Home field advantage is gone.
The defensive tenacity disappeared.
The attack power is gone.
And when Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones turned 82 on Sunday, his birthday marked another milestone as the football calendar flipped and blazed for 27 consecutive seasons. In the short term, it’s an embarrassing 47-9 loss at home to the Detroit Lions, but in the long term, it’s the Cowboys’ first win leading to a Super Bowl since Jones’ only win in his early 50s. It reminds me of what I haven’t put in. The pads Dak Prescott was wearing were diapers.
Let that be the baseline for the Cowboys heading into their bye week. They are riddled with injuries on defense and lack identity on offense. They’re stuck at 3-3, staring into the distance in the taillights of the NFC’s most talented team, led by a time-consuming head coach.
NFC East? The Washington Commanders (4-2) look better.
From start to finish, the entire NFC North is probably better.
The Atlanta Falcons (4-2) in the NFC South? Probably better. Even the San Francisco 49ers (who, like the Cowboys, are 3-3 and have their own issues) are far ahead.
As of Sunday, the Cowboys had lost four straight at AT&T Stadium, including blowouts to the Lions, the New Orleans Saints in Week 2, and the Green Bay Packers in last season’s playoff bust. There is. The offensive line is a mess. The offensive scheme is unbalanced, and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer seems unsure about replacing his predecessor, Dan Quinn. Even AT&T Stadium’s social media department had some really cringeworthy moments, at one point posting a photo of the home crowd along with Sunday’s attendance numbers to I blurred it. Of course, this caught the attention of the Lions’ social media accounts and caused an uproar.
In the midst of it all, Jones seems not only old, but out of date, strangely unsure of his plan of action and bound by the belief that things will only get better with time. It looks like. That…may be enough to push Dallas toward the postseason and make head coach Mike McCarthy’s expiring contract the only topic anyone will really talk about going forward.
After Sunday’s loss, Jones told reporters he didn’t have much of an answer other than the hope that the bye week would be a chance for change.
“This was very alarming and very humbling… We have a lot of work to do.” “It’s going to give us a chance to really practice what it takes to be more successful in a game like this,” Jones said.
“This was shocking. I thought we could have done more in that football game, and I think we can. We just didn’t do it out there today. ‘What are we going to do about it?’ There aren’t many answers to the questions. we are going to work. We’re going to try to take advantage of the young players that we have there, the reps that they’re getting, the experience that they’re getting and use that to help us get in position to win ballgames. ”
Dak Prescott and the Cowboys have lost three home games this season. Heading into the bye week with 3 wins and 3 losses. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Here’s about that bye week: The schedule is like a buzzsaw that comes out of it.
So far, the Cowboys’ three wins have come against the 1-5 Cleveland Browns, 2-4 New York Giants, and 4-2 Pittsburgh, who are still learning how to score with Justin Fields. – Gained at the expense of the Steelers. At quarterback. Get out of a bye? Weeks 8 through 12 feature a healthier 49ers team, a Falcons team that is finally starting to settle into an offense with Kirk Cousins, a healthier Eagles team, and one of the best teams in the world. Introducing the Houston Texans team. The NFL (and the potential return of Nico Collins) and the Commanders franchise, which is gaining momentum and confidence by the week.
Conversely, we don’t know when the Cowboys will have edge rushers Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence back in that stretch, or what cornerback Daron Brand will look like after returning from a stress fracture in his foot. There’s also no prospect of the wideout suddenly becoming more than an extra in rotation with CeeDee Lamb. Backfield? Dallas needs to learn how to establish a lead in order for the running game to work, and they certainly haven’t found a way to do that.
There’s a good chance Dallas can play the season by late November. And it’s all going to be in the spotlight over the next week and the next, along with the big question of whether Jerry intends to fire McCarthy and revamp his coaching staff. That’s exactly what everyone expected back in July, when McCarthy entered the season in the final year of his contract. Still, this song seemed inevitable regardless of the record. If the Cowboys were hitting on all cylinders, the question would be what McCarthy needed to do to get a contract extension after the season. If the Cowboys are struggling, the question will be whether to fire McCarthy in a last-ditch effort to salvage the season.
This is what Jerry Jones made for himself. So he shouldn’t have been surprised when asked if he was considering a managerial change after the worst home defeat in his 34 years of ownership.
“I don’t think about that,” Jones told reporters, furious at the proposal. “Just to be clear, I’m not thinking about that.”
Well, he better get used to answering that question. Because this is a team he built, a team led by players he extended and a head coach he didn’t extend. Married together, they are in mundane turmoil and are on a week-long vacation that may be their final break to mend the rift.
Happy 82nd, Jerry. This is a gift you have given yourself.
