ARLINGTON, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Buffalo Bills 26-15. The ‘slow start woes’ ended for the Cowboys but the team went downhill from the early lead.
Dallas got off to a fast start with Dak Prescott’s 8-yard play-action pass to Jason Witten for the touchdown on the opening drive. On the defense’s first possession, Darian Thompson burst off the edge on a blitz for a sack on Josh Allen.
The team then stalled on both sides of the football. The Cowboys lost the momentum with multiple drives ending in no points on the scoreboard. Following the TD in the opening drive until the touchdown in the final 1:27 on the clock, the Cowboys’ offensive drive chart looks like:
Punt
Punt
Interception
Fumble
Missed FG
(End of quarter two)
Missed FG
No fourth down conversion
No fourth down conversion
Following the game Dak Prescott said, “ We started off fast which is something different than we’ve been doing. But we weren’t able to keep it up, weren’t able to get it going. We ended too many drives without points; it’s as simple as that. It begins with the offense converting in the red zone and getting touchdowns. We weren’t able to do that. It starts there. That’s a good football team we played, and we got behind. They controlled the clock, did what they had to do.”
Defensively, the unit had solid pass pressure with a combined 4.0 sacks on Josh Allen, but once the mobile quarterback broke the pocket, the defense could not tackle him in space. The defense has struggled with missed tackles in zone coverage throughout the year with bad angles and the issue came up again against the Bills. The defense allowed 26-straight points in the ballgame with a lack of physicality.
Thompson had a big night at strong safety in for Heath with a quarterback hit, a pass deflection, and four tackles in addition to his sack.
He told me following the game, “ They do a real good job. The quarterback is very mobile. When he gets out of the pocket, it’s hard to cover him. We tried to do our best to keep him in the pocket and not let him escape.”
The Cowboys’ season is on the line as they hit the road to face the Chicago Bears. The team has yet to beat a team with a winning record and if the Cowboys hope for a shot at the playoffs, they have to start now. Frustration is beginning to emerge from the General Manager and players after the season’s turn of events. Drastic changes have to be made for the team to consistently make plays on the football field, or the Cowboys could see their NFC East lead slip further and further away.
