ARLINGTON, Texas – Just like any injury in your personal life. If you break your right hand, you better figure out how to use your left.
If you hurt your left knee, I'm pretty sure you'll be limping and favoring your right knee more than usual.
Pretty basic stuff, right? Well, it's no different in football.
When the defense is gutted like it is right now, the offense better step up to at least try to make up the difference. And they certainly did not.
Yeah, I think we all knew this was going to be a tough matchup for the Cowboys. But there really isn't an excuse for 47-9 at home – ever.
This was way, way, way worse than anyone could've imagined. You can point fingers all across the board, but it has to start with the offense.
Now, let's not give the defense an absolute pass here. That wasn't much of a showing either against a Lions team that was well-rested, very talented and looking for blood. You add those together and it would be tough to stop them even with all of your best defensive players on the field.
But at some point, the offense has to do its part. Seriously, what's their excuse? No Brandin Cooks? Nah, not buying that. Jalen Tolbert showed us last week he can step into the No. 2 role. The offensive line made a switch to seemingly put the best five guys out there for this game. And the running game is what it is. We know it's not good enough, but it hasn't been all year. The Cowboys seem content with what they have, so there's no excuse there.
But this offense, led by Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, is supposed to be able to carry this team at least to a better showing than this. You know the defense is going to be in trouble, so help them out more. Dak can't throw a floating pass to the end-zone corner like that and get picked off on the second drive of the game.
This wasn't just all on Dak, though. It was a combination of the lack of a running game, which turns this team one-dimensional just a few moments after the opening kickoff.
Put this on the play-calling as well. Because when you know you can't run – and I hope this team realizes that despite what they tell us – you can't continue to call running plays in the red zone that will get them behind the chains.
Think about it, you took the ball to start the game for a reason. The Cowboys knew they had to get an early lead or momentum. But yet they're not giving themselves the best chances to score when they get down there in the red zone. I get it, you can't be one-dimensional, but the handoffs to Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle inside the 15-yard line aren't going to work right now. They don't work in the middle of the field when you have a threat of a deep ball to lean on. So when it gets tight down there in the red zone, do they think it's going to be different? To me, it's wasted plays and wasted chances to actually move the ball with your top personnel.
But again, when you lose a game like this, 47-9, it's everyone – everyone but your kicker. But it's too bad they don't even have three or four more players doing their job as well as Brandon Aubrey.
The guys you expect it from on defense were in street clothes.
But the guys you expect it from on offense were out there. Zack Martin doesn't look like the All-Pro standout we've been accustomed to seeing in the past. Prescott made way too many mistakes and certainly not enough plays. Same goes for Lamb, who caught a few passes early on, but didn't come up with a big opportunity on the first drive. Jake Ferguson didn't make a catch in the second quarter that would've been a big gain.
The list goes on and on.
The Cowboys defense wasn't better. They gave up big play after big play after big play. We always hear coaches, general managers and personnel members say about the other team, "They get paid too." So let's not act like the defensive guys out there on the field should get a free pass because they haven't been to Pro Bowls or whatever.
They were there. They were missing tackles and jumping offside and all that. But we knew they were going to be a weak link on this day.
It's just too bad the Cowboys didn't have anything stronger to offset that.
Hello, bye week. Nobody needs you more than this team.
