God punishing Dallas Cowboys for allowing fans into JerryWorld against Falcons
A crowd of about 20,000 at AT&T Stadium feels and sounds like a Texas high school playoff game, but in the days of COVID NFL, it qualifies as SRO.
At the first major event at AT&T Stadium in several months, fans attending Sunday’s game had almost as much room between themselves as Falcons offensive players did Cowboys defenders.
Without left tackle Tyron Smith, who is out with an injury, the Cowboys offensive line was a disaster and the team is trailing the Falcons 29-10 at halftime of the team’s home opener.
In coach Mike McCarthy’s home debut, the team played one of the worst halves this franchise has seen this century.
As poorly as the Cowboys played in the first half of their season opener last week against the Rams in Los Angeles, they are worse today.
They are atrocious in all three phases of the game: Offense, defense, special teams.
1. The offensive line can’t block.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s line on Sunday was without the men who made it so good for much of the last two years: Center Travis Frederick has retired, Tyron Smith and La’el Collins are out with injury. Zack Martin can’t block everybody. Dak was under constant pressure early, and was hit often early.
2. The skill players can’t hold the ball
Running back Ezekiel Elliott fumbled twice, and lost one. Dak Prescott lost a fumble. Tight end Dalton Schultz lost another fumble. That was all in the first quarter.
3. The head coach panicked
In his first game, McCarthy was praised for his willingness to go for it on fourth down, even when it didn’t work. On Sunday, down 14-0 in the first quarter, McCarthy called for a fake punt from the Cowboys’ own 29-yard line with six minutes remaining. Punter Chris Jones’ pass was short, and his intended receiver, corner C.J. Goodwin, fell down. Other than that, the play was well-executed. The Falcons turned that into a field goal and a 17-0 lead.
This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 1:42 PM.
