Blogging The Boys
Contrary to what you may have heard, the Cowboys did, in fact, play a football game this week. It wasn’t pretty – in fact, it was football only by the strictest legal definition – but they did take the field and get promptly shellacked by the winless Chicago Bears.
Afterwards, with CeeDee Lamb’s injury status still up in the air, Jerry Jones remained adamant that this is still a playoff team.
Fans were quick to sound off on Jones, ever the eternal optimist. But is he onto something? Could the Cowboys actually still be a playoff team? Our own Tom Ryle and David Howman have thoughts.
Tom: No, Jerry. Just no. While it is not completely impossible for the team to get into the postseason, the chances are about equal to my going into space.
The offense may be playoff caliber, although that part of the team took a clear step back on Sunday and is showing a disturbing trend of disappearing in the second half. But the defense is in contention for being one of the worst ever for Dallas. Consider this. Russell Wilson has looked bad against his other two opponents, and absolutely went off against the Cowboys. Caleb Williams has looked bad against his other two opponents, and had arguably the best game of his young career on
Sunday. Both did it because of two things: They had almost no pressure from the Dallas pass rush, and the secondary left receivers repeatedly wide open deep and in the end zone. Those issues would definitely have to be fixed for Dallas to make the playoffs, and there is no sign of Matt Eberflus having a clue how to fix them. Jerry is just spreading his normal bull manure.
David: Let me be clear: I was at this game, sitting up in the nosebleeds of Soldier Field, watching all of it unfold live. And when I tell you I was disgusted, I truly mean it. I’ve been there on hand for several of the Cowboys’ lowest moments – I was there for last year’s disaster against the Ravens, and I was in Arizona when Jason Garrett iced Dan Bailey – and this game was right up there.
That said, Jerry isn’t wrong.
The offense wasn’t good against the Bears, but unexpectedly losing CeeDee Lamb was a big part of that. Playing from behind was also a big part of it, as they couldn’t feed the red hot Javonte Williams as much as they surely wanted to. I also don’t buy your concern about the offense “disappearing” in the second half. They did their most damage last week in the second half, and they only “disappeared” in the second half of Week 1 because Lamb suddenly forgot how to catch the ball.
The offense is not the problem. Dak Prescott can absolutely power this team to the playoffs, especially when looking at a fairly lackluster NFC right now. I have no doubt that this team makes the playoffs as a...
