While every loss in the NFL (or any sport, for that matter) counts the same in the standings, some certainly sting more than others, and the Dallas Cowboys' 33-30 overtime defeat to the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday unquestionably falls into that category, at least for all those either associated with or rooting for America's Team.
Coming off a 17-point victory over the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7 behind a stellar performance from Dak Prescott, the Cowboys came into Week 8 hoping to snap a four-game losing streak to a Cardinals team they hadn't (and obviously still haven't) beaten since all the way back in Prescott's second season in 2017.
And for a while, it looked like that's how things would play out, as Dallas held a trio of 14-point leads, first at 14-0 after Prescott and Ryan Flournoy hooked up for a 9-yard touchdown with a little over five minutes remaining in the first half, then again at 17-3 after Brandon Aubrey connected on a 31-yard field goal with 6:37 to play in the third quarter, and once again at 24-10 after Dak rushed for a 5-yard score less than a minute into the final frame.
But from there, of course, behind a magical outing from Gardner Minshew, who stepped in after Jacoby Brissett was benched, the Cards fought all the way back to tie the game at 30-30 with just six seconds remaining and then took a 33-30 win in overtime on a 42-yard field goal from Chad Ryland, who redeemed himself after missing the extra-point attempt to win the game for Arizona in regulation.
Now, did Prescott play a perfect game? No, he didn't. But he certainly played well enough to put the Cowboys in position to win with what we'll call a solid "B" performance, and it's certainly not his fault that Brian Schottenheimer made some putrid play-calling decisions throughout the afternoon. And he obviously can't be blamed for yet another disappointing outing from the Dallas defense.
Dak Prescott deserves a 'B' grade in Cowboys' loss to Cardinals
Again, Prescott wasn't perfect, but he still completed 19 of 29 passes, with the 65.5 percent clip being nearly 10 points higher than it was against the Eagles and his highest since Week 4, and those 19 completions going for 195 yards. He accounted for two touchdowns, both of which were mentioned above, with his lone TD pass going to Flournoy and then his rushing score.
After almost completely abandoning the running game for several weeks, Schottenheimer balanced things out against Philly, which worked well, as Dallas gained a season-high 204 yards on the ground. And that seemed to be the game plan once again going into this matchup with Arizona. Only this time, the running game wasn't working, with the Cowboys ultimately tallying just 93 rushing yards.
But Schottenheimer effectively refused at times to put the game in his quarterback's capable hands.
For instance, at the very end of the second quarter, after the Dallas defense forced a fumble to set up the offense on the Arizona 47-yard line with 11 seconds remaining, Schottenheimer called for a Javonte Williams run instead of letting Prescott pass the ball in an attempt to gain more yardage. Williams ran four yards, and Aubrey came on to miss a 61-yard field goal.
And late in the fourth quarter, with the Cowboys clinging to a 27-24 lead and in possession of the ball after recovering an onside kick, which Flournoy actually returned to the Cardinals' 25-yard line, Schottenheimer called for another run on 3rd-and-16 instead of letting Dak throw the ball.
Yes, running the clock came into play. And Prescott had just taken a sack one play earlier. But after squandering such a big lead, Schottenheimer didn't play to win. Instead, as Cowboys fans have seen before, he played not to lose, and everyone who knows football knows there's a big difference.
We won't pretend the Cowboys' offense looked great in that three-and-out in overtime, but let's also not pretend that on that third-down sack that Dak had any kind of time to escape Josh Sweat.
To its credit, the Dallas defense did force a three-and-out to start the extra frame, but again, let's not pretend this was any kind of fantastic outing for Christian Parker's unit, as the Cardinals put up a season-best 467 total yards of offense and posted a season-high 33 points.
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