Morale appears to be good.
Well, as good as it can be on a team that has lost three straight for the first time in four years and keeps suffering one, key personnel loss after another.
Put it this way. The Cowboys don’t seem to be wallowing in their misfortune.
Frustrated? Sure. A 3-5 record heading into a game against division-rival Philadelphia is far from ideal, especially without your starting quarterback. But the Cowboys return to AT&T Stadium after playing four of their previous five games on the road.
“Good to be home,” head coach Mike McCarthy said. “We need to win a home game.
“We haven’t won a home game this year."
A Cowboys team that has averaged 32 points at home in McCarthy’s five seasons in Dallas is averaging just 17.7 points in Arlington this season. The Cowboys are 0-3 after fashioning a 16-game regular-season winning streak at AT&T Stadium heading into this season.
It’s unthinkable.
“That would have been my answer," McCarthy said when asked about this team’s start at home. “Just the way we’ve played the last two years, I would have never thought that.
“I would have never thought that."
Shades of Rich Gannon
Dak Prescott’s injury puts the offense in the hands of Cooper Rush.
In extolling the virtues of the veteran understudy, McCarthy paid Rush a huge compliment. He said in terms of credibility, Rush is as respected as any backup quarterback he’s been around since he was in Kansas City with Rich Gannon in the mid-1990s.
“He had a great career, obviously," said Rush, who is 5-1 when filling in for Prescott. “I was pretty young watching him but I remember the Super Bowl with the Raiders, I think, versus the Bucs.
“But yeah, a guy that played forever, was a starter forever, different roles, and played well. It’s always nice being compared to that.
“But you come in here and be the same guy every day.That’s what guys want and they need.”
McCarthy describes Rush as cerebral. His style is different from Prescott’s, but he gives this offense the opportunity to play the same style. There will be tweaks to accomodate his skill-set, but no significant alterations.
“Maybe one of the smartest QBs I’ve ever been around, not just understanding the Xs and Os but the application of it," offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “Just even sitting over there talking to him when Dak is playing, he sees the field really, really well, even from the sidelines.
“He’s unflappable. He’s very calm. It’s hard to tell whether he’s playing great, we’re playing great or we aren’t.
“That’s the sign of a really, really good quarterback. He doesn’t have highs and lows."
Shouldering the load
CeeDee Lamb sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder in the loss to Atlanta.
He didn’t come out. He kept playing. And he’s going to be back on the field Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia.
“I’m tough," Lamb said. “And that’s not for show, and that’s not to prove to anyone.
“That’s just me and my will to win and my love for the game."
Lamb leads the Cowboys with 53 receptions for 660 yards and four touchdowns. He talks about needing to step up with Prescott out.
And that last game? Lamb remained on the field even when it was clear he wasn’t right. He landed on the injured shoulder on three, consecutive plays and still refused to come out, saying that teammates needed to have confidence that No. 88 was going to be out there to do his job.
Lamb has been criticized in recent seasons for his sometimes poor body language and interaction with teammates when things aren’t going his way. He’s acknowledged those shortcomings publicly.
This is the other side.
“I feel like it’s an underrated trait that I have," Lamb said. “It’s a lot of hits that I’ve taken. It’s a lot of things that I’ve had to take that many others I feel like would have folded.
“But with that, again, it’s more so, I’m not just out there for me. It’s a lot of people I’m representing. It’s a lot of people I’m taking care of. And it’s a lot of people that I want to go out there and inspire.
“I know somebody out there paid their last dollar to come watch me play," he continued. “I’m going to be out there for them."
A Nittany Lions reunion
Saquon Barkley is one of the main reasons Micah Parsons decided to go to Penn State.
The two are long removed from their alma mater. Sunday’s reunion will have a more adversarial feel.
Barkley is the NFL’s second leading rusher with 925 yards — nearly 300 yards more than the Cowboys team rushing totals — and has caught 20 passes for another 146 yards.
Parsons is poised to make his return after missing the last four games with a high ankle sprain.
“He’s playing running back so peacefully," Parsons said of the confidence Barkley displays in his first season with the Eagles. “You can’t stack the box against him.
“I mean, let’s be real you’re playing the Giants (Barkley’s former team), you’re putting eight in the box and saying, ‘beat me with your weapons that you got.’ Now that he got some help out here, man, it’s been a night-and-day difference."
What must the Cowboys defense do to slow Barkley?
“Yeah, man, honestly it’s just attacking them legs," Parsons said. “I know it’s tough.
“That’s like a big brother to me. But you know at the end of the day, I know he’s going to come with it. He knows I’m going to come with it.
“It’s going to be an exciting matchup."
A famaliar face
Kellen Moore began his coaching career with the Cowboys. He faced his former team last year as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers.
He’s in that same capacity again against his former team, only this time with Philadelphia.
“A lot of coaches, players, they all have overlap," Moore said. “We’ve all worked together in some capacity, so no different than a lot of guys that go to different places.
“Obviously, there’s familiarity. There’s some of that, but at the end of the day, once you get in the game, you play the game, and some of that stuff kind of takes care of itself."
The Chargers managed only 17 points last season in losing to the Cowboys. This Eagles team has more weapons and is playing at a higher level.
McCarthy felt a lot of what Moore was doing in Dallas was evident with the Chargers last season. When he looks at tape of this Philadelphia team, he sees the framework of what the Eagles have run in the past with some Moore twists.
“Put your players in position to be successful," McCarthy said. “Frankly, I see him doing that in Philadelphia. Saquon’s playing as well as I’ve seen him play, the way they’re running the ball.
“Some of the things they’re doing are reflective of how they’ve played in the past and you can see the things that he’s brought to the table... At the end of the day, you got to do what’s best for the players.”
Deja 3-5
The Cowboys lost five of their first eight games six years ago before rebounding to make the playoffs.
Can history repeat itself?
“Absolutely that’s what we want to do," right guard Zack Martin said. “There is no secret to this thing. It’s right back to work. We’ve got to get our confidence back and go in there with some swag and expect to win."
The circumstances aren’t comparable. Prescott was healthy for that resurgence in 2018. He’s not now.
That team added receiver Amari Cooper before the trade deadline. This one added Jonathan Mingo.
Now, back to confidence. What comes first, winning or confidence?
“I mean, you have to have some confidence first before the wins start coming," Martin said. “We have to believe we can win and play that way.
“Just the guys in the room. We’ve got to the guys in here. We’ve got to take ownership of this thing as players, and we’ve got to go out there and execute plays better. We can’t beat ourselves and put ourselves in a hole. Our margin of error is too small for that.
“Everything we want to do is still in front of us, right? We’ve got a lot of division games coming up. We’ve just got to get one and get on a roll."
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.
Twitter: @DavidMooreDMN
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
