Now, in years past, I’ve been happy the Cowboys have a bye week because I enjoy some time off from radio postgame duties with my co-host Donovan Lewis on The Ticket. I like being able to focus on the many other games involving other teams. But this time, I was glad, simply because it meant I didn’t have to watch the Cowboys play.
After the debacle against the Detroit Lions a couple weeks ago and the following week with team owner Jerry Jones and the subsequent media fiasco where he seemed to threaten the jobs of the radio hosts who dared ask him questions about his decision-making, I didn’t want to subject myself to the potential of another slaughter and even more frustration.
As the Cowboys gear up to play against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, there are two realities currently facing Dallas and its fans. In one, the Cowboys are 3–3 and 1.5 games back of the division lead. That’s a .500 football team. The other reality, in my opinion, is that this feels like the worst .500 team in the history of the league.
A 3–3 team with a point differential of –42. Yes, you read that correctly. Minus 42. Only two teams in the NFC have worse point differentials: the 2–5 New York Giants and the atrocious 1–6 Carolina Panthers. And yet, somehow, the Cowboys do not have a losing record. Thank God or whatever you believe in that Carolina exists and is allowing 34.7 points a game. Otherwise, Dallas would be leading the league in points allowed per game with 28 .
But wait! Haven’t you heard? The Cowboys' defense has been decimated with injuries!
Dallas didn’t have star edge rusher Micah Parsons for two games, and the other star edge rusher, DeMarcus Lawrence has been out too. Pro Bowl cornerback DaRon Bland hasn’t played all season, and free agent acquisition Eric Kendricks had to miss some time, and oh, geez, they lost promising rookie Marshawn Kneeland and even Sam Williams went down in training camp and excuses, excuses, excuses.
But seriously, there is some truth to the idea that missing so many key defensive pieces is hard to overcome. Any defense that loses their top two defensive players is going to have some problems. I get it.
But what about the underperforming offense?
The Cowboys offense has the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history in Dak Prescott and the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL today in receiver CeeDee Lamb. Their offensive line has three first-round picks on it. They have a Super Bowl-winning head coach whose specialty is offense and who is the team’s offensive play caller. So, with a defense as banged up as it has been and allowing 28 points a game, the offense must be helping to make sure the team stays afloat, right?
That would be a loud “Hell, no!” Dallas is dead last in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt at 3.5 and dead last in the NFL in rushing yards per game at 77.
No other team is below 82 yards per game, and only three are below 94. They are 20th in the NFL in points per game at 21, which is mostly because they lead the NFL in field goals per game. Dallas has scored just 11 touchdowns in their 6 games. Only four teams have fewer, and this might shock you, but those four have a combined record of 8-17.
I lay all this out to say, if you are like me and believe that what you see in the standings doesn’t reflect what you’ve seen on the field, you are correct. If you want a silver lining it is that this team statistically should be 2–4 or 1–5 but somehow, they find themselves with a 3–3 record.
So, why does it feel like there is no hope?
The Cowboys are me in high school algebra. I needed a private tutor, I needed to go to the tutoring offered by my teacher, and I probably needed a little bit of good old-fashioned, multiple-choice luck. When I took a simple 10-question quiz, I could do just enough to get by. But when the big tests arrived requiring more detailed answers on tougher questions, I just couldn’t get past it. There were times those tests just blew me away. And that’s what the Cowboys remind me of.
In Week 1, the Cowboys were able to get past that little quiz presented by the lowly Cleveland Browns relatively easily. The bigger test came against the Baltimore Ravens team that played for the AFC title last year and has the reigning league MVP in Lamar Jackson. The Cowboys completely bombed that test, going down 28–6 into the fourth quarter before finding a way to make it look a lot closer than it was.
But two little quizzes in New York and Pittsburgh after that gave us some confidence heading into a big test against Detroit. And what happened? Epic fail in every way. It was the worst home loss since Jones took over as owner in 1989. A loss so horrid that the Lions began trolling Dallas by using offensive lineman as receivers on multiple plays.
The Lions weren’t taking the Cowboys seriously at all 💀
— GhettoGronk (@TheGhettoGronk) October 14, 2024
- Tried throwing a TD pass to OT Taylor Decker
- Ran a hook-and-ladder to OT Penei Sewell
- Let OT Dan Skipper run routes as a WR
- Flea flicker to Sam LaPorta for a TD pic.twitter.com/uOXqHhIme9
That leads us to this week and the San Francisco 49ers. It’s hard to tell whether this is a quiz or a test, since the 49ers' roster is perhaps more banged up than the Cowboys'. They’re 3–4 and coming off a tough loss to Kansas City.
A year ago the Cowboys were coming off a 38–3 victory over the New England Patriots and heading to San Francisco. Prescott was asked about the 2022 playoff loss to the 49ers. His response? “We’re so far past that, to be honest with you, but that’s obvious,” he said to reporters. “If you just wanna piss me off going into this weekend, I appreciate that.”
The QB was so pissed off, apparently, he went out and threw three interceptions as the Cowboys were destroyed 42-10. Now, that was a 49ers team that was 4-0 at the time and not beat up like they are now. But it's very hard to believe this team will find a way to go on the road and beat a team that did that to them just a year ago.
I’ve always been a fan who can enjoy the ups and downs of the season without getting too far ahead of myself to think, “What difference does it make? They’ll just lose in the playoffs.” I’m one of those who hopes we have the chance to lose in the postseason because it’s better than not making it all. But the beatings we have seen this team take three times already this season make it very difficult to retain that weekly hope that something good will happen. And it’s hard to not let my mind wander into “What if there is a blowout loss to San Francisco before playing tough games against Atlanta, Philly and Houston?”
Honestly? This could get really ugly.
I want to believe the Cowboys can shock us all and find a way to go into San Francisco and beat down an injured team. By the way, the four losses endured by that banged-up 49ers team were only by a combined 20 points. A bit different from the Cowboys' three losses by a combined 66 points.
I hate to come across so negatively when discussing a team I follow closely. Perhaps now, more than ever, there’s an “I’ll believe it when I see it” vibe hovering over this fanbase that is chipping away at the faith of even the most diehard Cowboys fans. Blind faith is defined as believing in something without reason or objective factors.
To believe in this team on a weekly basis is only for those dedicated to pure blind faith with a delusional Jerry Jones offering us snake oil to cure our woes. Then again, I ended up passing algebra. Sometimes, blind faith is all we have.
