Dallas Cowboys are far from being playoff ready

After suffering a blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys seem far from being ready to make a deep playoff run.

The Dallas Cowboys were thoroughly beaten in all three phases of the game by the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday afternoon. Special teams faltered as the team’s lone field goal attempt was blocked. The Cowboys offense failed to score a single point. And the vaunted defense was gashed for 178 rushing yards, their biggest allowed total on the ground all season.

It was an embarrassing 23-0 defeat that the most optimistic among us will count as a hard but necessary lesson learned. It appears being too “hot to trot” about yourselves following an impressive five-game win streak isn’t the best way to approach a road game against a team that has now won seven of their last eight contests.

Following the Cowboys’ inability to even score against Indy at home, Dallas clearly showed they are not playoff ready. This performance looked more like the team that was beaten 28-14 by the struggling Tennessee Titans back in Week Nine. Not the defensive juggernaut that shocked the sports world late last month by holding the high-powered New Orleans Saints’ offense to only 10 points in Week 13.

Cowboy apologists will point to the injuries along the offensive line as the main reason for the offensive struggles. Injuries suffered by starting guards Zack Martin (knee) and Xavier Su’a-Filo (eye) forced rookie Connor Williams and Adam Redmond into action.

But certainly, a portion of the blame still sits with quarterback Dak Prescott, who failed to connect deep with his receivers as he did against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14. Prescott, who has a tendency to hold the ball too long, was sacked three times by the Colts increasing his total to 51 sacks on the season. That’s the second most in the NFL.

Defensively, the Cowboys inability to stop the Indianapolis’ running game was troubling. Dallas hasn’t allowed more than 80 rushing yards in a single game within their five-game winning streak. In four of their five losses this season, the Cowboys’ opponents ran for 100+ rushing yards or more. That really speaks to the play of Dallas’ defensive tackles, who have overachieved with injured starter David Irving (ankle) out of the lineup.

All-in-all, this was an embarrassing performance for a Dallas Cowboys squad that was getting legitimate Super Bowl buzz prior to this blowout loss. The Cowboys showed they are not ready to make a deep run in the playoffs. Dallas only has two regular season games left to try and become a team worthy of hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.