FRISCO, Texas — The last thing the Dallas Cowboys needed to happen in Week 2 is precisely what did happen, in that they not only suffered a loss in their home opener that also serves to worsen the taste from the one versus the Green Bay Packers in January, but it was also another blowout that saw similar areas of the team exploited.
The 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints included the Cowboys' defense allowing touchdowns on the first six drives, while their offense could only muster a single touchdown — the majority of their most promising drives ending in a field goal.
All of this occurred on the heels of dismantling the Browns in Cleveland.
"The big lesson here is you can get to thinking you've got it figured out way too early in the game," said owner and general manager Jerry Jones. "We're 1-1 and we've got to learn. And this group right here has got to learn from what they experienced out there today."
There were no answers defensively for Alvin Kamara, who finished the game with a total of four touchdowns (three on the ground and one in the air), or Derek Carr's ability to stretch the field with Raheed Shaheed and Chris Olave.
Carr and Co. also owned third down efficiency and scored 44 points to go along with 436 yards of total offense on only 56 plays. The Cowboys, contrarily, mustered only 19 points and 353 total yards on 66 plays.
Defensively, the Saints walked away with two interceptions to the Cowboys' singular one, so forth and so on.
"So extraordinarily disappointed," said Jones. "Extraordinarily disappointed for our fans. We will correct this. We will improve from where we played out there today."
That task will begin with trying to bottle up the reigning NFL MVP, Lamar Jackson, and Derrick Henry in the backfield, made more difficult by the fact the Baltimore Ravens are in desperation mode and trying to avoid an 0-3 start to their season.
The bad news to take away from the loss against the Saints is bountiful indeed, but the reality of it happening in mid-September is also a thing.
"This is early," said Jones. "It's very, very early, and we certainly didn't see this coming, but obviously we've got a lot of room for improvement here. … We were able to keep our drives, had some pretty good possessions, kick some field goals, but you can't be an effective opponent in a game if you can't stop them from scoring touchdowns with every possession and not only use the clock.
"... So we all know that that's not representative of the kind of team that you'll see out here for the Dallas Cowboys this year."
They proved that to be true in Week 1, but then undermined it in Week 2.
It's time to see what Week 3 will bring.
