Did Sunday feel like Groundhog Day to anyone else?
The Dallas Cowboys did get back in the win column in Week 9 at Lucas Oil Stadium with a victory over the downright lost, skeleton crew that is the Indianapolis Colts. And somehow, this team is 4-5 and still within striking distance of the NFC East crown, which is really their only route to the postseason.
But this was essentially the same game script as last week.
In a simple sense, the Cowboys couldn't play complementary football, as the defense held on in the first half, but the offense couldn't separate. Then, in the second half, the defense finally crumbled against inconspicuous players, and it took a big drive at the end to win after one team beat itself.
Yes, Dallas scored more points, but was it really a win? To me, this game served as proof that this staff and team learned nothing from their Week 8 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. And that is a problem.
Cowboys' win over Colts was practically a repeat of loss to Cardinals
Against Arizona, Christian Parker's defense actually held up its end of the bargain, holding the Cardinals to just three first-half points and only 10 through essentially the first three quarters. Then, they crumbled in the final 15 minutes or so of game time.
On Sunday, Parker's defense held up once again, holding the Colts to just seven first-half points, which came off a Dak Prescott fumble deep in Dallas territory, to be fair, and then they gave up a field goal in the third quarter, essentially giving up just 10 points through the first three periods.
But just as they did last week, with the offense making a field goal and punting on their two drives in the third quarter in two consecutive weeks, the defense started to break down. Against the Cardinals, they gave up a long run to backup running back Tyler Allgeier for a touchdown.
This week, it was a screen pass thrown to depth receiver Ashton Dulin that he took 55 yards to the house. And in the fourth quarter, as the offense continued to stall, the Colts were able to chip away at the deficit and even take the lead with 1:37 left in the contest.
Again, Groundhog Day.
The only difference was that, unlike last week, Dak Prescott found Ryan Flournoy deep to set up a game-winning touchdown less than 30 seconds later, and Caleb Downs had a game-sealing interception on the ensuing drive.
Daniel Jones didn't have the magic of Minshew Mania on his side, and the Colts just made more mistakes than the Cardinals did. Jones' interception was accompanied by a Jonathan Taylor fumble in the fourth quarter, but Arizona didn't beat itself, as Indianapolis did.
Still, penalties were an issue on one side of the ball. Last week, the defense kept jumping offside and shooting itself in the foot. This week, the offense couldn't get out of its own way, as it kept having big gains negated and momentum halted by self-inflicted wounds.
Even down to Brandon Aubrey missing another deep kick, these two games were freakishly similar.
For the second straight week, the Dallas defense did everything it could in the first half to help the offense separate, as they forced five punts. Here's what Schottenheimer's unit did on the possession after those punts:
Fumble (which gave the Colts their only first-half touchdown)
Punt
Punt
Punt
Touchdown
You just have to capitalize more than that. If they had even gotten two field goals instead of turning it over and punting three times, this game would have been out of reach for the Colts, and a comeback attempt couldn't have been made. But the offense continues to drag its feet and not help the defense.
Which feels like a weird sentence to say about a Cowboys team coached by Schottenheimer.
And in the second half, after expending itself so much, the Dallas defense finally cracked and gave up a big-play touchdown and other big gains (this time to backup running back Seth McGowan) to let their opponent back into the game. Luckily, Prescott, Flournoy and Downs saved the day.
But this is still a problem.
Cowboys need to be improving, not staying the same
It's not like anyone wants this team to bottom out and be in the race for the No. 1 pick, but wins like the one they had on Sunday almost do more harm than good. They feed the idea in the front office that this team can compete and that Schotty may be the man for the job.
Most of the fanbase is confident at this point that neither of those two things is the case.
This team should be improving and adjusting after learning lessons from tough losses. But the Cowboys got bailed out by playing an even worse team than the Cardinals, and they basically had to wait for the Colts to beat themselves before coming out with a win.
These players are human, and it is okay to come out flat sometimes, even if that's not preferable. But for the second week in a row, the head coach's unit wasn't ready to play from the jump and took way too long to get going. They put all the pressure on a defense that has sunk more than it has swum.
And they swam, yet again, but the Dallas offense couldn't put the game away.
That's what good teams would do, and in their current form, the Cowboys aren't a good team. They have seemed to trend that way at several junctures this year, but then they hit a roadblock or regress. Schotty's team just can't put it all together at the same time for a complementary team win.
Obviously, teams can improve as the year goes on or flip a switch, but Dallas has shown no signs of doing that. The only real difference for the Cowboys between this week and last week was one big play by Prescott and Flournoy, and playing a slightly weaker opponent that is in more disarray.
They obviously learned nothing from Week 8's humiliating loss.
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