The Dallas Cowboys reached a new low on Thursday night.
They were a half-yard away from falling behind 31-10 in the fourth quarter. Against a 0-4 team. At home. With the entire country watching. Thankfully, Todd Bowles decided to go for a 4th-and-goal from the one instead of kicking a field goal to go up by three scores.
This team is now 2-3 with 10 days to get ready for a bad Green Bay Packers team next Sunday night. The unfortunate truth? The Packers are probably thinking the same thing about Dallas.
Brian Schottenheimer said postgame that he's going to evaluate everything, which should open the door to personnel changes and some bigger-picture adjustments. That process has to start with Schottenheimer looking in the mirror, but we'll give the Cowboys' head coach a hand.
7 changes the Cowboys must consider to get their season back on track
1. Start Cobie Durant, bench DaRon Bland
Bland set an improbably low bar for expectations in the first four games, and he somehow lowered it on Thursday. He was the closest defender on two backbreaking moments from the Cowboys' defense.
First, he lost his footing on a deep post route from Tez Johnson. He slipped again on a 3rd-and-21 conversion to Emeka Egbuka. Say what you will about Christian Parker dropping everyone back. Bland has to know better than to retreat behind the line to gain after the snap. Once Jalon Daniels let it rip, Bland lost his footing attempting to break on the ball.
And to make it a trifecta, Bland dropped a gift-wrapped pick-six with the Cowboys trailing by eight and just under four minutes left in regulation. Daniels telegraphed the pass, Bland jumped it, and flat-out dropped the ball.
Bland could have erased a lot of his wrongdoings if he had taken that to the house. If he can't hold up in coverage anymore, the pick-six king can't also be dropping routine interceptions. He's paid to be a difference-maker, but he shouldn't be on the field at this point.
The former All-Pro should be on the bench once Cobie Durant is back from his hamstring injury. For Dallas' sack, that better be next Sunday night in Green Bay.
2. Bench Jake Ferguson
Is benching Ferguson going to save the season? Maybe not. What we do know, though, is that he's done more harm than good for this offense.
Ferguson dropped two more passes against the Buccaneers, and both were huge momentum swings.
The first came on 1st-and-10 from Tampa's 27 with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter. Playing the what-if game is always tricky, but the Dallas offense would have been in the red zone with a chance to take a 14-7 lead while burning the rest of the clock. At the very least, he cost the Cowboys three points on the scoreboard.
Ferguson's second drop was the death knell. Trailing 24-16 late in the fourth, Dak Prescott looked his tight end's way on 2nd-and-1 from the Bucs' 24. Prescott stayed cool in a collapsing pocket and fired a strike that hit Ferguson's hands and ricocheted off his helmet, creating an easy interception for Alex Anzalone.
Coming up short has become a recurring theme for Ferguson. He doesn't block well. He fumbles more than any other tight end in the NFL. And now, he's not doing what he's paid to do: catch the football. What's his redeeming quality? Being Dak's best friend? He's arguably cost this team two games this season.
Ferguson needs to take a backseat to Brevyn Spann-Ford and, yes, Luke Schoonmaker, starting next week against the Packers.
3. Give Malachi Lawrence more snaps
My goodness. How bad has the edge room been this year? Rashan Gary is giving you nothing, and Donovan Ezeiruaku might just be a decent pass rusher who can't finish. He has five missed tackles in as many game, per Pro Football Focus. That offsets any of his pass-rush wins.
It's time to unleash Malachi Lawrence, who's been the team's best pass-rusher. He had a couple of impressive wins on Thursday night, including a would-be sack if not for a holding penalty. He eventually got home to record a sack that was initially given to Ezeiruaku.
Lawrence has had his own trouble finishing. He has four missed tackles this year. You can tolerate that from a rookie.
What isn't explainable, though, is that he played 27 out of 72 games against the Buccaneers. Dallas' defensive front made little to no impact. It is desperate for a pass rush, and Lawrence is the only guy providing it consistently.
Whether it's Gary or Ezeiruaku, Lawrence needs to start playing more. Rookie lumps be damned. The Cowboys aren't getting enough from their veterans to justify keeping Lawrence on the sideline.
4. Better preparedness for blitzing defenses
For whatever reason, the Cowboys' offensive line has had trouble dealing with stunts. And, uncharacteristically, Dak Prescott has been hit or miss against the blitz.
Prescott struggled with it in the first half against Houston, and it rattled him again on Thursday night after leading the offense to a touchdown on its first possession. The 33-year-old QB deserves a share of the blame. It was clear that he was pressing and wasn't seeing the field well.
However, Brian Schottenheimer waited too long to change the game plan. A big reason the Cowboys were able to claw back into the game late is that they countered Tampa's blitzes with quick passes, mostly a large dose of slants to George Pickens and Ryan Flournoy.
Blitzing inherently takes defenders away from the middle of the field. In the first half, though, we saw far too many route concepts that needed time to develop. Curls, deep crossers, and other slow-developing patterns. Those aren't built to punish the blitz.
If a defense is going to send extra rushers, the Cowboys need to have answers that get the ball out of Prescott's hands quickly. Even with CeeDee Lamb on the sideline, the offense looked unstoppable once Schottenheimer leaned into the quick game.
The preparation during the week needs to be better.
5. Move Caleb Downs back to the nickel
In fairness to Christian Parker, his hands have been tied the last couple of games. Being down several key players in the secondary, Parker opted to move Downs to safety to get Markquese Bell off the field. That, in turn, moved Reddy Steward into the nickel. Through two games, it is clear that Steward is worse in the slot than Bell is at safety.
According to NFL Pro, Steward is allowing 2.89 yards per coverage snap. That is 112th out of 114 qualified cornerbacks.
Downs isn't a lockdown slot player five games into his career. But his presence is badly needed around the line of scrimmage. We applaud sending pressure, but what is blitzing a 178-pound CB going to accomplish? Downs has nearly 30 pounds on Steward.
The budding rookie is more than capable at safety, but he'll have his biggest impact being closer to the football. Even if P.J. Locke isn't ready for Week 6, Downs needs to be back playing in the slot. Steward is being hunted by opposing offenses and it's killing this defense.
6. More aggression, less passiveness from Christian Parker
To say the bloom is off the Christian Parker rose would be an understatement. Thursday night was circled as a get-right game for his defense, and they turned in their worst performance of the season, allowing more than 400 yards of total offense to an undrafted rookie quarterback.
Parker needs to take his bend-don't-break approach and stuff it in a locker. The decision to only rush four on the 3rd-and-21 conversion in the third quarter was indefensible. He dropped everyone else into coverage, and everything was blanketed except for the one receiver, Emeka Egbuka, who was at the line to chain by the time Jalon Daniels released the ball.
The Cowboys' DC needs to start being more aggressive. Send pressure. Call more man coverage, even if he doesn't fully trust his corners to hold up.
At this point, going down swinging is better than sitting back and getting bled dry over 8-12 plays every drive. Those possessions chew up the clock and keep Dak Prescott on the sideline, which is the exact opposite of what this team needs.
7. Demote Von Miller and play James Houston
It's hard to say that making a change at the bottom of a rotation will have a seismic impact, but Von Miller is giving you nothing. His pass-rush juice is gone, and teams are beginning to hunt him in the run game. The Bucs found great success running at wherever Miller was lined up.
James Houston may not give you much in terms of setting the edge, but he at least has a full tank as a pass rusher. At this point, that's a clear upgrade over Miller.
Miller said before the season that he was brought in to be a mentor first.
"They’re paying me, and my contract is what it is to be the locker room guy."
It certainly looks like that. And while there's certainly something to be said about having a future Hall of Famer coaching up the young guys, the Cowboys need production first and foremost.
At some point, Miller's mentorship and acclaim can't outweigh what happens on Sundays. Houston cannot keep watching from the sideline while Miller gets 10-20 snaps and does virtually nothing with them.
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