ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The downward spiral for the Dallas Cowboys continues as they fell to the Cleveland Browns on their home turf, 49-38. Dallas now sits at a 1-3 record after the disappointing performance.
Hard to unpack a game like that but best to start with the defense’s performance. The Cowboys could not stop the Browns’ running game and yielded 307 rushing yards, the most allowed in franchise history and fourth most in NFL history in a single game. Cleveland was averaging nine yards per rush at halftime and concluded the game with a 7.7 average.
“ We just didn’t play very good run defense, “ Mike McCarthy told media following the game. “ We missed a number of tackles today. Those are fundamentals that you have to bring to the game. That’s part of the preparation. When you look at Cleveland’s offense, you start with their two running backs and their run game. So, we knew it was going to be a challenge schematically starting with the wide outside zone and we didn’t handle it very well.”
It did not matter if the Browns were running an inside or outside zone, what gap scheme, or frankly who had the football; the Cowboys could not contain the ground game due to missed tackles in space, miscommunication, and bad angles. Nick Chubb, the Browns’ best offensive weapon in their ground attack exited the game with a knee injury in the first half and it did not make a difference. Kareem Hunt and D’Ernest Johnson still gashed the Cowboys’ defense.
Xavier Woods stated after the game, “ It’s always stop the run first, always. The run opens up everything else, so we just weren’t able to stop the run. That was our number one thing to do today. Needed a stop, wasn’t able to do it.”
The Browns imposed their will on the Cowboys’ defense and accumulated 508 total yards. Dallas has now given up over 35 points in the last three games: 49 to Cleveland, 38 to Seattle, and 39 to the Falcons.
Late in the fourth quarter summed up the defense’s struggles. With 3:25 to play, Dallas had scored and cut the deficit to 41-38. The Cowboys needed a stop by the defense and then had a shot to win with a touchdown. As you probably guessed, that is not the outcome of events. Baker Mayfield tossed the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. out of the backfield; he quickly cut to the sideline avoiding defenders, and then he was virtually free down the sideline to the end zone on a 50-yard touchdown run. The Browns got the two-point conversion to make it 49-38. The Cowboys’ fate was officially sealed and so were the dreams of a repeat of the miraculous win over the Falcons in week two.
Offensively, the same issues occurred. Turnovers hurt Dallas once again. The game was tied at 14 to close the first half and then the Cowboys had two fumbles in the second quarter that Cleveland recovered. and capitalized on with touchdowns for a shift in momentum. 14 easy points to the Browns that put the Cowboys’ abused defense back on the field. That is not a winning recipe.
“ Turnovers is what got us on offense again, “ Mike McCarthy noted after the loss.
Dallas was forced to come from behind and in contrast to the opponent, could not get the running game going with Ezekiel Elliott. The offense had to rely on Dak Prescott’s arm and at this point, the offense has to play darn near perfect every week to win a football game and score on every possession. The lackluster defense cannot stay off the field or create turnovers. Prescott became the first quarterback in history to throw for over 450 yards in three consecutive games. He finished with another career-high, 502 passing yards on 58 attempts but told Dallas media, “I’d give all those yards back for a different record.”
All the weight cannot be placed on Prescott every weak to put up that many attempts and that many yards, especially with a banged up offensive line that does not have a consistent group of five players on the field.
Changes have to be made on both sides of the football ahead of week five and no more excuses can be made at this point on no preseason or the virtual offseason program. Those are gone.
