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By Calvin Watkins Dec 16, 2018
INDIANAPOLIS — The fourth-down pass from Dak Prescott was intended for Cole Beasley. The man who tipped it away may have secured a Defensive Rookie of the Year award. As the Cowboys offense left the field at the start of the fourth quarter, Colts linebacker Darius Leonard let out a loud howl. The yell was similar to Leighton Vander Esch’s celebration after big plays.
Vander Esch, a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate himself, didn’t make many plays, but he wasn’t alone. The Cowboys had a chance to clinch the NFC East with a victory over the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. But the mistakes added up quickly, from a blocked field goal attempt to missed tackles and poor run defense.
The Cowboys remained in control of their destiny while the Colts kept their playoff hopes alive. But after a 23-0 final score, it’s clear which 8-6 team held the edge.
So instead of carrying some NFC Eastern Division championship swag home, the Cowboys enter the final two weeks of the regular season trying to solve some problems that might cause bigger issues. The red zone woes continue as Dallas went 0-for-2, including a dropped pass at the goal line by fullback Jamize Olawale. The offensive line has health issues, as left guard Xavier Su ‘a-Filo left the game with a bandage over his left eye. Throughout 2018 Dallas has lost Zack Martin, Tyron Smith, Connor Williams and Travis Frederick at various points for health reasons. These are starting offensive linemen who are watching on the sidelines. For the majority of this campaign, the Cowboys survived. But with Martin missing Sunday due to a sprained knee and Adam Redmond taking over for Su’a-Filo, serious questions are being raised.
It’s been a while since the Cowboys were beaten this badly. A five-game win streak didn’t end with some late field goal or a dramatic touchdown in the closing seconds. The streak ended here with a whimper.
“We were just dead the whole game,” Kavon Frazier said. “Kinda seemed like (we) never got into that rhythm that we usually get in. They looked like they were in control the whole game.”
Dallas was shut out for the first time since a Week-10 loss at New England in 2003. Sunday’s game ended a streak of 243 consecutive games with at least a point, the fourth-longest active streak in the NFL.
It was a stunner considering several Cowboys players said they had a strong week of practice and had momentum going into this contest due to their winning streak.
“I’m absolutely surprised,” DeMarcus Lawrence said. “As a defense, we got to be able to step up week in and week out. That win streak had us feeling like we was bigger than what we is. So this game, right here, was a game to show us we got to get back to the basics and keep working.”
Things could be worse. The Cowboys were out of the playoff picture in late October but now they’ve surged as one of the contenders in the NFC. Yet, such a loss could have a debilitating effect on a team trying to reach the tournament.
“I don’t think this was an emotional letdown,” Prescott said. “We just got beat and we didn’t give ourselves a chance. We’re playing begin the line of scrimmage on offense, defense was doing what they could with what we’re giving them. We weren’t scoring. It was a complementary game of football and that’s what we’ve been doing the last five weeks and we didn’t do that tonight.”
Here are five observations from the Cowboys’ Week 15 loss.
What happened to the offense?
It’s hard to find positives when a team doesn’t score any points. Prescott said the Cowboys have no one to blame but themselves. He’s correct. There were missed opportunities here, especially in the passing game. Prescott finished 24-for-39 for 206 yards with one interception and was sacked three times. Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries and receiver Amari Cooper was ineffective, finishing the day with four catches for 32 yards. Michael Gallup was targeted just once and Cole Beasley mirrored Cooper’s line. But a dropped touchdown from Olawale on a third-and-1 from the 3 — and Elliott losing two yards on a fourth-and-1 during the second possession — were carryovers from that first possession. The Colts played two safeties deep to prevent the Cowboys from attempting deep throws, so short, quick throws were needed. The Cowboys offense couldn’t execute and never looked right.
“We knew they like to run that two (safeties) high shell,” Cooper said. “Hard to get those big plays when teams have those types of coverages. It’s really no excuse. We knew what they were all about. We just didn’t go out there and execute.”
During this five-game win streak, the Cowboys were a productive team on third down. Sunday they converted just 4-of-12 and went for it a season-high five times on fourth down. It seemed as if Garrett was making decisions with the aggressive zeal of a coach in the midst of a playoff game.
You can question the Cowboys targeting Olawale, who has caught two passes all year, on that third down. It would seem giving the ball to Elliott in these situations should work. But the fourth-down play failed, as the Cowboys got no blocking up front and Elliott never had a chance.
Prescott continues to show poor pocket presence. He took a six-yard sack in the first half on a play-action pass. If Prescott watches the tape of Luck, he’ll notice that he excels at escaping the pocket, as well as throwing the ball away. Luck scrambled for 20 yards on Sunday, the majority if not all of that total coming on pass plays where the pocket was about to converge on him.
Adversity was prevalent for the Cowboys. Beasley had a chance to catch a tipped ball in the first quarter. The ball was tipped behind him and then tipped near him by two defenders. If Beasley just moves his head, he catches it. You can critique every throw from Prescott. He tried to find Noah Brown on a fade down the sidelines that went too far. He overthrew Cooper in the third quarter on a second-and-4. Later, Prescott lofted a pass over corner Pierre Desir’s head toward Blake Jarwin. When Jarwin made the catch, he turned his head before landing. With Jarwin taking his eyes off the ball ever so slightly, Desir was able to knock it away.
All of this added up to a shocking outcome: Zero points.
“Any competitor doesn’t want to get shut out,” Prescott said. “The shutout definitely hurts. The shutout pisses you off, especially when you’re down there in the red zone, you have opportunities to score and you don’t. 100 percent we got to capitalize and find ways to score in the red zone.”
Run defense was poor
Just who is Marlon Mack? Well, he’s a second-year pro from South Florida, the Colts’ 2017 fourth-round selection. Sunday, he rushed for a career-high 139 yards with two rushing touchdowns. As a unit, the Colts ran for 178 yards, the most the Cowboys’ defense has allowed this season.
“Run defense was not very good,” defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. “And no surprises, we just got to execute, both player and coach. The tackling wasn’t good and at the end of the day, the rush has to be better. We didn’t put ourselves in good enough position to get the opportunity to rush because we didn’t stop the run well.”
On the Colts’ first possession of the game, they gained 32 yards on three running plays. Cornerback Chidobe Awuzie missed a tackle on a 19-yard gain by Mack and that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The Indianapolis offensive line just got to the second level with strong blocks to create running lanes and even when there was pressure, Andrew Luck was able to scoot downfield with ease.
“Just attention to detail, execution on tackling, leverage, running your feet,” Jaylon Smith said. “This is something we got to continue to develop. It’s a battle every week, so we’ll be alright.”
The Cowboys finished with two tackles for loss, by Damien Wilson and Dorance Armstrong. But they got very little from their vaunted front four, particularly the defensive tackles, who have earned praise for their strong play this season.
“They were able to run the football much too early throughout the game,” Jason Garrett said.
Big blocked field goal
Garrett said he needs to view the tape of the blocked field goal but the reality is the Cowboys lost a lot of momentum right here. The Cowboys had a very productive opening drive before it stalled when Prescott missed Allen Hurns on a third-down throw down the sideline. Prescott’s throw was toward the sideline, while Hurns was seeking the ball inside. The drive lasted nearly five minutes and at worst, the Cowboys were going to get three points. Brett Maher’s 48-yard field goal was blocked up the middle by Denico Autry. A mad scramble had Leonard recovering the ball and returning it for a touchdown. A review reversed the call and the Colts did score, as Mack ran in from the 1 for a 7-0 lead. This momentum-killer was similar to what happened to the Eagles last week when they thought they recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff, only to have the refs conclude that no replay could prove it. The Eagles were understandably angry about the play, and while it was early, it set the tone for the rest of the contest. This blocked kick was the start of a long afternoon for the Cowboys.
The division title remains very winnable
This is the only good news of the day. The Cowboys can win the NFC East if they beat the Bucs next week at home. If Dallas loses, then losses by Philadelphia and Washington would also grant them this year’s divisional crown. We can make a lot of this loss by the Cowboys in which the offense fell back to earth, the defense failed to stop the run and miss tackles, and special teams didn’t help in the cause. But they remain in a strong position, due partly to the weakness of this year’s NFC East. If Dallas maintains the No. 4 seed it could face Seattle in the first round for a home playoff game. This would be a rematch of Week 3, a game they lost in Seattle. However, speculating on whom the Cowboys could play isn’t important at this stage. Dallas just needs to make sure what happened in Indy doesn’t continue when Tampa Bay comes to town.
“You look at the team you saw the last five weeks and the team you saw today and that’s two totally different groups of men,” Elliott said. “We have to take our medicine and we have to watch this game and figure out what went on. I would not say, ‘This is our team.’ This is not the 2018 Dallas Cowboys. This is not who we are. We have to take our medicine and get ready for next week.” Closing notes
The health of the offensive line is concerning. Starting left guard Su’a-Filo left the game with an eye injury and Garrett said he’ll be fine. Yet, Martin, the starting right guard, didn’t play with a sprained knee and he walked into the locker room with a slight limp. Redmond allowed a sack in place of Su’a-Filo and there were times Williams missed some blocks in the run game.
For the first time this season, the Cowboys didn’t record a sack. There were only three quarterback hurries — of course, Lawrence got one — but Luck did a good job of getting rid of the ball quickly and moving out of the pocket.
Dallas’ offensive line was penalized three times for holding. This has nothing to do with injuries, it relates more to what the Colts were doing. This isn’t a team that likes to blitz, defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus very rarely sends extra rushers. But the Cowboys offensive line struggled to give Prescott time in the pocket.
Sean Lee made his return after missing time with a hamstring injury. He didn’t start as the Cowboys opened the game in a nickel package, but we didn’t see much of him in the base defense either. As the season progresses, we might see more of Lee in the nickel packages.
