How New Orleans totally embarrassed Dallas 44-19 in the Cowboys’ home opener

The Dallas Cowboys’ home opener looked eerily similar to the last time the team touched the field in January, as the New Orleans Saints used an offensive barrage to build a commanding first half lead that they would never relinquish on the way to a 44-19 victory.

There was a lot to digest and take away from the team’s poor effort in front of the home fans. Let’s dive into the major points.

New defense, same problems

It was the consistent factor seen time and time again under former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. When the Dallas defense lined up against offenses under the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree, the Cowboys found little-to-no success in stopping the West Coast, multiple action style that the offense’s core concepts would throw out on the field.

Against first-year Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak — who spent the 2023 season under Shanahan as the 49ers passing game coordinator — the Cowboys allowed touchdowns (four by Alvin Kamara) on each of the Saints’ first six drives and allowed 432 total yards, including 190 on the ground.

According to Micah Parsons, it wasn’t a product of the opposing scheme, rather it was a lack of execution.

“To me, it had nothing to do with the scheme,” Parsons said. “I thought [Mike Zimmer] called a pretty good game. At the end of the day, I just believe we got outplayed.”

With multiple games waiting on the schedule against the Shanahan tree — including against Shanahan himself in San Francisco in week eight — little optimism was given on Sunday for any change in success under Mike Zimmer.

The running game has no identity

It’s not particularly close. The running game for the Cowboys looked like throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what stuck.

The difference between week one and week two is that the spaghetti looked uncooked and stale against the Saints. It starts with the personnel, as Rico Dowdle got the start over Ezekiel Elliott with the latter not seeing his first carry until the 2:46 mark of the first quarter.

Then, random carries at random moments in the game to Deuce Vaughn, KaVontae Turpin and Brandin Cooks.

When asked about what the identity is, even the locker room is trying to find that two games into the season.

“I wouldn’t really say, right now, I really wouldn’t have an answer for that question,” Dowdle said postgame. “We haven’t had a lot of at-bats at the plate…It’s September. We have a lot of football to play. I think as the season goes along, we’ll define what our identity is more.”

The jumbling at the running back position is being communicated as a “by-committee” approach, but it looks more like a your-momma’s-Christmas-dinner recipe for inconsistency.

Brandon Aubrey is the offense’s saving grace

The Cowboys’ 2023 All-Pro kicker is on pace for 68 field goal makes this season. Seriously.

The offense has seen multiple drives stall out in plus-territory through two games, but Aubrey has hammered through eight field goals on as many attempts to show that he has somehow taken an extra step forward in his second season after going 33-for-35 in his first year in the league.

His first quarter kick from 52 yards out set the NFL record for the most consecutive makes from 50-plus yards to start a career at 13. With the way the offense has failed to convert on promising drives, there’s a good chance he will continue getting opportunities to extend that record in the coming weeks.

Connection problem between Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb

It was initially seen on a pass into the end zone in the first quarter that saw Prescott anticipate Lamb to break to the pylon when he instead broke for the goalpost, leading the ball to fall with no player within five yards of it.

“Just miscommunication,” Prescott said of that throw. “A play that was completely just miscommunication, nothing more than that. We’ll get it fixed, get it cleaned up and make that.”

It wasn’t the only time Prescott and Lamb weren’t on the same page, with a throw to Lamb’s right shoulder down the sideline coming when Lamb himself anticipated it to the left side. Fortunately for the duo, both passes fell incomplete. But the one other incompletion that Prescott had when targeting Lamb resulted in a fourth quarter interception to Tyrann Mathieu.

Through two games, Prescott is 9-for-17 for 151 yards when targeting Lamb. Considering Lamb’s absence from the entirety of training camp and only having two weeks of practice with Prescott before the season started, the disconnect between the two continues to grow more notable.

The effect of having two rookies starting

There is a lot of finger-pointing that can be distributed following a loss like this one, but there can’t be too much blame put on the effort that Prescott put forward in trying to get the passing game going. However, consistent pressure and three sacks on the Cowboys’ quarterback made for a watered-down offensive gameplan, especially in order to get the ball out quicker.

Tyler Guyton didn’t have quite the stellar outing he had a week ago in his NFL debut, and Cooper Beebe failed to create lanes for the running game. Both rookies had costly penalties and allowed pressure on the quarterback. It’s early, but there will need to be some readjusting from the rookie offensive line duo going into week three.

This story was originally published September 15, 2024 at 3:24 PM.