The Cowboys rolled into Atlanta with the odds stacked against them on Sunday. Already without their clutch kicker, superstar running back and All Pro left tackle, they also lost their best defender early in the game. It was a key matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, a team they may be competing against for a wild card spot. The Cowboys had an opportunity to prove themselves to be a legitimate contender by winning on the road despite those key injuries. That is, after all, what championship teams do; they step up when key players go down with injury and find ways to win games that they have no business winning. Instead the Cowboys came up flat and now face an uphill battle to try to claim a wild card spot. Granted, the players they are missing are not your typical starters. Dan Bailey is the most accurate kicker of ALL TIME. Ezekiel Elliott is arguably the premiere running back in the entire league and certainly the most complete in terms of speed, power, pass catching and blocking.Tyron Smith is the best offensive lineman in football and Sean Lee is one of, if not the best linebacker in the league when healthy. Missing any one of those players is going to impact your team but to such a degree? The suspension to Ezekiel Elliott should have been the easiest to address. The Cowboys have been prepared for this since the start of the season and there are 3 quality running backs on the roster to take his place. I am not suggesting that the combination of Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden and Rod Smith is equal to Elliott. I also acknowledge that Atlanta’s defense would have approached the game quite differently with Zeke out there, but the drop off there is manageable. In fact the Cowboys did run the ball effectively at times on Sunday but had to abandon the run game after falling behind. Remember also that Zeke was in the lineup and performed poorly in the blowout loss to Denver so he is not always a sure thing. Tyron Smith at left tackle is not so easily replaced, but Sunday was not the first game he has missed in his career and the Cowboys were fine without him before. Chaz Green replaced him in the starting lineup and had the worst game I have ever seen any offensive lineman have in all my years as a Dallas Cowboy fan. It is a complete mystery as to how the coaching staff could continue to allow Falcons DE Adrian Clayborn to wreak havoc on the blind side without making proper adjustments or pulling Green from the game sooner. The expression that comes to mind is “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!” Well, how about 6 times, as in 6 sacks by Clayborn, and numerous pressures yet still no significant adjustments were made by the Dallas coaching staff. Then there is Sean Lee. He is like superman every time he plays flying all over the field making tackles. He will reportedly miss at least the next 3 weeks with his hamstring injury. The Cowboys run defense is clearly not the same without him but considering he has missed 39 games in his 7 year career, the Cowboys should have a better contingency plan. Anthony Hitchens played really well replacing Lee in this game but the real problem is up front. The Cowboys have been so preoccupied in fixing their pass rush that they have neglected their run defense. They are dangerously thin at defensive tackle thanks to injuries to Stephen Paea, Richard Ash and Brian Price. Maliek Collins, David Irving and Lewis Neal are all playing at a high level but these guys are all better suited to be pass rushing 3-technique defensive tackles. The Cowboys currently lack the bigger bodies to plug holes and help stop the run. Atlanta showed what will happen to this defense when they have to play from behind. There is no doubt that the Cowboys have a difficult challenge ahead to make the playoffs. Once again they will be without Lee and Elliott next week against Philly and if Tyron Smith cannot play they could be in serious trouble. Last week will seem like child’s play if the Cowboys fall behind and come out with the same approach. Jason Garrett and the Cowboys coaching staff has to have a better plan against the Eagles fearsome front four. They also need to take pressure off of Dak by getting him to step up in the pocket to avoid the edge rush and get rid of the ball quickly. If they can learn from last week’s mistakes, they have an opportunity to get a signature win over their division rival and prove to everyone that they are an elite team.
All statistical data collected and verified from https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
*Photo by Keith Alliso https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode