Thanks to familiar miscues, the Dallas Cowboys are off to their worst start in years
The Dallas Cowboys don’t run the ball well.Their much-hoped-for defensive turnaround hasn’t materialized.Unable to count on either, the Cowboys have hinged their playoff hopes for a third straight season on the right arm of quarterback Dak Prescott.
The result? Their worst record through six games since 2020.“The effort is right, the fight is right,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said.“Mistakes are killing us.”They continued in a 23-13 loss to Green Bay on “Sunday Night Football” that left the Cowboys 2-4.As they chase their first playoff berth since 2023, a lone silver lining has been the dreadful state of the NFC East, where the Cowboys aren’t out of contention thanks to the up-and-down struggles of division-leading New York (3-2-1), a rash of injuries in Philadelphia (2-4) and the regression of Washington (1-3-1).
All four teams in the division have a negative scoring differential, the only division this season to do that.What makes Dallas difficult to count out was seen on the scoring drive that pulled it within 23-13 with 44 seconds to play in Sunday’s fourth quarter, after Prescott led a 13-play, 78-yard drive capped by his scramble away from two tacklers before throwing a touchdown pass on the run.Prescott’s ability, coupled with receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens — their 862 combined receiving yards entering Sunday were second-most by a duo in the league — left Dallas seventh in the league in points scored entering Week 6.
Yet what makes Dallas difficult to count on was also on display just four minutes earlier in the fourth quarter.Needing 11 yards on fourth down to continue their drive and cut into a 23-7 Packers lead, Prescott narrowly avoided a sack before lofting a pass that sailed out the back of the end zone, not close to any particular Cowboys receiver.
The reliance on Prescott largely paid off to begin this season, as he threw eight touchdowns against just one interception through his first four games.In the...