Blogging The Boys
Mike Nolan may be sprucing up his résumé right about now, because Cowboys fans may just welcome him back following Sunday’s defensive meltdown.
The Cowboys came into Carolina as slight favorites, and for good reason. Their offense has been one of the very best in the league, the defense showed improvements a week ago against the Jets, and the Panthers simply aren’t that good. However, they’re undefeated at home this year, and that trend continued Sunday.
Dallas went three-and-out on their opening drive, but clicked into gear after that. A field goal on their second drive was followed up by a Donovan Wilson interception off a tipped pass, which led to touchdown pass to Hunter Luepke, the first of his career. That drive was set up by this impressive play from George Pickens.
Carolina responded with a touchdown drive of their own, and the Cowboys’ penchant for giving up wide open passes suddenly came back. With the score tied at 10 apiece, Dallas embarked on a long, methodical drive that ate up 77 yards and nearly eight full minutes. That drive ended with a touchdown to Jake Ferguson, and felt like the Cowboys twisting the knife. Even though the Panthers cut the lead to 17-13 right before halftime, Dallas seemed to be in control.
Things changed in a hurry.
Carolina got the ball to start the third quarter, and it took them just four plays to score a touchdown. A big pass to Jimmy Horn Jr. started things off, and then Rico Dowdle got wide open on a blown coverage for a 36-yard touchdown. Just like that, the Cowboys were trailing.
Each team traded punts after that before Dak Prescott found Pickens again, this time for a huge catch-and-run right into the endzone, putting Dallas back up 24-20.
Naturally, though, the Cowboys defense was unable to help out after that. Carolina had five different runs of at least seven yards just on the ensuing drive, and Bryce Young once again found a wide open Tetairoa McMillan in the endzone, once again with Wilson in coverage.
The Cowboys offense quickly moved the ball after that, with yet another huge play from Pickens setting them up right at the cusp of the red zone. After a big first down pass to Ferguson, though, there was a fumble on the snap exchange between Prescott and backup Brock Hoffman. Prescott managed to recover the ball, but it proved to kill the drive, and Dallas settled for a game-tying field goal.
That proved to be the moment that the Dallas defense needed to finally wake up, as they forced a three-and-out. Granted, they were helped out by consecutive penalties on the Panthers offense, but still: the offense got the ball back with a tie game and eight minutes left.
The first play became a drive-killing bust. Brian Schottenheimer called a rollout to the right with a toss back screen to Javonte Williams, but a Panthers defender dropped Williams for a loss of five. The next...
