The Dallas Cowboys lost their fourth game in a row on Sunday, falling to Philadelphia 34-6. In the first game without Dak Prescott, the offense failed to score a touchdown. The defense showed signs of life in the first half, limiting the Eagles to 14 points and causing two turnovers. It did not last.
With the team now at 3-6, their season is unofficially over. With no signs of a playoff appearance on the horizon, the focus should now be shifting to evaluating talent for next season. That should mean benching players who have not performed up to par all season.
While one of the players who stands out the most is running back Ezekiel Elliott, more of his teammates deserve to be on the bench after the loss.
Cowboys must bench Ezekiel Elliott after Week 11 loss
Elliott's second stint in Dallas has been a disaster. The running back received a hefty payday back in 2019 before the season, but since then has been a shell of himself.Elliott only has rushed for 171 yards for the season and two touchdowns. He should have had his third in the second quarter against Philadelphia.
Dallas trailed 7-3, but put together a 13-play drive. Cooper Rush looked the best he had all day to that point getting the Cowboys in the redzone. With a first and goal on the six-yard line, Elliott took the handoff but fumbled the ball right back to the Eagles ending Dallas' drive. That drive wound up being the closest Dallas would get all game to scoring a touchdown.
What had fans steaming was the fact the team took Rico Dowdle out and put Eliott in. Up to that point in the drive, Dowdle had been running the ball well and even had a 19-yard run on the drive. Out of the two, Dowdle has looked like the better back all season when he touches the ball. For Mike McCarthy to leave Elliott in and blow a huge opportunity to score and take the lead was one of the worst decisions he made on Sunday.
Despite the coach's decision, Elliott has to hold onto the ball there. If he would have scored, momentum would have shifted to the Dallas sideline. Rush and the offense would have had more confidence going forward. Instead all the wind was taken out of their sails.
On top of the disciplinary actions, he received before the Falcons game, the fumble proved Elliott needs to be benched for the rest of the season. Dowdle has clearly shown he is the best running back option this team has and deserves the most amount of playing time.
3 Cowboys teammates who need to be benched following the loss
3. OT Terence Steele
It is time for the Cowboys to move on from Terence Steele as their starting right tackle. Sunday's game against the Eagles was another example of how far he has fallen as a steady offensive lineman for this team.
With the team down 28-6 in the third quarter, the game was all but lost, but everyone was still hoping to see something from this offense. What they got was a lineman producing a moment for NFL Follies. Steele got beat bad on a rush by Bryce Huff and Rush fumbled the ball.
The play was already awful because the right tackle got beat bad again, but Steele made it worse when he tried to run back to the ball and recover it. Instead he stumbled all over the place and could not pick up the ball. It would not have matter anyway because it was third down and Dallas was backed up in their own territory.
Still this play sums up Steele's 2024 season in microcosm. He has been one of the worst offensive linemen on the Cowboys week in and week out. He seems unable to pick up any pass rush consistently, especially against guys with great speed. Benching him would be the best move going forward.
What makes this a solid idea is the steady play Asim Richards showed against the Eagles. He was filling in for rookie Tyler Guyton at left tackle because he was out with a neck injury. In his absence, Richards played well and even received praise from the coaches and Jerry Jones.
The solution may be to start Richards at left tackle and move Guyton back to his natural position of right tackle he played at Oklahoma. Steele needs to be the odd man out, because at this rate Rush and Trey Lance will get banged around just as much as Prescott did.
2. WR Jalen Brooks
Outside of CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys wide receivers have been practically non-existent this year. Jalen Brooks had another bad day against Philadelphia. He was targeted four times and had only one catch for four yards. He clearly is not providing anything to this offense.
Brooks was taken by Dallas in the seventh round last year and only appeared in six games. Dallas keeping him on the active roster this year was a bit surprising considering Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert are the second and third best receivers along with the emergence of rookie Ryan Flournoy.
Of course with Brooks on injured reserve, Jalen has seen more action as the third receiver in this offense. However, he is clearly not making an impact and should be benched. That might happen based on what Dallas did at the trade deadline.
The Cowboys traded a fourth round pick to the Carolina Panthers for Jonathan Mingo last week. The move was clearly made to improve a weak receiving room outside of Lamb and Jake Ferguson. While Mingo still has a lot to prove with his new team, he was drafted much higher than Brooks.
If Brandin comes back off of injured reserve, Jalen will most certainly be benched, but the arrival of Mingo might also shove him down the depth chart. Dallas clearly wants to see what they have invested in Mingo and it would be foolish of them not to play him in the back half of the season. All that being said, Jalen Brooks needs to go back to the bench and develop a lot more before he can think about playing consistently for this team.
1. CB Caelen Carson
The rookie defensive back is clearly not ready to be a starter for this defense. Caelen Carson has struggled since week two and Sunday's game against Philadelphia was more proof. Instead of poor tackling, the defensive back found himself getting burned time and time again.
A.J. Brown lined up against him most of the day and had his way with him to say the least. Brown had 109 yards receiving and 76 of them came from lining up against Carson. The worst came on a 44-yard deep shot where Carson clearly was beat on the play.
It was not just Brown, but Jalen Hurts targeted Carson all game throwing the football. He has been a disappointment all season filling in for DaRon Bland. Carson could be a contributor for this team, but him lining up against the best of the best on the opposite side of Trevon Diggs is not a good idea the rest of the season.
In fact he appeared to be benched during the Eagles game in favor of Israel Mukuamu. Mukuamu might be a safety, but he has played corner for Dallas before during his career. Clearly Mike Zimmer had seen enough that day and it arguably stemmed from seeing him play all season.
The Cowboys are hopeful Bland can come back this year, but the process has been painfully slow. His 21-day practice window opened a month ago, but he is still not ready to come back. Many thought the Eagles game would be his comeback, but fans will have to wait another week or more.
Once Bland comes back, if he does, Carson should be benched. Dallas has not had a chance to see what their cornerback tandem of Diggs and Bland is capable of all year. If they want to evaluate that moving forward, it makes no sense to keep playing the rookie who is struggling every week. This defense has plenty of other issues, but Carson is clearly a liability.