When the Dallas Cowboys travelled to Seattle to face the Seahawks this weekend many expected them to lose the game. The Dallas Cowboys did indeed lose the game but the manner in which they lost was most unsatisfying. Injuries, mental errors, turnovers, blown coverages, and at times puzzling play calling all contributed to the loss. If that wasn’t enough to derail the Dallas Cowboys, the referee’s did them no favours either. Now to be clear, that is not an excuse. The Dallas Cowboys were outplayed by the Seattle Seahawks and they deserved to take the loss. However, there are some things that need to be pointed out that I just need to get off my chest.
First and foremost, I do want to point some positive takeaways from that game. Despite being outplayed in three straight week to start the season, the Dallas Cowboys have had the opportunity to win every game in spite of it. That is encouraging. Defensively, they have made countless mistakes and given up easy touchdowns but yet they have managed to pull together and make some stops. I have confidence despite how bad the defense has played at times that they will adapt to their new defensive system and frankly they can’t perform any worse than they have the last couple of weeks. The mental errors will become less frequent and the turnovers will come. Offensively, despite missing their two starting tackles and getting manhandled on the interior offensive line, Dak Prescott and co. are playing exceptionally and putting up a lot of points. Another encouraging sign is that when the offensive line was getting overrun, the coaching staff made some bold moves, such as kicking Zack Martin out to tackle, to mitigate the damage. It is refreshing that new head coach Mike McCarthy is willing to make those kind of adjustments and try new things if something is obviously not working. That was not something that was common during the Jason Garrett era. Now, if only the Cowboys offense can stop turning the ball over like they have the last couple of games, there is no telling how well they can perform. Lastly, the entire NFC East is in rough shape so the Dallas Cowboys may have the luxury of enduring a slow start and still be able to compete for the division title and subsequent playoff spot.
Now that I have pointed out some of the positives it is only fair to acknowledge the negative of which there are several. That starts with the defensive line who has failed to generate pressure with the exception of comeback player of the year candidate Aldon Smith. The defensive line has also struggled against the run at times but held up fairly well in that department last week. Everson Griffen has had a rough start to his Dallas Cowboys career and DeMarcus Lawrence appears to be hampered by the knee injury he suffered last week. At linebacker it has not been any better. Jaylon Smith is struggling to adapt to the new defense and seems to be regressing more and more each season. Joe Thomas had played well in relief of Leighton Vander Esch but made a costly mistake late in the Seahawks game. Thomas allowed a fourth down completion to Greg Olsen when the Cowboys had an opportunity to get the Seahawks off the field on their final drive which ultimately cost us the game. The defensive secondary has been a train wreck thus far and with injuries piling up it is unlikely that they will improve for their matchup against the Cleveland Browns and their stable of talented receivers.
On the offensive side of the ball the offensive line play has been a huge problem for the Cowboys in the early going of this season. Their starting tackles are both out. La’el Collins could miss the entire season and the status of Tyron Smith is unknown. The interior offensive line as struggled mightily as well and Connor Williams in particular has become a name synonymous with disappointment. Coaching was supposed to be the biggest area of improvement for the Dallas Cowboys but that has not really been the case through three games. I could not believe how many times the Cowboys offense attempted and kept going back to the screen passes when they were having absolutely zero success. They also attempted a couple of reverses with similar poor results instead of sticking with what was already working so well. The blame for those poor play calls may fall on the shoulders of Kellen Moore but it falls squarely on Mike McCarthy’s shoulders when it comes to the mishandling of clock management going into the second half this past Sunday.
On Special teams guru John Fassel was hired to be the saviour yet the Cowboys are already ranking as one of the worst teams in the league in terms of starting field position. Meanwhile, they are giving the Cowboys defense shorter fields to defend against even on those occasions when the Cowboys offense doesn’t turn the ball over. Losing the turnover battle and the battle for field position are the most surefire ways to lose football games. Greg Zeurlien missing not one but two extra points was just icing on the cake. And even with all that, the loss to the Seahawks could have been worse but the Dallas Cowboys had the fortune of D.K Metcalf turning the ball over to them while foolishly showboating a sure fire touchdown catch. In addition to that the Dallas Cowboys caught a break when Dak Prescott threw a pass that should have been picked off but end up bouncing straight into the hands of Michael Gallup.
Clearly, the Dallas Cowboys have a lot of problems to work through even though there are some positives to build off of. Yet there was another issue the Dallas Cowboys had to contend with on Sunday and this one was beyond their control. That issue was the new 12th man in Seattle…the referees. Now, as I stated previously in this article, I am not blaming the referee’s for the loss and I want to be clear that I feel Seattle outplayed us and deserved to win the game. Still, I want to point this out as a response to all the criticism I have seen regarding the Tyrsten Hill tackle and subsequent ankle roll that injured Seahawks RB Chris Carson. I do not condone dirty play by any means but when it comes directly from the Seahawks and their scumbag head coach Pete Carroll who made disparaging comments about Hill’s tackle it is difficult to allow that hypocrisy to go unchecked. Here is a perfect example of what kind of team the Seattle Seahawks are:
Also don’t forget that the Dallas Cowboys were getting a slew of penalties called against them in the secondary, some deserving and some questionable at best such as the pass interference call on Brandon Carr. Yet the Seahawks got away with blatant and egregious fouls right in front of the officials such as this one:
Not only did the referees miss several calls on the Seattle defense, they also permitted the Seahawks offensive line to get away with holding the entire game. None more consequential than on the play which Greg Olsen caught the ball but was originally ruled to have stepped out of bounds. A penalty was called on Jaylon Smith for allegedly forcing Olsen out. The result of that play was that the refs allowed the reception to stand, giving the Seahawks the ball at the one yard line and leading to a touchdown at the end of the second half. That call was made despite Russell Wilson being outside of the pocket which should have negated that call and Trysten Hill being blatantly held right in front of the side judge (below):
It is very hard to overcome turnovers and poor starting field position against a good team like the Seattle Seahawks. Then on top of that, the Dallas Cowboys were called for twice as many penalties as the Seahawks and were on the wrong end of some ridiculous calls. There were missed calls, questionable calls, and then some real head scratching decisions on some very key plays in the ball game. The first few that come to mind are: the safety in which Ezekiel Elliott fell in the endzone but was clearly never touched until he got the ball across the goaline. There was bad spot when Dak Prescott slid but was marked 1 yard short of the first down marker. Also the 3rd down incompletion to Amari Cooper where the Seattle defender nearly took Coopers head off with a wild swipe that made contact with his helmet. If the referee’s had the same enthusiasm for throwing the flags on that play as they did whenever a Dallas Cowboys defender so much as breathed on a Seattle receiver than that play could have resulted in a huge third down conversion.
While it is very true that the referees did nothing to help out the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday it is also true that good teams are able to overcome bad calls and find a way to win. The Dallas Cowboys came close but they were not able to do that. The end result is that the Dallas Cowboys have a losing record and have been outplayed in every single game they played so far. Keep in mind though that it is still very early in the season. The defense still has an opportunity to grow and improve seeing as it did not have the luxury of a true training camp and preseason despite a new coaching staff. Also, the NFC East division is still the worst in football. For all those reasons I refuse to panic just yet but I would be lying if I didn’t concede that I am concerned a great deal. All the doubts I had when the Cowboys hired Mike McCarthy given Green Bay’s recent success without him are beginning to rear their ugly head. I will let this season play out but if it ends in failure, I imagine that Cowboys fans will sour on Mike McCarthy very quickly.
*Photo by Joe Glorioso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode