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By Jon Machota 1h ago
FRISCO, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott was responding to a question Wednesday about how surprised he is that the Cowboys find themselves 2-5. Midway through his answer, the running back noted that the team still has a chance at first place in the NFC East with a win Sunday night in Philadelphia.
“Being in this position, I think no one here was expecting being here,” Elliott said. “We can’t really control what’s happened up to this point. We have had a lot of injuries.
We haven’t played the best in some games. But what we do know is that I think if we win this week, are we first in the division? So we’re still right where we need to be.
We’re still at a place where we can make a run for the playoffs. I think it’s just on us taking all that adversity and handling it and then kind of showing what we got and going out there and making the best of it.
“We’ve got to figure out something fast. We’ve got to win this weekend. We can’t have any excuses. It doesn’t matter how many guys we have down. All we can worry about is just going out there with the guys we have and playing the best football we can and winning the football game.”
Maybe others on the team have similar feelings. But the last two weeks make that difficult to believe. It’s not just that Dallas has lost its last two games — it’s the fashion in which they have done so. In previous seasons, maybe the team flips the switch, wins in Philly and turns the season around. But when was the last time the Cowboys looked as bad in consecutive games as they did against Arizona and Washington while getting blown out by a total of 63-13?
It’s time to look beyond this year.
Moves have already begun. Three veterans were removed from the roster this week. Defensive end Everson Griffen was traded to Detroit on Tuesday. Defensive tackle Dontari Poe and cornerback Daryl Worley were released on Wednesday.
“When you’re 30 pounds overweight, and you’re not doing anything about what’s keeping you from performing well on the field, there is no reason to get into the other stuff,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told ESPN Wednesday night on Poe’s release. The “other stuff” was in reference to Poe being the first player in franchise history to kneel during the national anthem to raise awareness for social justice.
It’s clear that Jones and Co. have seen enough of several of the veterans they signed during free agency. They’re moving on to evaluate what the younger options on the roster can do with more snaps. The problem is that those players would’ve already been playing if they were better immediate options than Griffen and Poe. Worley is a little bit of a different situation because injuries forced him to get more playing time.
Chidobe Awuzie is likely returning this week, so he will see significant playing time alongside Anthony Brown and Trevon Diggs at cornerback.
Poe’s release opens the door for rookie Neville Gallimore and fourth-year tackle Justin Hamilton. Griffen’s departure means more playing time for Randy Gregory, Dorance Armstrong and rookie Bradlee Anae.
Back to free agency for a minute. The defensive additions made in that area have been extremely disappointing. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy suffered a season-ending quad injury in training camp. Safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was released before the start of the regular season. Cornerback Maurice Canady took a voluntary opt-out for the 2020 season. Defensive back Brandon Carr was released after playing in three games. Griffen, Worley and Poe are now gone. Edge rusher Aldon Smith remains one of the team’s top defenders, leading the group with four sacks. He is second with 16 QB pressures.
So what should be the goals going forward?
1. Get a better look at the young players. Rookie QB Ben DiNucci appears to be headed for his first start on Sunday. Do you have a player capable of being the backup next season, or do you still need to add a veteran this offseason? Can Gallimore be in the running for a starting spot next season? What about rookie defensive back Reggie Robinson? We haven’t seen him in a game, and there will be a lot of holes to fill in the defensive backfield this offseason. Awuzie, Xavier Woods and Jourdan Lewis are all in the final year of their rookie contracts.
2. Evaluate the veteran players. Who are your leaders? Who should you be looking to part ways with this offseason? Many more losses are coming. That should provide more opportunities to see who is part of the solution and who is part of the problem.
3. Evaluate the coaching staff. There are certainly things that have happened on Sundays that go beyond coaching, particularly the countless defensive errors. But if this thing continues to unfold like it has the last two weeks, it’s hard to envision the coaching staff staying intact this offseason.
4. Evaluate the front office. How did things go so poorly? Can they honestly say this season is solely the result of injuries and a unique offseason that didn’t allow a new coaching staff to fully put their plan in place? How did they miss so badly in free agency? Why did they get so little out of so many players taking up a large chunk of their salary cap?
5. Look ahead to the draft. It’s the one area that can be considered a positive in 2020. CeeDee Lamb, Trevon Diggs and Tyler Biadasz have already made an impact from the 2020 class, and the Cowboys are heading towards a top-five pick in 2021. If they can add that kind of firepower picking in the middle of each round, they should be able to be even more productive picking at the top, along with having several compensatory picks. The 2016 draft was a huge success. It’s the last time Dallas had a top-five pick. They need similar results again in 2021, except the impact has to be felt more on the defensive side of the ball.
“I’m disappointed for our fans,” Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am. It was not the plan at all. We certainly want to point to things, but they’re not excuses. This is football. I’ll assure you right now we’re going to put our head down. We haven’t spent the time, the year, the money, the effort and everything for the Dallas Cowboys to be where we are right now. There will be better days.”
The Cowboys began to send a message to their players this week by trading one veteran and releasing two others. The reality is that there’s a lot more work to be done.
