Cowboys usher in experimental phase as they drop fifth straight, 34-10 to Texans
In a Monday Night Football showdown for the Governor’s Cup, the struggling Dallas Cowboys fell to the Houston Texans, 34-10.
It wasn’t the total embarrassment that we’ve gotten used to seeing from the Cowboys at home this season, but it was a game that the Texans dominated from start to finish.
After a day that started with drama as a piece sheet metal fell from the roof of the stadium while it was being opened, the collapse of the Cowboys’ season continued into the night afterward.
After dropping to 3-7, the Cowboys now sit firmly in the mix for a top-10 draft pick — and the playoff hopes have all but evaporated.
Here are the takeaways from the fifth consecutive loss for the Cowboys.
The experimental phase is here
Late in a season when misfortunes continue to stack up, you might see a team experiment with personnel or schemes to see if they can find a spark. We’ve officially entered that part of the season for the Cowboys.
After Jourdan Lewis and DaRon Bland were ruled out at cornerback, the team could have gone to Caelen Carson to make yet another spot-start at either position. Instead, the team signed Josh Butler off the practice squad for his first career start and put Israel Mukuamu in at the slot.
The results weren’t awful, as Butler and Mukuamu each recorded deflections in the pass game, and it didn’t feel like either of them were picked on as much as Carson has been this season.
Don’t be surprised if the experiments continue to trickle down on both sides of the ball. Whether it’s Asim Richards at left tackle or Juanyeh Thomas at safety, this team is going to start throwing darts to see what sticks.
No downfield presence
In Cooper Rush’s first start of the season against the Eagles, he only attempted nine passes that were 10 yards or more downfield. Even worse, he only completed one — for exactly 10 yards. On Monday night, there was a bit more of a presence more than 10 yards down the field, but the Texans one-high safety look allowed receivers to run free past them, and they seemed perfectly content with it.
Rush kept things simple once again and even when shots could have been taken, he didn’t take them. CeeDee Lamb continuously found separation downfield, and Ryan Flournoy found some room on the sidelines in his first career start. Unfortunately for both of them, Rush wasn’t looking their way. Even on the 64-yard touchdown to KaVontae Turpin, Rush’s pass only traveled seven yards and Turpin did the rest, clocking 22 mph-plus on the run.
If the Cowboys can’t find any success downfield for the rest of the season, there might be a complete overhaul at the receiver position outside of Lamb.
Defense bends, offense breaks
Since the bye week, the Dallas Cowboys have turned it around defensively. It hasn’t been perfect, but the Mike Zimmer-led unit has limited big gains through the air (12th in the NFL with 205.7 pass yards allowed per game since the bye) and have played more physical football. Unfortunately, the offense hasn’t backed them up.
Missed red zone opportunities, quick possessions and turnovers like the scoop-and-score allowed in the fourth quarter have put more pressure on the defense throughout games, and it eventually leads to the team breaking down late.
The defense is expected to get Marshawn Kneeland and Bland back as early as next week against the Commanders. But if backbreaking offensive play continues to put this defense behind, there aren’t many defenses that can keep a team in a game in the NFL.
It’s time to shuffle the offensive line
It’s simply not working. After 10 games, the Cowboys can comfortably say that they have one of the worst offensive lines in the league.
It starts with the tackles. Tyler Guyton allowed an embarrassing strip sack on Rush before trying to pick up the fumble and run with it, only to be stripped himself and see the fumble returned for a touchdown. While Terence Steele didn’t have a bad performance against the Texans, his 30 quarterback pressures are an eyesore for an offensive line unit that can’t find consistency.
Speaking of experimenting, Asim Richards can get worked in at left tackle. Or Tyler Smith can get kicked out to left tackle and T.J. Bass can start at left guard. What about moving Guyton to his more natural position at right tackle? At this point, options need to be explored to understand what they have in order to better protect Dak Prescott in 2025 and beyond.
Running away from the run
After a week where Mike McCarthy finally proclaimed Rico Dowdle as the “lead back” for the Cowboys offense, he went away from his fifth-year ball-carrier in favor of a pass offense that could only produce 45 yards a week ago.
It wasn’t like it was a game where the Cowboys had to make up a lot of points in a short timeframe, as they kept it within two possessions until the fourth quarter. Leaning on Dowdle’s chunk gains could have prevented the multiple second-and-longs and third-and-longs that Dallas faced all night.
Instead of putting faith into his lead back, McCarthy turned to the pass game at an historic rate. Cooper Rush finished the game with 55 passing attempts. It only adds to an NFL-leading 39.4 passing attempts per game.
This story was originally published November 18, 2024 at 10:49 PM.
