5 reasons the Dallas Cowboys aren’t playing in Super Bowl LIV
By Reid Hanson
We look at five reasons the Dallas Cowboys finished the season 8-8 and aren’t suiting up for Super Bowl LIV this year…
Typically, when an 8-8 team tries to explain their absence from the postseason, let alone a Super Bowl, there’s a whole lot more than just five reasons. But the 2019 Dallas Cowboys are pretty far from your typically disappointment.
The 2019 Dallas Cowboys were a disappointment of near epic proportions. Touted as the most talented roster since their Super Bowl days of the 90’s, the ’19 Cowboys were considered by many to be a preseason Super Bowl favorite. Yet, they found a way to not only fall short of those lofty expectations, but they found a way to miss out on even getting a winning record.
The disappointment was so severe, Jerry Jones did the unthinkable and fired his golden boy, Jason Garrett. While we could just pin blame on the two broadest explanations available (No. 1: coaching and No. 2: execution), that’s kind of a copout so today we’re going to get a little more specific.
Drops
Nobody can deny drops plagued the Dallas Cowboys last season. Drive after drive ended with a perfectly placed ball falling to the turf after being inexplicably dropped by the would-be receiver. Michael Gallup, Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, and Jason Witten all finished in the top-20 in drops last season.
Some final accuracy metrics for Dak Prescott, out of the 32 QBs with the most attempts:
— AdamJT13 (@AdamJT13) January 1, 2020
From SIS Data Hub --
#7 On Target %
#5 Catchable %
From SportRadar --
#7 On Target %
#6 Lowest Bad Throw %
The Dallas Cowboys as a team finished in the top four (or should we call this the bottom four) in drops last season. I don’t have to tell you the catastrophic effect that has on an offense. Are the Dallas pass-catchers just inherently poor at securing an airborne pigskin, or was it something bigger? It’s tough to say definitively but there certainly seemed to be a culture of acceptance towards repeatedly making the same boneheaded mistakes.
Not so fun factoid: Did you know the Dallas Cowboys were also among NFL leaders in dropped interceptions?
That’s right, Cowboys Nation, it wasn’t just receivers dropping balls but the defense as well. And it’s those defensive drops that probably hurt the most since average EPA from a dropped interception is roughly -4.5 which is about 4x higher than the average offensive caught ball.