FRISCO, Texas – Who are these guys?
Are these 2024 Dallas Cowboys the team trampling the Cleveland Browns in the season opener 33-17, and on the road at that, turning the infamous and supposedly intimidating Dog Pound into Kitty Litter?
Or are these Cowboys the team clobbered by the New Orleans Saints 44-19 the very next week, and at home at that under the AT&T roof where their 16-game regular season home winning streak came crashing down in a mere half of football, Saints footprints all over their backsides?
Are the Cowboys the team we saw in training camp, crisp on both sides of the ball, Dak Prescott having one of his best months of work under the tempered sun of Southern California, and the defense under new coordinator Mike Zimmer becoming a pain in the backsides, even during those two scrimmages with the LA Rams?
Or are they this bewildering team with that same offense scoring just three touchdowns in two games, though still putting up 33 points in the season opener, and the same issue with this defense, the one in the opener holding the brutish Browns to just 54 yards rushing sans QB scrambles, but then one a week later so inept stopping the run the Saints only had to throw the ball 16 times to put up 44 points, leading Micah Parsons to compare the Saints only needing to relentlessly run the ball to playing "Pony" League football.
A less flattering equine description does come to mind when describing this performance.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy blames such contradictory performances on "September football," the byproduct of not playing any real football at all during the months of May and June and then really not during the month of August either while preparing for the read deal coming the start of the regular season.
"You really don't have the picture painted until the fourth week," McCarthy reasons for the disparate performances.
Then there is Parsons, swearing the coaches prepared them well, but falling on less definitive reasons for the wild swing, saying, "At some point, all 11 got to have the same mindset and that's just toughness, right? You talk about who you want to be and all this other stuff, but you got to go out there and be. It can't just be one guy, it can't be two guys, it's all 11 guys."
And then there is this from 11th-year veteran Zack Martin, who has seen just about everything there is to see in the NFL, putting the blame on this two-game roller coaster ride this way: "You can't assume anything in this league, you know that Mick."
Sure do, and that's why trying to be reasonable about the jarring difference between the Cowboys Week 1 performance and Week 2, Zack adding, Consistency is king in this league," and then this, "You can't let one week bleed into another week."
Looking for blame is tough, might as well Blame It on the Bossa Nova." (Google it.)
Whatever the reason, this still is September football come Sunday the 22rd, officially the first day of Fall when a good 93,000 folks and a mostly national Fox TV audience listening to Tom Brady once again will begin finding out at 3:25 p.m. if these teeter-tottering Cowboys are back up or stuck down when facing a desperate 0-2 Baltimore Ravens teams, basically the same one having bowed out of their Super Bowl chase last year in the AFC title game.
And a deceptive 0-2 Ravens team at that, having possibly lost that opener to the Chiefs by an end zone toe nullifying a last second touchdown and the potential to chase a two-point conversion for the win, and then lost again last Sunday by a scotch at home to the Raiders, giving up 13 consecutive points in the fourth quarter, including the game-winning field goal with just 27 seconds to play.
Guarantee you, they ain't happy.
And the Cowboys better not be happy either. For sure not with their defensive effort, and no way with their offensive effort needing four Brandon Aubrey field goals to reach but 19 points, meaning the offense has only scored three touchdowns in the first two games.
Now when peeking inside this 1-1 start to the season, two blemishes are glaring. The inability to stop the Saints from running for 190 yards and four touchdowns and from scoring touchdowns on their first six possessions. The defensive line play was unacceptable, repeatedly getting knocked off the ball.
And then the offensive line's performance, too, the Cowboys running game averaging just 3.2 yards a carry and Dak sacked another three times, totaling six in two games, which puts them on a 51-sack pace over 17 games.
Not good, and especially in need of cleaning up with the, yes, 0-2 Ravens coming to town, but still a team relying on stopping the run while running the ball themselves. The Ravens have given up just 99 yards rushing in two games, and this 3-4 defense will test the Cowboys offensive line, especially rookie center Cooper Beebe, who will be smelling the breath of Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce playing head up with all 355 pounds of himself.
And the Ravens outside linebackers are a load, too, starting with Odafe Oweh, and for sure their defensive tackle/end Nnamdi Madubuike who led the team last season with 13 sacks. Hard to budge these guys, and the Cowboys barely budged the Saints defensive line, running for merely 68 yards.
And then there is the conundrum of stopping the Ravens from running the ball, something they historically have exposed Cowboys defenses while winning five of six meetings. In three of those wins the Ravens ran for 250 in 2000, 265 in 2008 – the final game played at Texas Stadium – and 294 in 2020, with QB Lamar Jackson running for 94 of them. In fact, in all six meetings the Ravens have totaled 1,055 yards rushing, or an average of 176 a game.
And guess what?
The Ravens still like to run the ball, this time around with Derrick Henry, who has run for more than 1,000 yards in five of his last six seasons with Tennessee, including an NFL leading 2,027 in 2020. And if that is not chore enough, remember Jackson, last year's NFL MVP, led the Ravens with 821 yards rushing, and already in two games leads them with 167 this year.
And we're not talking scrambling runs out of the pockets. We are talking called running plays for the 6-2, 205-pound quarterback who routinely runs behind pulling offensive linemen., putting defenses in double jeopardy. The likes of Mazi Smith, Linval Joseph, Osa Odighizuwa and Carlos Watkins must bow up in the middle.
Spying is recommended, too, on passing downs, but how many players are big enough, yet fast enough, to deal with Jackson? And when a team does do that, that means one guy is taken out of coverage in the passing game. Maybe Parsons at times comes to mind, maybe DeMarvion Overshown at times, who knows.
So, for this Cowboys defense allowing the Saints to score on the last Sunday's first six possession, setting the edge against the run is imperative. But then, too, the pass rush must be an umbrella effort, making sure the defensive front guys stay in their lanes. Make him throw the ball instead of scrambling out to break your hearts, possibly your spirit. Beware Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence
Hey, it's not easy. But you know what? The NFL is not easy, not intended for the faint of heart.
So, tune in on Sunday, 3:25 p.m. kick, to get a better inkling of just who these Cowboys are.
But remember, no matter which ones, it's just three games into the season.
