Cowboys Starve, Bills Carve: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Ugly

There is a common cliche in the NFL that teams don’t impose their will to win games but rather make mistakes to lose. The 2019 Dallas Cowboys season is the embodiment of that statement.

The offense, in particular Dak Prescott, had one interception and two fumbles on the day. The interception and one of the fumbles set up the Bills at the Cowboys 29-yard line and 39-yard line.

It is hard to sustain long drives for touchdowns in the NFL. Giving your opponent a short field certainly increases the odds of giving up touchdowns. The Bills converted one of the turnovers for a touchdown and a 13-7 lead they would never relinquish.

As the first half was ending, Dallas lined up for a 35-yard field goal try. For the second week in a row, the special teams unit had a kicked blocked.

The Bills started the second half with their own field goal to extend their lead to 16-7. On the next Cowboys drive, the offense would stall at the Bills 29-yard line.

Coach Garrett sent kicker Brett Maher to try a 47-yard line. In a season with ups, two field goals greater than 60 yards, and downs, Maher would push the kick wide right to continue his uneven season.

There have been too many missed field goals this season, nine to be precise. Maher’s 67.9 percent conversion rate is well below the league average which was 79.7 percent on November 20.

Points have been hard to come by for the Cowboys the last two weeks. Coincidentally, they were facing the first and third-ranked defenses.

The Cowboys margin for error is razor-thin. With four games remaining, Dallas controls their playoff outcome if they win three games with one of them against the Eagles.

Cowboys Nation remains frustrated with the Cowboys’ performance. The ‘Boys will need to regroup and find a way to win next Thursday in Chicago when they play the Bears.