5 Cowboys who deserve blame for humiliating home loss vs. Saints

If there were any good vibes permeating from the Dallas Cowboys' Week 1 win, they vanished early in the first quarter of Sunday's 44-19 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Pegged as touchdown favorites in their home opener and widely predicted to win convincingly, the Cowboys suffered their second straight blowout loss at home.

The defeat ended Dallas' 16-game home winning streak in the regular season, but fans care very little about that right now. Mike Zimmer's honeymoon phase is over and the Cowboys' lack of playmakers on offense beyond CeeDee Lamb proved costly in the loss.

There is plenty of blame to go around after a 35-point massacre at home, but these coaches and players deserve the biggest share of the blame pie.

5 Cowboys who deserve blame for blowout loss vs. Saints in Week 2

5. Cowboys' nose tackles

Fans celebrated when Dallas added veteran nose tackles Jordan Phillips and Linval Joseph after preseason. It gave them an NFL-caliber interior defensive line rotation, but it was wishful thinking that two players north of 30 would make a seismic impact.

The Cowboys' linebacker room caught a lot of heat for their performance, but the nose tackles didn't do them any favors. It looked a lot like last season. PFF's John Owning highlighted a play in the red zone where DeMarvion Overshown had to fill two gaps while defeating a block because Joseph got stonewalled.

Mazi Smith also got blown off the ball a ton and got straight-up tackled on a third down play. The Saints doing whatever they wanted on the ground took the air out of AT&T Stadium and that starts with the play of Dallas' nose tackles.

4. HC Mike McCarthy

McCarthy's offense did more than enough to keep the game competitive before they resorted to hero ball in the third quarter. However, the head coach's game plan on first down was maddening. Despite finding minimal success on 1st-and-10 runs, McCarthy kept going back to the well to set up second and long.

Additionally, McCarthy seemed to force touches for Deuce Vaughn and KaVontae Turpin. Vaughn had four carries for 11 yards (2.8 YPC) while Turpin managed six yards on three touches. Turpin also had a bad drop.

While Mike Zimmer's defense blew the game, the head coach needs to shoulder some of the blame after their team is embarrassed at home.

3. S Donovan Wilson

The Cowboys' defense was a collective disaster, but Wilson stuck up the joint more than his teammates. He lost the ball in the air on Rashid Shaheed's 70-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter that gave the Saints a 14-3 lead. It was a beautiful throw by Derek Carr, who hit Shaheed in stride, but Wilson's lack of speed and poor coverage instincts were noticeable.

Known for getting downhill and blowing up running plays, Wilson was bamboozled by New Orleans' outside scheme. It won't be long before Cowboys fans call for Juanyeh Thomas or Markquese Bell to start over Wilson.

2. WR Jalen Brooks

It is hard to pin blame on an offensive player when a defense surrenders 44 points and forces only one punt. However, the game would have been closer, or at least within striking distance for Dak Prescott, if not for two back-breaking mistakes from Brooks.

Early in the second quarter, Brooks blew his blocking assignment on a Brandin Cooks end-around. Cooks had a realistic chance of finding the end zone on the play, but he was tackled for a three-yard loss. Prescott was sacked on 3rd-and-10 on the next play to force a field goal. Four points doesn't seem like a big deal in the grand scheme but a TD would have made the score 14-10.

Later, Brooke stumbled out of his break and a perfectly-placed pass by Prescott was intercepted. The score was a salvageable 28-13 at the time and Dallas was driving near midfield. A touchdown on that drive makes it a one-score game and completely flips the momentum.

Brooks might have to ride the bench next week after this performance.

1. DC Mike Zimmer

Mike Zimmer deserves to face the music more than any other player or coach. While it's on the players to execute his scheme, the scheme was an utter disaster. To say Zimmer was out-coached by Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak would be an understatement.

A lot of the same problems that haunted Dallas under Dan Quinn reared their ugly head on Sunday. They offered zero resistance against the run, allowing Alvin Kamara to gallop for 115 yards and four total touchdowns in essentially three quarters. While the Saints ran largely an outside scheme, Kamara was rarely touched before he was three yards upfield even on inside carries.

Furthermore, Zimmer's defense got burned by the speed and wiggle of receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. There are countless stats that underline how embarrassing the performance was, but only one is needed to tell the story of Sunday: Dallas allowed TDs on the Saints first six possessions. That is worse than the Wild Card loss vs Green Bay in January.

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