ARLINGTON, TEXAS — The Dallas Cowboys fell to the Arizona Cardinals 38-10 on Monday night in a cringe worthy performance. The game was one-sided and once again, the same recurring mistakes followed the Cowboys in week six.
For the first time this season, Dallas actually got off to a solid start on defense against Kyler Murray and company forcing three consecutive punts in the first quarter, but the positive performance was short lived. Things quickly spiraled downhill from there.
The same costly mistakes began in the second quarter. Ezekiel Elliott fumbled the ball twice on back-to-back drives that gave the Cardinals a short field. Arizona capitalized with 14 points on the scoreboard and imposed their will. Everything went according to plan for Arizona, the Cowboys fell behind and the running game was out of the equation. Then to rub salt in the wound, Kyler Murray connected with Christian Kirk for an 80-yard touchdown to extend their lead 21-0. Kirk beat Daryl Worley on a go route and walked into the end zone.
Oh but the nightmare did not stop there. Michael Gallup dropped a should-have been touchdown pass, resulting in the Cowboys settling for a field goal to end the first half. After Greg Zuerlein’s 34-yarder, Dallas trailed 21-3.
To make matters worse, the Cowboys lost the one experienced veteran left in the offensive line to a concussion in the first quarter, All-Pro right guard Zack Martin. The backup rotation continued to shift to accommodate injuries in the offensive line and the Cardinals tried to use it to their advantage. Arizona’s defense brought constant pressure on Dalton with blitzes and did so effortlessly. A crowded pocket then led to mistakes and more turnovers. Not a winning formula.
In the third quarter, albeit after a controversial no defensive pass interference call on Dre Kirkpatrick for putting CeeDee Lamb on the ground, the play was ruled an interception by Kirkpatrick and the ball was once again handed to Kyler Murray. For the third time in the game, the Cardinals took advantage of a turnover with a score. A defensive pass interference was called on Jourdan Lewis and Murray answered with a one-yard touchdown run to make it a 28-3 ballgame. The third quarter ended with a missed field goal by Zuerlein and back-to-back sacks on Dalton.
The offense line was under attack throughout the game and Dalton did not look comfortable. The Cowboys were not going to receive Dak Prescott’s comeback magic late in the game or his elusiveness extending drives with his legs when facing protection issues. Dalton was anxious in the pocket and it showed. He was sacked three times and the Cardinals racked up eight quarterback hits. He threw two interceptions to bring the team’s turnover tally to four.
Budda Baker intercepted Dalton in the fourth quarter, to cap off his stellar performance in Arizona’s secondary. The guy made constant plays on the ball. Not only did he pick off Dalton and lead the Cardinals’ defense in tackles, but he also punched the ball out from Elliott earlier in the game that shifted the momentum and altered the outcome.
The Cowboys did finally enter the end zone in the fourth quarter with an Amari Cooper touchdown but by that point, the team’s fate had already been sealed by a pathetic effort. To put the nail in the coffin and add to further embarrassment just because, Kenyan Drake took it to the house on a 69-yard touchdown run to make it a 38-10 final score.
Following the game, Andy Dalton summed up the turnover woes “ We’re hurting ourselves in turnovers and we’ve got to get that fixed. It’s been the trend this year, especially early in games and that’s affected how we’ve been able to play…the ball is the most important thing and we can’t be handing it to the other team.”
Until the glaring continued mistakes are fixed, the Cowboys will not be digging themselves out of the hole.
