The Dallas Cowboys hit the road to put up another impressive performance on offense in Week 6, putting up 27 points against the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately, you also have to stop the other team from scoring, which is why they've now fallen to a 2-3-1 record.
Dallas gave up the ball with nearly seven minutes left to play and never got it back. While the Panthers have improved on offense, giving up three passing touchdowns to Bryce Young and almost 250 yards from scrimmage to Rico Dowdle is not what one would expect from a team with playoff aspirations. More importantly, the players may have the solution, but the coaches seem to ignore them.
Cowboys' Coaches Continue to Ignore Players
Following the disappointing 30-27 loss, defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus addressed Trevon Diggs' complaints and plea to play more man coverage. While he didn't necessarily dismiss them, he did provide a response that would make any public relations professional proud.
“I value everybody’s opinion. That’s important that you do that as a coach. And you listen. That’s important that you do that too," said Eberflus, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. “We’re growing as a group. There’s improvement in the play. We just gotta keep growing as a group.”
Notably, Brian Schottenheimer didn't offer much on the matter. When asked whether the players were committed to the defensive system, his answer left plenty to be desired:
“That’s the bigger thing. I would hope so. I would think so,” Schottenheimer said, via The Athletic.
Granted, a lot of what's going on has to do with execution, but game-planning issues and lack of adjustments have repeatedly hurt this team. The Cowboys failed to stop the run all day long, as Dave Canales' team gained 410 total yards, with 216 of those coming on the ground.
The Panthers had 27 first downs, went 3-for-8 on third down, and converted a crucial fourth-down attempt to ice the game. They only punted twice, and while Dallas won the turnover battle with one interception, they failed to put any meaningful pressure on Young, sacking him once for a loss of five yards.
Dak Prescott is arguably playing the best football of his career, and the Cowboys put up 27 points on the road despite missing some of their best players. They're averaging 29.3 points per game, the fourth-most in the league. Sadly, that doesn't mean much when you're giving up 30.7, and perhaps the coaches will want to listen to their players to reverse this trend.