys have gotten off to slow starts at home this calendar year doesn’t come close to describing the depths of their ineptitude.

The numbers critics cite are often limited to the first half. Let’s not stop there. Dallas trailed 47-9 a few minutes deep into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game.

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This was the team’s fourth game at AT&T Stadium — Green Bay, New Orleans, Baltimore and Detroit — this calendar year. Dallas has trailed 137-28 to open those games.

That’s not a misprint. They were down to the Packers by 27 points, the Saints by 22 points and the Ravens by 22 points before falling behind the Lions by 38 points.

Prescott falls short

The Cowboys were able to overcome Prescott’s red zone struggles in the come-from-behind win over Pittsburgh.

Not this time.

Dallas was down by four points late in the first quarter and had a third-and-5 on the Detroit 7-yard line. Given Brandon Aubrey’s expertise, the Cowboys certainly would have come away with points unless they turned the ball over.

Well ...

CeeDee Lamb ran a crossing route from right to left. Detroit corner Brian Branch sat in the back left corner of the end zone and Prescott sailed the pass right to him for the interception.

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That was Prescott’s third red zone turnover — two end zone interceptions and a fumble — in a span of five quarters.

A quarter to forget

The Cowboys had a healthy 107 yards of offense in the first quarter.

They finished the first half with 111 yards.

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That’s right. The Dallas offense had the ball on four possessions in the second quarter and produced a not-so-grand total of four yards.

Those who have an understanding of mathematics will tell you that’s an average of one yard per possession.

Rico Dowdle led the ground attack with five yards. Lamb led Dallas through the air with nine yards. The killer: Prescott was sacked twice in the quarter leading to minus-18 yards.

Desperate times

The Cowboys trailed by 17 points with less than three minutes remaining in the first half. The game was slipping away.

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So on fourth-and-2 on their own 38-yard line, McCarthy decided to go for the first down rather than punt. Prescott dropped back in the shotgun and threw incomplete to KaVontae Turpin to turn the ball over to the Lions on downs.

Detroit responded with a touchdown for good measure.

Too little, too late

There’s been a lot of consternation lately about Prescott’s inability to connect with Lamb in the second half of games. The two found each other Sunday.

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Feel better?

Lamb caught three balls for 43 yards in the third quarter of the team’s blowout loss. That may not sound like much, but he had just four catches for a meager total of 25 yards in the second half of the first five games behind.

It may not qualify as a silver lining, but it will have to do.

Catch David Moore and Robert Wilonsky as they co-host Intentional Grounding on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310 and 96.7 FM) every Wednesday from 7-8 p.m. through the Super Bowl.

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