Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys make their first of two visits to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey this Sunday, looking for their first outright win since week two when they beat the other resident of said stadium, the New York Giants 40-37 in overtime. This time, the Cowboys will face a New York Jets team they certainly don’t have a deep history with compared to the Giants. They will play a winless Jets team with a first-year head coach in Aaron Glenn. Both sides are coming off primetime games, where the Cowboys tied the Packers 40-40 on Sunday night and the Jets lost at the Dolphins 27-21 on Monday night.
The most recent meeting between these teams came in week two of 2023 from AT&T Stadium, a 30-10 Cowboys win they controlled from the start. This win actually snapped a three-game losing streak for the Cowboys against the Jets. It was the first of a perfect eight home wins the Cowboys earned in 2023, by an average of 21.5 points.
In these team’s last road meeting for the Cowboys, the Jets beat the Cowboys 24-22. That three-game win streak for the Jets also included a 19-16 win in 2015 in Arlington and 27-24 home win in 2011. Three Cowboys losses decided by a combined eight points. That 2019 loss and most recent visit for the Cowboys to the Jets actually shares a lot of similarities to how Dallas is coming into this week’s game, against yet another 0-4 Jets team.
The Cowboys were also coming off of a game against the Packers at home, losing 34-24 to drop their second in a row after a disappointing road loss 12-10 at the Saints the prior week. Sound familiar to the Bears game in week three for this year’s Cowboys? The Jets loss ended up being their third in a row after starting the season with three wins against the Giants, Redskins, and Dolphins. The game was defined by wide receiver Amari Cooper only being able to play three snaps on the team’s opening drive, a three-and-out where Cooper caught one ball for three yards and then was targeted for an incompletion on third down. Cooper tried to tough things out and play, meaning he was in the Cowboys’ game plan throughout the week of preparation as well, but exiting so early sunk the Cowboys chances of moving the ball at all in this game.
The Cowboys only managed a field goal before halftime and another three points with the opening drive of the second half, which cut the deficit to 21-9. A pair of fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns from Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott sandwiched around a Jets field goal weren’t enough for the Cowboys to come all the way back, as their late two-point conversion attempt failed.
The backbreaking play that forced the Cowboys to play from behind all afternoon will also feel familiar to fans who have watched the team’s current defense coordinated by Matt Eberflus. Sam Darnold connected with Robby Anderson...
