It might have been mentioned here in a preseason column that the Cowboys had taken the unusual position of constructing two different teams — an offense designed and built and, more importantly, paid to win now and a defense built, especially after the Micah Parsons trade, in just the opposite fashion. When you find yourself four weeks into the season watching the Cowboys and Packers play to a 40-40 tie, it’s almost as if we were onto something here.
The Cowboys finished September No. 1 in total offense, averaging 404.3 yards per game, just a foot ahead of Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. Defensively, the Cowboys rank No. 32 at 420.5 yards per game, almost 14 more per Sunday than the 31st-ranked Baltimore Ravens and almost 200 yards more than the top-ranked Cleveland Browns are yielding.
This is a strange way to try to win, which helps explain Dallas’ 1-2-1 record. Now, to be fair, the Cowboys have played about 18 minutes more than most teams with both home games having gone deep into the allowed 10-minute overtime periods. So it’s like another quarter has been tacked onto each number. Having said that, the Cowboys and Eagles played 19 minutes, 44 seconds following a length rain delay in the opener and the teams basically exchanged punts with no one scoring or advancing the ball until the end. So I don’t think we need to look at these numbers as aberrations.
In the Cowboys’ case, they cannot afford to. On his 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) radio show Tuesday morning, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones talked of linebacker DeMarvion Overshown being on his way to recovery. “Seems like I ask that question every day, when is Overshown coming?”
Cowboys
But he also talked about the Cowboys being better on the interior, which they are, with Kenny Clark (the product of the Micah trade) alongside Osa Odighizuwa. But they can’t defend the pass at all, and the Packers scoring their first touchdown on a fade over DaRon Bland reminded us that even getting the best member of the secondary back on the field was no guarantee of any sort of turn around.
Related
Through four games, the Cowboys have surrendered a passer rating of 123.0, second only to Miami’s 125.1. What does any of that mean? The Aaron Rodgers of 2011 (the season after the Super Bowl win here) had the best passer rating of all time by throwing for more than 4,600 yards with an incredible 45 touchdowns to go with six interceptions.
His rating was 122.5. Essentially, Matt Eberflus’ defense has turned Jalen Hurts (barely throwing the ball this season) and Russell Wilson (already lost his job since the Dallas game) and second-year QB Caleb Williams and the uneven Jordan Love into the best version of Aaron Rodgers there ever was.
As for the team gaining the most yards on one side and yielding the most on the other, do the Cowboys have teams to look to for hope? Well, the 2022 Detroit Lions — Dan Campbell’s second team that was just establishing its current identity — finished 4th on offense and 32nd on defense and went 9-8. So you would say there’s hope there. But that Lions team actually self-corrected in November. Detroit gave up 32.1 points per game while going 1-6 in its first seven contests and 20.2 while finishing 8-2 in its last 10.
Do you see the Dallas defense making that same positive adjustment after giving up 33 points per game so far? Well, it will certainly help playing against the Jets’ Justin Fields and the Panthers’ Bryce Young the next two weeks. So you can expect things to move in a positive direction. But there’s a lot of Washington, Denver, Kansas City, Detroit, Philadelphia and LA Chargers coming after that, so I wouldn’t get too comfortable with the idea that the schedule will right the ship here.
The 2021 Kansas City Chiefs finished third in offense and 27th on defense. It was the rare Patrick Mahomes team not to get to the Super Bowl, losing the AFC title game at home to Cincinnati. The Chiefs and coordinator Steve Spagnuolo never got things solved that year, allowing 28 points per game in three playoff contests. Kansas City went on to fix its defense in a big way and has won two of three Super Bowls since.
Dallas had some lean years on defense during Tony Romo’s time, but in their really bad year of 2013 (ranked 32nd on defense), they weren’t lights out on offense either (16th) and finished 8-8.
Having to score 30 or more to have a chance to win each week places just too much of a strain on teams. But get CeeDee Lamb back in the lineup alongside George Pickens, get the offensive line healthy again in front of the surprisingly sturdy Javonte Williams, and the Cowboys will have to take their chances. Dak’s getting rid of the ball quickly and to the right people so far, and that’s not supposed to be any kind of surprise.
“We did think he’s indispensable,” Jones said, “because that’s the kind of contract extension we gave him two seasons ago.”
Maybe that’s the new rule of thumb in the NFL, and a fair one. If you’re a quarterback making $60 million per year, it’s your job to get at least 30 points per game.
Stephen Jones shares praise for Dak Prescott, George Pickens after Cowboys-PackersJ.K. Dobbins, Bo Nix lead Broncos past Bengals to snap two-game skid
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.