The Cowboys showed some fight on Monday night but had another second half collapse to drop their fifth home game of the season.
The Dallas Cowboys exist to be one thing, above all else, at all times – entertaining. For a myriad of reasons on Monday Night Football against the Houston Texans, some good but many more bad in all the crucial moments of the game, the Cowboys managed to be just that. What did it get them, you ask? A fifth straight loss on the 2024 season, their fifth home loss in five tries on the season, their third game this season not scoring a touchdown in the second half, and second home game in a row with no second half points at all.
The Cowboys being a terrible second half team was not a new development coming into this primetime game, but their opponent was also going through second half struggles while losing three of their last four games. Dallas earned the right to force Houston into needing a big second half to avoid an embarrassing loss by staying within one score at 17-10 at halftime, but the AFC South leaders were more than up to the challenge. The Cowboys were able to overcome some of the redundant issues that have plagued them all season in the first half thanks to an interception by Malik Hooker, timely red zone defense, and their second-longest touchdown of the season from KaVontae Turpin going 64 yards through the Texans defense. Whatever this team does in the locker room at halftime though, adjusting to remain competitive in games is clearly not one of them, as ongoing penalties, poor tackling, lack of timing in the passing game, and turnovers doomed the Cowboys to losing the final 30 minutes 17-0.
The Texans got off the hook of not scoring a touchdown of their own in the second half of their last four games when Derek Barnett sacked Cooper Rush, forced a fumble that was recovered by left tackle Tyler Guyton, only for Guyton to fumble it and allow Barnett to scoop and score from 28 yards out. Now with a 17-point lead, the Cowboys were in the miserable position of being forced to drop back pass on every play (Dallas ran the ball a total of six times in the second half, with only one coming after Houston’s defensive score). This opened the door for the Cowboys, and their stunning inability to protect the quarterback, to find themselves trailing by 20+ points in yet another home game.
Cooper Rush’s 55 pass attempts were 15 more than his previous career high of 40, which actually came in his first ever start and win at the Vikings in 2021. He was also sacked a career high five times against the Texans.
The Cowboys delayed what felt inevitable early on after the Texans took a 7-0 lead until 3:16 to play, but still managed to stare up at another blowout on the scoreboard when Joe Mixon scored his third touchdown of the game. The score capped off a Texans drive that started following the Cowboys’ third turnover on downs, as Cooper Rush was sacked on both third and fourth down. It prompted former Cowboys quarterback and MNF analyst Troy Aikman to confess over the air, “I could have used a cocktail around the third quarter”. Us too, Troy.
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As we’ve talked about on a weekly basis, the goals and objectives of each week have drastically changed for a Cowboys team that now finds themselves completely dead in the water for any kind of playoff talk. This is the fundamental difference in how this 2024 Cowboys season feels hard to compared to any lost seasons in recent memory. Yes, 2015’s lost season and today’s both centered around the loss of a starting quarterback, but the 2015 team still mercifully stayed within shouting distance of the NFC East even without Tony Romo. They won Romo’s first two starts of the season against division opponents, and his return to win at the Dolphins, before Romo and the season were lost for good on Thanksgiving later that same week.
By the time this year’s Cowboys team makes it to Thanksgiving, they may be in position to draft in the top five. The 2024 Cowboys were well off the pace in the division even with Prescott, who had just three wins in his first eight starts under a new record-breaking contract. They continue to have glaring issues in all three phases of the game that must be recognized as much more than just what a team playing with a backup QB goes through.
The Cowboys are in full evaluation mode for the future at this point, and it didn’t take another multi-score loss to realize this. Partially due to injuries but also as part of the game plan, Dallas got extended looks at players further down the depth chart like Josh Butler, Jonathan Mingo, Brevyn Spann-Ford, Asim Richards, and Ryan Flournoy on Monday night against the Texans. This near-preseason football element to the game is something that will very likely continue over Dallas’ remaining seven games, two of which will come in division play over the next ten days at the Commanders in week 12 and back home versus the Giants on Thanksgiving.
Before getting to any of that, here are a few further notes on their most recent loss to Houston.
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- It has taken some serious reading between the lines to evaluate the Dallas Cowboys defense in their first season under Mike Zimmer and Al Harris in a new role as assistant head coach. The team is largely incapable of playing complementary football that helps the defense in any way, and the laundry list of players that could be contributing on defense even more if not for injuries is daunting. Without both Jourdan Lewis and DaRon Bland at cornerback against the Texans, the Cowboys rolled with a starting group of Trevon Diggs, safety Israel Mukuamu in the slot, and practice squad call up Josh Butler.
Both Mukuamu and Butler were tested on the opening drive, with the former being targeted on an incomplete second down pass over the middle. This brought up the first third down opportunity for the Texans, an area they’ve struggled mightily in this season.
As has been the case too many times this year though, an opposing offense found themselves in a third and manageable situation with enough time to specifically target any given weak spot in the Dallas defense. Butler was tested in man coverage for a completion from C.J. Stroud to tight end Dalton Schultz, who simply won with leverage early in his route and ran to open space. Safeties Malik Hooker and Donovan Wilson have not been able to help on throws with any regularity this season, though both will likely remain as the starting duo at safety with Mukuamu being asked to play cornerback and Markquese Bell getting injured later in this game.
Two plays after picking up the third-down attempt, the Texans jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on Joe Mixon’s 45-yard touchdown. It was technically the second explosive play for a touchdown the Cowboys defense allowed on this drive, as the very first play of the game was a called-back score of 77 yards on a screen to Nico Collins.
This undermanned Cowboys secondary did hold their own at other times throughout the game to keep the team in the game, but open field tackling and run support on the boundary are issues that appear unfixable by the end of this season. When the Cowboys are relying on an aging Eric Kendricks and de facto rookie DeMarvion Overshown at linebacker, this is not a good combination when it comes to limiting big plays. The Texans offense didn’t singlehandedly light up the scoreboard by any stretch on Monday night, but they still made far more effortless plays to get their best players room to run compared to the Cowboys, and once again this difference was enough for Dallas to fall hopelessly behind on the scoreboard.
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One noticeable thing the Cowboys defense was unable to do as often as most games this season was dial up pressure, which is when they’ve been at their best. Even in the rare opportunity to do so, Wilson missed a sack in the pocket against Stroud in the second half with the game still hanging in the balance. The Texans drive was extended after the Wilson miss with a chance to run more clock and really put the game away, but they inexplicably rushed to the line three plays later for a third down and short attempt just to throw incomplete.
The Cowboys were handed a gift to gain a quick possession back still down by ten, but bad teams do not often capitalize on gifts handed to them by opponents. The Cowboys failed to do so in spectacular fashion, turning the ball over for the second time on Rush’s fumble – losing the turnover differential once again in the process – and giving up a defensive score for Houston to all but end the game.
- This game was a potential chance for the Cowboys to start finding something in the run game, as Mike McCarthy announced beforehand that Rico Dowdle would now serve as the team’s lead back. The fifth-year head coach had finally seen enough of the Cowboys’ failed running-back-by-committee approach, and it showed as he called Dowdle’s number ten times compared to just four for Deuce Vaughn and once for Ezekiel Elliott.
One of the things that stopped Dowdle from gaining any traction on the ground in this starting role were the situations he was called upon. The Cowboys were 5-for-15 on third down in this game, and nearly half of these third down attempts (six) came after second-down attempts to Dowdle. Three such attempts came with the Cowboys needing at least seven yards to gain, and only in one of these examples did the Cowboys manage a first down on Turpin’s third-down touchdown play. The other two led to a third-down incompletion on a throw short of the sticks anyway, followed by another ill-advised fake punt and turnover on downs, and later a third-down interception by Derek Stingley.
Why the Cowboys, particularly with McCarthy as play-caller, continue to play offense as if getting to third down is to their advantage even with obvious pass protection issues and a backup QB starting the remainder of the season is baffling. It becomes even more frustrating when considering some of the early success the Cowboys had on plays that had not been working coming into this game like frequent swing passes to either Dowdle or CeeDee Lamb. Building any momentum or sequencing off of these plays feels impossible for this rigid Cowboys offense right now. Splash plays like Turpin’s run-and-catch for six that looked so easy it begs the question of how players like Lamb and Jalen Tolbert can’t get similar opportunities with any regularity are almost always replaced by miscommunication between the QB and his target. Routes being run into the same area like Lamb and Tolbert did on a crucial fourth-down attempt that was forced to Jonathan Mingo in the end zone, or pressure that blows up a play from the start, have become the bread and butter of the Cowboys offense in crunch time.
Turpin’s touchdown stood as not just the only one of the game for Dallas, but their first in three home games for a team that nobody would believe was one of the most explosive and high-scoring when playing at this very stadium (minus parts of the roof falling off) just a year ago. As the season draws to an end, and allowing McCarthy to finish out his contract with the team appears more and more likely, the biggest regret Dallas may have in doing so is not fielding an uncompetitive roster with a coach on an expiring deal, but instead not getting the best evaluation reps possible for offensive players they’ll need to determine a role for upon Prescott’s return next season.
If McCarthy is going to stay on as head coach and play-caller, the next best thing the Cowboys could do to assess what they have on offense is somehow get healthier on the offensive line. Rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton was injured on his fumble-recovery-turned-fumble and replaced by Asim Richards in the second half, while Zack Martin also exited after getting beat badly by Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle. Terence Steele had another inconsistent game in pass protection at the right tackle spot, making almost the entirety of the Cowboys line a liability that not even Prescott could overcome earlier in the season – leaving all but no chance for Rush to succeed.
Unlike last week, the Cowboys did not turn to Trey Lance at any point against the Texans. Rush will get his second career start against the Commanders next Sunday, having thrown two touchdowns in a 2022 home win against them.
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Dallas will be looking to avoid a six-game losing streak next week. Washington has lost two straight games for the first time all season under former Cowboys DC Dan Quinn, most recently dropping a Thursday night road game at the Eagles 26-18. They will have extra rest and motivation when trying to climb back toward the top spot in the NFC East by getting their eighth win against the Cowboys next week.