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It seems like The Star is spinning in Dallas. Micah Parsons got called out by Damien Woody, and CeeDee Lamb hid from his media responsibilities. And here are two reasons why the Cowboys must panic after the Week 3 loss to the Ravens.
Dallas fell behind 28-6 to the Ravens before rallying and making it close at 28-25. However, there were extremely fortunate circumstances that helped the Cowboys tremendously, including the rare recovery of an onside kick and Justin Tucker missing what has always been a gimme field goal for him.
But there are two things for the Cowboys to seriously worry about.
Cowboys ground game isn’t getting job done
Against the Ravens, the Cowboys ran the ball only 16 times for 51 yards. Dowdle led the way with eight carries for 32 yards. The circumstances of falling behind early played a role, but the Cowboys ground attack is throwing a lot of fear into opponents at this time. But for the season, the Cowboys have only 167 yards rushing in three games.
And if the Cowboys can’t run the ball effectively, it’s going to make things tougher for quarterback Dak Prescott to keep the chains moving. Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said it’s a matter of volume, according to espn.com.
“We don't have enough run attempts,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “It's 20 pass attempts at halftime. We're definitely down the road that I didn't want to be in. I thought our guys, for the looks that they had, I didn't feel discouraged about the run game at all.”
The Cowboys might have solved the issue by signing Derrick Henry in the offseason. But they didn’t do it, something owner Jerry Jones has to answer for these days. Henry rushed for 151 yards and two touchdowns against the Cowboys.
“Hats off to him,” Jones said. “He had a great day today. Have all the respect in the world for him. And so that's what happens when you don't sign good ones. They can come back and have a great game against you. But bottom line is we couldn't afford Derrick Henry.”
Henry signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Ravens that included $9 million in guaranteed money.
Guard Tyler Smith said the Cowboys need to turn things around, according to baltimoreravens.com.
“We have an elite standard in our O-line room,” Smith said. “We got to run the ball better. That's just something we got to do.”
The Cowboys have to find a way to move the football on the ground, or they will be relying on an extremely pass-happy offense.
However, a pass-happy offense only feeds the next reason the Cowboys face panic.
Cowboys’ run defense looks very soft
The Cowboys are getting annihilated by opposing team’s rushing attacks. The Ravens are not fun for any defense, but 274 yards on 45 carries is a major torching. Henry, Lamar Jackson, and Justice Hill each averaged over six yards per carry. Those are big numbers. And when the Ravens needed it the most, Jackson took a fake end around 10 yards for the game-clinching first down.
Fixing a run defense isn’t something that can be done overnight. And consider this: The Cowboys knew their run defense caused issues in the big playoff loss to Green Bay, but they couldn’t fix it in the offseason. Is it because they’ve committed so much money to star players like Prescott and CeeDee Lamb?
Whatever the case, the problems are glaring.
“We're not having our stuff together on defense where we're playing 11-man football,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence said. “It's all frustrating. Having a game plan, but not following the game plan. It's the small things. So once we get out of playing little league football and get back to playing pro football, we'll be all right.”
However, teams are pointing to the Cowboys lack of run-stuffing ability up the middle. There’s no game plan to fix that issue. McCarthy acknowledged the woes, according to usatoday.com.
“I think definitely the last two weeks, it's going to be a clear target on us,” McCarthy said. “We're going to have to stop it. Our run defense and the attempts on our run offense are clearly not where we need to be right now.”
Cornerback Trevon Diggs said Henry brought the biggest issue, according to baltimoreravens.com.
“What'd it look like? 240 (pounds), 6-3, what you mean?” Diggs said. “Especially with him, we need 22 people to tackle him.”
Overall, Diggs said the Cowboys need teamwork.
“We just need more hats to the ball,” Diggs said. “Just little things we need to clean up, you know. Somebody get out of that gap, a big hole is going to be there, and the rest is history.”
