Oh what a difference a week makes. At this very moment, one week ago, I was praising the Cowboys young secondary and thrilled over the performance of the defensive line. A trip to Denver on Sunday however, is all it took to sober me and many fellow Cowboy fans from a Cowboy Koolaid induced, 1 victory intoxication.
Dallas came into Denver with a good plan. Run the ball with your superstar back behind your mauling offensive line and negate Denver’s biggest strengths, it’s pass rush and secondary. It was a good plan, the only problem was Denver completely stifled your dominant run game. So then what? Well the result was the most lopsided loss of Dak Prescott’s career thus far. Dak was tasked with beating the leagues most formidable pass defense and he could not. The defense showed how different they could look when forced to stay on the field and it was not good.
It was a tough loss no doubt but this is the NFL and week to week, season to season, things can change dramitically. Last season the Cowboys got hot, built confidence and over achieved with a 13 and 3 record. In 2015 the exact opposite occurred and they went 4 and 12. The Cowboys got trounced this week and how they respond will be a good test of the character and leadership of this young team.
There are certainly a number of concerns after that loss. Zeke quitting the play after an interception, the the young secondary getting torched by Trevor Simeon, poor tackling and Laeal Collins getting dominated by Von Miller among other things. That said, there were some positives to take away from the loss. First off it is week 2, and therefore there is a lot of time to figure out these issues. Dak showed great poise and leadership by battling through an injury and not once giving up, even when the game was out of reach and he was taking some big hits. Jourdan Lewis was pretty good in his debut. And lastly, Demarcus Lawrence continued to impress with 2 more sacks. Next week the Cowboys will get another pass rusher with Damontre Moore returning from suspension.
Ultimately the blowout loss to Denver presents an opportunity for this team. Can they learn from it and become stronger such as the 1992 Cowboys (Eagles week 4) or the 2014 Patriots after a drubbing from the Chiefs? Or, will this loss send the team on a downward spiral like the 2015 team after blowing a lead to the Falcons in week 3? The answer depends on the competency of this coaching staff and the character of this team. My guess is somewhere in between. I don’t think the Cowboys are going 1 and 15, but I also don’t think this is a championship team, YET! I only look forward to watching the next game and hoping to be proven wrong.