The Dallas Cowboys falling victim to an obvious trap game? Where have we seen this movie before?
The Cowboys fell to the Arizona Cardinals 28-16 on Sunday. Though several teammates promised to take their game up a level in the wake of Trevon Diggs' season-ending injury, their energy depicted a team that was still in mourning ... or grossly overlooked the Cardinals.
In doing so, the Cowboys opened the floodgates to the media.
More importantly, they will almost certainly regret this loss later on. The schedule is an absolute bear this season and Sunday could prove costly in the NFC East and NFC standings when all is said and done.
As far as the now is concerned, though, three familiar nightmarish Cowboys narratives returned against the Cardinals that must be addressed before next week.
3. Offensive line injuries
What was fans' top concern heading into the season? Offensive line depth. More specifically, potential injuries to the offensive line. With Tyron Smith, Zack Martin and Tyler Biadasz all sidelined, the offense never looked in-sync.
The injuries aren't to blame for the offense's red zone deficiencies, but it's only Week 3 and the health of the O-line line is already a major storyline.
Remember the 2020 season? Dallas' hope of winning were wrecked the moment Dak Prescott was lost for the year, but Tyron Smith played just two games, Zack Martin missed a career-high six weeks, then-right tackle La'el Collins didn't play a single game, Cam Erving sat out six games, and a rookie Biadasz missed four weeks.
The Cowboys likely played it smart by resting Smith, Martin and Biadasz, who aren't dealing with long-term injuries. The fact they're banged up, though, and that Tyler Smith already overcame a hamstring injury, is a cause for concern.
2. Susceptibility to penalties
The Cowboys were so dominant in the first two games that fans potentially forgot what it felt like to watch sloppy football. Newsflash: it's still chest-pain-inducing.
You can't play perfect all the time, but Dallas was on the wrong side of history with how much laundry they drew in the first half.
According to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys' 10 accepted penalties in the opening 30 minutes was tied for the most by an NFL team since the 49ers had 11 against the Lions 12 years ago in 2011.
Things didn't get much better in the second half, as linebacker Drew Harper was called for a holding penalty that negated KaVotae Turpin's 51-yard punt return. It was a 61-yard penalty in the grand scheme.
For the game, Dallas committed 13 penalties for 107 yards. They had 10 penalties combined against the Giants and Jets. It's not time to hit the panic button, but undisciplined football was a big talking point early in Mike McCarthy's Cowboys tenure.
Teams are seldom going to play perfect ball, but contenders aren't supposed to allow the mental errors to snowball like they did on Sunday.
1. Can't stop the run
The Cowboys have come a long way against the run. We'll give them that. That can be attributed to improved personnel in the trenches, but also a commitment from Dan Quinn and the entire defense to change the narrative.
On Sunday, those struggled returned in the worst way.
In the first half alone, the Cardinals compiled 182 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 11.4 yards per carry.
The Cowboys gave up 64 rushing yards against the Jets in Week 2 and 108 yards (on 3.9 yards per attempt) vs the Giants to open the season, so they allowed more rushing yards in one half vs Arizona as they did in Weeks 1 and 2 combined. The Cards finished with 222 yards on just under 7.5 yards per carry.
Were the Cowboys to quick to crown themselves? Did the Arizona coaching staff uncover a weakness in the defense reviewing film this week? Did Dallas make the fatal mistake of overlooking the home underdog?
Whatever is to blame, the Cowboys run D needs to fix up because every team left on the schedule has more talent than this Cardinals team.