The Dallas Cowboys suffered a 47-9 defeat to the Detroit Lions in presence of 93,000 fans, a national television audience, and the NFL’s most decorated quarterback, who went on to offer Mike McCarthy’s team a lecture on Fox Sports.
‘They can’t run it, they’re struggling to be physical on both sides of the front – offensive line [and] defensive line,’ Tom Brady said before turning his attention to quarterback Dak Prescott. ‘Dak’s frustrated, too many balls up in here, too many turnovers and just not good enough.’
Prescott tossed two interceptions before being pulled for backup Cooper Rush in the Cowboys’ worst home loss since 1988. Dallas moved the chains only 16 times on Sunday, while Detroit picked up 27 first downs.
To Brady, the Cowboys’ run game was particularly bad after Dallas gained just 53 yards on 17 carries.
‘The number one issue is their ability to run the football,’ Brady continued. ‘I said earlier in the show, maybe the best way to do it is throw the ball early and then open the run game up because you’ve done a good job spreading the field and now they’re going to play pass defense.’
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From Brady’s perspective, the Cowboys simply don’t have the running game to keep defenses honest, and Dallas’ league-worst 77.2 rushing yards per game seems to bolster that claim.
So instead of trying to divide the offense evenly between the pass and run, Brady thinks the Cowboys should embrace throwing the football early in games with hope that the strategy will open up some holes in the ground game.
‘I think they’re trying to start these games trying to be balanced,’ Brady said. ‘But the problem, is when they’re balanced they’re not producing the run game, a quarter or a half into the game, they’re down 14 [or] they’re down 17 – and now they are one dimensional.
‘And the other team has made them one dimensional. I would like to see them start the game a little more pass happy, a little more pass orientated, try to gain a lead.’
‘I can see, even though he’s been up and even though they’ve got a great lead at half-time and even though they’ve had a great lead to start the first quarter they are still playing aggressive.
‘They are still executing, they still have higher expectations for themselves,’ he continued. ‘And Dallas, on the other hand, they’re just struggling the same way they have in so many of these games.’
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones admitted Dallas’ season is ‘in the crapper’ after Sunday’s loss. What he won’t concede – at least not publicly – is that he’s considering a coaching change.
‘Do you think I’m an idiot?’ Jones asked local Fox affiliate sports anchor Jeff Kolb. ‘Do you?’
Jones, who turned 82 on Sunday, was hardly defending head coach Mike McCarthy amid a disappointing 3-3 start. In one breath he denied McCarthy’s job is in jeopardy (‘I’m not considering that, so you’re clear’), but in the next, Jones admitted he wouldn’t tell the media if it were.
‘Well, I’m not gonna hypothetical with you about what I consider coaching change in light of the timing we’re sitting here with, I’m not at all,’ the surly Jones told Kolb.
Jones has fired a coach during the season only once since famously replacing the legendary Tom Landry with Jimmy Johnson when he bought the Cowboys in 1989. In that case, Wade Philips was fired after a 1-7 start in 2010 and replaced with Jason Garrett – someone who Jones had been grooming to take over as head coach.
But with both Garrett, who was fired after the 2019 campaign, and his replacement, McCarthy, Jones has been criticized for his reluctance to make coaching changes. In the case of McCarthy – a former Super Bowl winner in Green Bay – the Cowboys have gone 12-5 for three consecutive years only to suffer an early postseason ouster.
Now, at 3-3, the Cowboys are winless at home and coming off their worst home defeat of the Jones era.
‘This was very concerning, and it was very humbling, and I felt bad because of all of our great fans, and especially the ones at the stadium, and certainly the ones that are all about the Cowboys,’ Jones, the only owner who regularly speaks to reporters, said after Sunday’s loss. ‘So we’ve got a lot of work to do.’
Fortunately for the Cowboys, they get a week off before returning to face the San Francisco 49ers on October 27 in Santa Clara.
