Cowboys: Why Fans Shouldn’t Panic

By Dallas White | Sep 29, 2015

The Dallas Cowboys don’t need to panic following their first loss of the season, a 39-28 near-blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons at AT&T Stadium.

This loss for the Dallas Cowboys isn’t all on backup quarterback Brandon Weeden. I believe 28 points should be enough to win ball games, at least it has to be until your veteran quarterback, and the most important player on your team, Tony Romo returns.

The fact of the matter is, the offense has bailed the defense out on many occasions over the years, so its about time for the defense to return the favor. Weeden went 22 of 26 with 232 yards and only one interception, which was a costly one, but overall I would say he was real efficient and did what he was asked to do.

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At the same time, Weeden was also a little too conservative as well, never completing a pass for more than twenty yards. Only one true wide receiver had a catch, and that was Cole Beasley.

You can make the argument that Weeden limits the offense, but it doesn’t help when your wide receivers aren’t getting any kind of separation down the field. For now, he still is the team’s starting quarterback.

Ultimately the Cowboys weren’t able to get anything going offensively in the second half and barely even had the ball due to Atlanta’s running back Devonta Freeman chewing up the clock and running through all kind of lanes.

Of course, the team was missing a few starters on defense, including defensive end Jeremy Mincey due to a concussion and primary reserve defensive tackle Terrell McClain, who’s now out for the remainder of the year. The Cowboys welcome defensive end Greg Hardy and middle linebacker Rolando McClain in a couple of weeks, and rookie pass-rush specialist Randy Gregory not long after. So, the Cowboys weren’t able to get a lot of ideal match ups that you might have expected.

The Cowboys also just waived Davon Coleman who played 29 of 74 snaps on Sunday. With McClain being on injured reserve, they will be real thin at the position and probably will look to add someone later on in the week. The Cowboys often had to rely on what looked like a preseason starting lineup on Sunday with defensive ends Ryan Russell and Jack Crawfordon the field as well as defensive tackle Ken Bishop.

Either way you look at it, defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli will get a couple of troops back on the defensive side of the ball after next week, so no need to hit the panic button. Adjustments will be made and he will have the defense right again.

Head coach Jason Garrett is all about that next man up mentality, but realistically, having star players out is never an ideal situation. It will be interesting to see how the team battles through adversity the next few weeks.

When asked about the offensive struggles in the second half, Garrett told Todd Archer of ESPN the following:

"It certainly was different. But again, these are pro football players and pro football coaches and they make adjustments. We were able to take advantage of things early on and they kind of locked it down. They put a lot of guys around the line of scrimmage and made it more challenging."

The NFC East is not necessarily the toughest division anymore, so that, as well as the reinforcements coming back, can be turned into positives for the Cowboys as they move forward. Focusing on the task at hand and being great regardless of circumstance are the two biggest things Coach Garrett stresses about.

Next: Cowboys Don't Need A Quarterback Controversy

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