Dallas Cowboys are struggling: What happened and what can be fixed?

I’m sure you will be hearing a lot of great puns about Thanksgiving and what we, as fans of our favorite teams should be thankful for. I have one more for you. Be thankful this Dallas Cowboys game is over and be thankful we can move on towards the next game shortly.

The Dallas Cowboys scored only 9 points while having the ball in KC 30 five times

Yes you read that correctly. Now it is totally fair to assume a team will not be scoring each time that they get into their opponents 30 but what happened on Sunday was unacceptable. Three field goals will simply not cut it against the high flying Chiefs offense.

Our first time within the 30 yard line we got to their 10 yard line. 3rd & 5 and La’el Collins gets called for a false start who in only five game played, four of which he started in, already has five penalties on the season. Three of those five are false starts. The next play on 3rd & 10 Dak Prescott drops back and throws an incomplete pass to Michael Gallup. Greg Zuerlein hits the 33 yard field goal. Attempt #1.

Attempt #2 is very short lived as after an amazing play made by Micah Parsons to set the Cowboys up beautifully on the KC 42 with 1:39 in the half. Dak Prescott on 1st & 10 hurls up a deep ball for Cee Dee Lamb that ends up in the hands of Charvarius Ward.

Attempt #3 comes in the 3rd Quarter with 11:23 remaining. The Cowboys just got an interception off of Patrick Mahomes and are set up in beautiful field position at the KC 36. At this point the Dallas Cowboys are down 16-3 so a touchdown here is critical. Dak hits Cedrick Wilson for 17 yards up the middle the drive stalls again after two incompletions within the KC 12 and Zuerlein is set up for another chip shot from 30 yards.

Attempt #4. This time the Dallas Cowboys have gotten a good drive going from their own 25. But this drive is once again killed, like the many before it, by a penalty on an O-Lineman (Tyler Biadasz) and Chris Jones sack proceeding it. At one point this drive was on the KC 21 but penalties, a poorly called screen play, and another Chris Jones sack backed us up all the way to the KC 30. Kellen Moore for all of his triumphs, finishing drives against good opponents when he’s in the green zone (30 yards or less) has not been a strong suit.

The 5th and final attempt is on the last drive of the game where Dak is leading a solid drive down the field and has completed six straight throws. On the KC 20 Dak drops back and throws and the ball is tipped by Chris Jones and lands in the hands of L’Jarius Sneed.

The lack of production is due to the Dallas Cowboys not helping themselves. Penalties are an absolute killer for this team every single game. It seems that whenever there’s a play of 20+ yards it is coming back. Dallas leads the league with 7.7 penalties per game, 2.2 opponent first downs as a result of penalties, and 65 penalty yards per game which is 5th in the league.

Against a team like the Chiefs we really can’t afford to continue to kick ourselves in the foot like that. Because they will capitalize on it even when our defense plays amazing. If our offense can’t muster a single touchdown it’s going to be hard to win games.

The Cowboys now have something to prove. They need to show that they can win big games against a legitimate Super Bowl contender. So far they’ve dropped games to both the Buccaneers and the Chiefs. The next real test like that will be in Week 17 against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals which is a ways away. Last time that Dak Prescott and the Cowboys were unhappy with their play the previous week they cruised and beat the Falcons 43-3.

It is within them but there is still a next step that they must take and it’s going to start with less self-inflicted wounds when it counts.

• Published on 11/25/2021 at 12:53 PM
• Last updated at 11/25/2021 at 12:53 PM