The Cowboys may be 2-1 and just one game back of the Eagles, but things feel far from rosy in the Dallas camp after a choking loss to the supposedly tanking Cardinals.
But what went wrong, and what are the biggest issues this game highlights? Let’s take a dive into our 3 key takeways from the game.
COWBOYS NEED TO ASK QUESTIONS OF DAK
I’ve long been a proponent of Dak Prescott on these pages, but over the last year I’ve started to question whether he has that extra level of ability to get the Cowboys over the hump. 25/40-249-1-1 are fine stats, but it’s hard to see the point this season when Dak has taken a situation and really stamped his mark on it.
I’m not saying it’s time to move on to Trey Lance, but maybe I can see why the Cowboys HC Mike McCarthy has added the former highly touted player, obviously Jerry had his hand in this as well, but you can see that Lance has a lot of the things Dak lacks. Of course, Lance has very few of the solid traits that Dak has, and there lies the problem.
DALLAS GO AS FAR AS THE DEFENCE CARRIES THEM
These team lives or dies on DC Dan Quinn‘s defence. When they have a game like this where they can’t cause quite enough chaos things will get hairy. There are many teams better in this conference than the Cardinals, but they used QB runs, jet sweeps and any number of tricks to keep the Dallas defence from making the impact it has in other games this season.
That’s not to say the defence wasn’t good, it just wasn’t able to hit it’s straps as well as usual.
TONY POLLARD IS THE REAL DEAL
I was unsure if letting Zeke leave was the right call, but Troy Pollard has proven he is a more than capable RB1. He racked up 122 yards on 23-carries, taking his season total to 264-yards and 2 touchdowns.
Questions will remain about his long-term durability, but through 3-games he is a legit threat.
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