Dallas Cowboys’ blowout loss to Ravens secures losing season in McCarthy’s first year
What was known and likely already considered a foregone conclusion is now official.
The Dallas Cowboys will finish Mike McCarthy’s first season as head coach with a losing record.
The 34-17 loss to Baltimore Ravens Tuesday night made it official as it dropped the Cowboys record to 3-9 on the season with four games to go.
The Ravens (7-5) led 17-10 at halftime and effectively ended the game late in the third quarter when quarterback Lamar Jackson connected with receiver Marquis Brown for a 24-yard score. Running back J.K. Dobbins scored on a 5-yard run with 2:08 left to put the finishing touch on the victory.
Jackson only passed for 107 yards, but he had 94 yards on the ground and made history by becoming the first NFL player ever to reach career totals of 5,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards in his first three seasons.
Jackson, the league’s reigning MVP, had a 37-yard touchdown run and a 38-yard touchdown pass to receiver Miles Boykin in the first half as the Ravens bludgeoned the already-suspect Cowboys defense with explosive plays and a dominant rushing attack that produced 294 yards.
“Well, that’s where we are as a football team,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “The only ones who can change that is us. We didn’t play good enough to win. [Baltimore] is a very good football team. We knew that coming in here. Giving up 300 yards in rushing is a big factor in the outcome of the game. But their big play production, particularly with Lamar [Jackson] was a huge factor in the outcome of game. But 300 yards is obviously astronomical. Just when you feel like you’re taking steps as a team, the keys to the game was stopping the run and we definitely didn’t get that done .”
The loss does not end the season for the Cowboys because of the woeful play in the NFC East, but it puts them on the brink of being eliminated from the postseason conversation. They are now two games behind the New York Giants and Washington Football Team, who are tied atop the NFC East at 5-7.
As of now the Cowboys have the worst record in the NFC and have a better chance for a top five pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
“Yeah, I mean we know the situation that we’re in,” quarterback Andy Dalton said. “All we have to worry about is to just control what we can control and just see how this whole thing shakes out. Would we have liked to narrow the gap a little bit? Yes. But it is what it is, and we’ve got to keep moving forward.”
It was the Cowboys’ first Tuesday game in franchise history, and it was their first contest since they lost to Washington 41-16 on Thanksgiving 12 days ago.
The game had been postponed from Dec. 3 to Dec. 7, and then again to Dec. 8 due to a coronavirus outbreak in the Ravens organization that raised even more questions at kickoff Tuesday night when former Cowboys and current Ravens receiver Dez Bryant tested positive for COVID-19 and was ruled out of the game.
Bryant was tested earlier in the day, but that test was ruled to be inconclusive. He was then re-tested at the stadium before the game and it came back positive, so he was removed from the field after warming up.
However, by that point, Bryant had already been on the field for the pregame warm-ups. He was also in the locker room with his Baltimore teammates and was seen hugging former Cowboys players and staffers before the game, which raised questions of whether the game should have been played considering the how easily coronavirus can spread from person to person.
For their part, the NFL said that all other Ravens played tested negative and no high-risk contacts were identified.
McCarthy said he didn’t hear about Bryant’s situation until right before kickoff. But he doesn’t know what contract he had with Cowboys players or staffers, what protocols the league investigated and how that might impact the team going forward.
“That’s definitely something that I was not a part of as far as any type of conversation to that level,” McCarthy said. “So, I really can’t comment on it. But you have contact tracing and protocols. So, I’m sure all of that will be looked at and we’ll move forward accordingly.”
It’s the continuation of a horrible two weeks for the Ravens. They had 10 consecutive days of positive tests and 23 players were placed on the COVID-19 reserve list since Nov. 23.
The Ravens were missing more than a dozen players, including Jackson and six other Pro Bowl players in last Wednesday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which was initially set for Thanksgiving. The delay in that game is what forced the Cowboys-Ravens game to be postponed until Tuesday.
Jackson anchored a rushing attack against a Cowboys defense that looked every bit of the team that is ranked last in the league against the run. Gus Edwards gained 101 yards on just seven carries, and Dobbins had 71 yards on 11 attempts. Both had runs of 36 and 30 yards, respectively.
Jackson said the Ravens dedicated the victory to Bryant.
“We knew how much it meant to him,” Jackson said. “He’d been talking about it for a minute now since he got here. Got the victory for him but I’m feeling for him cause I know it was a game he wanted to be here.”
It was the fifth time this season that the Cowboys have allowed more than 180 yards on the ground, including the fourth of more than 200 yards topped by a franchise-record 307 rushing yards yielded to the Cleveland Browns back on Oct. 4.
The defense, however, was left with nightmares of Jackson.
“It was terrible,” nose tackle Antwaun Woods said of the Cowboys run defense. Especially in the position I play. My only focus was to stop the run. So, it’s frustrating. We had plenty of tape of Jackson, so it didn’t really matter. It’s a different factor, it was tough. You know, and he has the ability to run. He’s just not going to sit there. We’ve just got to do a better job and we haven’t been doing it. We’ve got to get better.”
The Ravens led 27-10 when the Cowboys scored on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Dalton to receiver Amari Cooper with 3:59 left to play.
The Cowboys’ onside kick attempt failed and the defense couldn’t stop the Ravens on the ground, leading to Dobbins’ final score and questions by former Cowboys’ Hall of Fame quarterback and FOX NFL analyst Troy Aikman about whether the team had “quit”.
McCarthy said the problems on the ground were about the players not executing and had nothing to do with concerns about the scheme that was at the root of their early-season woes.
Dalton, who completed 31 of 48 passes for 285 yards, had a 13-yard touchdown pass to Michael Gallup in the second quarter following a 67-yard kickoff return by Tony Pollard. He also had a tipped interception that led to a Ravens field goal.
Special teams actually proved to be the Cowboys undoing, led kicker Greg Zuerlein three missed field goals. Following an interception by safety Darian Thompson, Zuerlein converted on a 31-yarder in the first quarter to put the Cowboys up 3-0.
But Zeurlein missed attempts of 40, 53 and 52 yards.
The Cowboys now prepare for Sunday’s game at the Cincinnati Bengals on short rest with just four days between games following a late night plane trip back to Dallas from Baltimore.
And they may also have to monitor what effects, if any, there might be as a result of Bryant’s positive COVID test.
“Well, it’s the schedule. We all know what the schedule is,” McCarthy said. “Frankly, we need to play better. We need to perform better. We’ve got a short week. We need to go beat Cincinnati. The fourth quarter of the season is upon us and our goal is to finish strong. That definitely starts with a win in Cincinnati.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 10:41 PM.
