If you suddenly lost your appetite after that game, nobody can blame you. The Dallas Cowboys losing 36-33 in overtime to the Las Vegas Raiders is a big punch in the gut to a fanbase that expects so much more. While thrilling in the latter portion of the game, Dak Prescott had an uneven performance and the running game stagnated. To make matters worse, the defense couldn’t limit big gains from the Raiders offense.
Following the loss to Kansas City, Prescott let everyone know that what took place at Arrowhead Stadium was unacceptable. It was tweeted about. It was discussed, and written in plain black and white. Speaking of black and white, you can’t reflect on this game without talking about the officiating. It left its mark all over the game from the opening whistle. That’s not to make an excuse for how the Cowboys played, it’s just one of several problems they had on Thursday.
The coaching staff also made a few questionable decisions that played a role in the loss. At 7-4, with divisional opponents getting closer in the rearview, the Dallas Cowboys have to get things back on track in a hurry. Before moving on to New Orleans, let’s revisit what went wrong and trace this Murder by the Numbers.
14 – Penalties against the Dallas Cowboys
First off, 28 total enforced penalties is too much. The officials got in the way when they shouldn’t have and didn’t step up when it was needed. The ejection on Kelvin Joseph and a questionable roughing the passer penalty on Micah Parsons are great examples of such. However, oftentimes the Cowboys put themselves in precarious positions.
Look no further than Anthony Brown. You could argue that the flag thrown against Brown in overtime was questionable, but the others weren’t as debatable. Brown played with poor technique and grabbed receivers instead of playing the ball in the air. He was flagged for pass interference four times. All of them came with the Raiders facing 3rd down.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys offense also hurt themselves; taking points off the board when a Prescott touchdown pass to Dalton Schultz was nullified by a Tyron Smith holding penalty. Dallas would have to settle for a field goal on that drive instead of a chance to tie the game.
The Cowboys are now the most penalized team in the NFL with 91 for 816 yards. This has been a constant theme all season. If this team has its sights on a deep playoff run, this has to be addressed immediately.
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4 – Lost Points by missed Greg Zuerlein kicks
If we’ve seen anything that last month or so with the Cowboys, it’s that their margin of error is slim. This is especially true without their primary wideouts CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper. That holds greater weight if the Cowboys can’t rely on Greg Zuerlein.
Zuerlein missed an extra point and a 59-yard field goal try. In the small sense, the long field goal attempt didn’t hurt the Cowboys; their defense forced a punt on the ensuing Raiders possession. Regardless, that missed FG makes a difference when you lose by three points.
The same could be said for the missed extra point. It felt as if the Cowboys were chasing points the entire afternoon after Zuerlein’s miss in the 1st quarter. They tried to make up for it with a failed 2-point conversion later in the game.
Before the 2020 season, Zuerlein was seen as an upgrade to stabilize a shaky kicking situation. As of now, he looks like more of a question than an answer. Mike McCarthy has already said that he doesn’t intend to make any changes, but it’s a situation that should be monitored moving forward.
11.5 Yards Per Touch by Tony Pollard
Without Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb, the Dallas Cowboys offense lacks big-play potential. However, they still have that in Tony Pollard. Pollard touched the ball 17 times for 197 total yards, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
He’s produced the Cowboys’ biggest plays the last two games and deserves more opportunities for multiple reasons. Ezekiel Elliott isn’t healthy and reportedly, the team will consider giving him some time to rest; and although the Cowboys expect to have Lamb and Cooper back for their next game, they have to find a contingency plan if they are without either of them in the future.
To be honest, neither Elliott nor Pollard played well in the running game yesterday. It’s possibly due in part because the coaching staff didn’t put either of them in a position to succeed. The Cowboys coaches were insistent on testing the Raiders interior run defense and got nowhere with it. Surprisingly, they went this route because just days earlier the Raiders struggled to stop the outside run against Joe Mixon and the Cincinnati Bengals.
If you consider how the Raiders played last week, the health of Ezekiel Elliott, and the explosiveness of Tony Pollard, it doesn’t make sense as to why Dallas didn’t test the Raiders at the perimeter with their home run hitter. From this point forward, it would be in the Cowboys’ best interest to play more Tony Pollard.
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40 – Raiders Yards Per Possession including penalties by Anthony Brown
Dallas didn’t allow 40 yards on every single drive, but they allowed the Raiders to control the time of possession (39:02) and were unable to limit big plays. The Raiders had nine plays of 20 yards or more, including two of 54 and 56 yards.
The Cowboys were unable to generate consistent pressure outside of Micah Parsons, and Derek Carr made them pay with 373 yards through the air. What’s more deflating is that this happened without premier tight end Darren Waller, who left the game early in the first quarter with a knee injury.
The Dallas Cowboys gave Derek Carr too many clean pockets. There wasn’t interior pressure from the Cowboys’ defensive line. On top of that, it wasn’t a good day for Jourdan Lewis, who struggled to keep up with receivers, and Keanu Neal who didn’t play well in space. Finally, it’s also fair to question what Dan Quinn was thinking on some of these calls defensively.
Entering the game, Derek Carr led the NFL in plays of 20 yards or more. Somehow that didn’t deter Dan Quinn from leaving his corners isolated in man coverage with no safety help over the top. For as poor as Anthony Brown was in his technique, he was put in that position by his coach. The penalty Brown was flagged for in overtime happened on 3rd and 18 from Las Vegas’ 43-yard line. Dan Quinn calling that coverage and exposing a struggling Anthony Brown for another time holds equal responsibility as the player himself.
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