Dallas Cowboys: Searching for answers after losing to the New York Jets

The Dallas Cowboys needed to win against the Jets on Sunday to avoid a three-game losing streak. Well, they didn’t, and the reasons why are abundant.

The Dallas Cowboys entered Sunday’s game against the New York Jets coming off of two straight losses at the hands of the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. To obviously avoid a dreaded three-game losing streak, a win at MetLife Stadium was imperative on Sunday evening.

Dallas was ultimately not able to come away with the victory after four quarters had been played, but the defeat itself or the three-game losing streak it led to isn’t the most troubling thing about it all. The reasons for this loss and the previous two for that matter, are so abundant and all over the place, that it breeds more confusion than it does clarity.

The Cowboys find themselves in a situation where there are so many things that they need to be doing better, there is no clear place to start or area to focus in on. While this could also mean that most of the obvious issues are more reflective of one or a few larger issues at hand, it could very well mean that there will constantly be something or another complicating winning for the Cowboys throughout the remainder of the season.

To start a short and not hardly all-encompassing list of the issues that seem to be beleaguering the Cowboys, they would include: a lack of discipline on both sides of the ball (penalties, poor execution), a lack of belief in technique on both sides of the ball (getting beat deep, allowing immense pressure and hits on quarterback, holding penalties), lack of confidence or trust in play or self(dropping passes, indecisiveness by quarterback, confusion by defense), lack of recognition by coaching (slow starts, play-calling in general).

While there could many more things added to the above list, they are just a few of the most apparent. It all boils down to a mental and physical toughness that has not been displayed by either side of the ball over the past three weeks. You could even dare to say that they have looked mentally and physically soft.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo made an interesting comment during the national broadcast. He said that this offense looks like it has Jason Garret “all over” it, hearkening him back to 2007, by his own account.

Is that a good thing? It looked like it during the first few weeks of the season, but it doesn’t appear to be that way at the moment.

What happened to the constantly swarming, attacking, and fleet of foot defense from last season? They still seem to be there at times, but there are too many lapses and penalties to develop anything near a sense of consistency.

The many questions asked above are all those that need to be answered fast, like yesterday. Being tied at records of 3-3 with the Philadelphia Eagles, while also heading directly into a Sunday night meeting against them next week, this is a make or break moment for the Dallas Cowboys relatively early in the season.

The past and their performances over the past three weeks would tell us that this is who they are and will be for the remainder of the season if they put forth this type of effort in next week’s game. There is no way possible that they won’t be aware of the magnitude of the outcome of the game.

Not only are the Eagles a rival and divisional foe, but this game will essentially determine who the front-runner in the division is. Forget about that for the moment though. Before even beginning to think about winning the division again, the Dallas Cowboys need to focus on winning a game again first. If they can’t get it done next week, the questions will continue to pile up (such as is it time for Garrett to go?), and there already appears to be no answers in sight.