The Dallas Cowboys finished 8-8 in 2019 and blew an opportunity to earn a second consecutive NFC East division title to a Philadelphia Eagles team riddled with injuries. The season was a major disappointment and it ultimately cost Jason Garrett his job. That said, at times the team flashed the ability to be dominant by becoming the only team to finish with a 113 point differential and yet still miss the playoffs. As Cowboys fans look to the future with Mike McCarthy, lets look back on the Dallas Cowboys 2019 season to see where they fell short and how much work the new coach will have in store for him.
OFFENSE: B
The offense has ranked among the best in the league all season long and Dak Prescott made tremendous strides in the passing game, especially downfield. The run game was not as dominant as it has been despite having Ezekiel Elliott and rookie Tony Pollard in the backfield but they did manage to put up decent numbers in the ground game. Despite the improvements the Dallas Cowboys were very inconsistent and that cost them a lot of games down the stretch. The offense only put up 10, 9, 15, and 9 pts in crucial losses to the Saints, Patriots, Bills, and Eagles respectively. They also failed to get going early in losses to the Packers, Jets, and Bears which proved to be costly after falling one victory short of winning the division. At times the offense was explosive and that has skewed the overall yardage totals as well as the point differential but there is still room for improvement there. A major question going forward will be whether or not Mike McCarthy retains young offensive coordinator Kellen Moore who did a decent job in his first year but has room to grow.
DEFENSE: D-
Statistically, the Dallas Cowboys defense was a top 10 unit for most of the year. They finished 9th in total yards and 11th in points allowed. Those numbers do not tell the whole story though. They started off the year by giving up a lot of big plays against some underwhelming competition. They followed that up with some horrendous performances against quality playoff teams such as the Packers, Vikings, and Bills sprinkled in with some uninspiring games against the Bears, Lions, and Jets. In those games, poor tackling was front and center and the Cowboys defense were particularly bad against teams with mobile quarterbacks. For the Dallas Cowboys defense, standout performances were few and far between. The unit that was projected to be a top 5 unit by some, was the biggest disappointment of the 2019 season. Kris Richard would have been a hot commodity to hire following his performance last season but a lot as changed in one year. Did the disastrous 2019 campaign seal his fate in Dallas, or will Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy give him another chance in 2020.
SPECIAL TEAMS: F
The Dallas Cowboys special teams play could not have been worse all season long. Whether it was the kicking game, punt and kick return coverage, or the return game, each and every facet of the special teams game was below standard. The Dallas Cowboys had the worst average starting field position in the entire league. It was a complete mystery to Cowboys fans why it took so long for the team to cut Brett Maher and why there was no kicker brought in to compete with him during training camp. In his second season as special teams coach, Several games, the disadvantage in special teams directly resulted in losses (Minnesota and New England come to mind immediately). Keith O’Quinn failed to live up to the lofty standard set by his predecessor Rich Bisacchia. To sum it up, the performance of the special teams was unacceptably poor this season.
COACHING STAFF: F
The Dallas Cowboys headed into the 2019 season with lofty expectations. Hoping to build on a 10-6 record and divisional round appearance last year, the front office spent money in free agency and draft capital to ensure that the team would get over the hump. With an added bonus of playing in a weak NFC East division and having a relatively healthy roster all season, a second consecutive division title was a foregone conclusion after the impressive 3-0 start. Instead, the Cowboys finished with an 8-8 record and failed to win the most winnable division in the entire league. To make matters worse they went 2-8 against teams with .500 record or better and 1-5 against playoff teams. Those losses were highlighted by poor special teams plays, poor tackling, and lack of preparation that can all be traced back to poor coaching. I expected the Dallas Cowboys to move on from Kieth O’Quinn following his poor performance last season and to do so in 2020 is entirely warranted.
FRONT OFFICE: F
The Dallas Cowboys entered the offseason with a few priorities. One was to sign Dak Prescott to a long term deal. They also were hoping to lock up Amari Cooper and DeMarcus Lawrence. They got the deal done with Lawrence but failed to settle with their franchise QB and #1 WR. They yielded to Ezekiel Elliott’s demands and signed him to an extension ahead of schedule. They also surprised a lot of people by locking up Jaylon Smith and La’el Collins, the latter having his best season of his career so far. Bringing back Jason Witten and Sean Lee were met with criticism and may not have been the best moves for the team going forward. Signing Robert Quinn and Randall Cobb were two low risk, short term, shrewd moves that deserve some praise. Where the Cowboys front office failed utterly was to address their two most pressing needs…Safety and Defensive Tackle. They were unable to get Earl Thomas in free agency and then drafted Trysten Hill in the second round over top tier safeties such as Juan Thornhill or Taylor Rapp. They were also slow to address the kicking situation by waiting until the season was nearly over to move on from Brett Maher. The culmination of the disappointing 2019 season was the failures on the coaching staff which was hand picked by the front office. Hiring Mike McCarthy will hopefully yield better results but the bizarre events leading up to his hire and how Jason Garrett’s departure was handled leaves plenty of doubt that improvements at the front office level are imminent.
OVERALL GRADE: D-
Finishing with an 8-8 record is the definition of mediocrity. When the team came of a playoff appearance the previous year, has Super Bowl aspirations, and plays in the weakest division in the entire league, it is an absolute failure. The only thing preventing this team from receiving an F grade is that they flashed some brilliance and the offense had great numbers. The Mike McCarthy hire was not my first choice but it he does have NFL coaching experience and a Super Bowl title on his resume. Jerry Jones believes this team is ready to win now so Mike McCarthy should be on a short leash next season. I am relatively certain that Jerry Jones will not wait another decade to move on from McCarthy if he cannot bring a Super Bowl to Dallas.
*Photo by Kieth Allison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
*All data and statistics obtained and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/dal/2019.htm
