Is 2020 a Lost Season for the Dallas Cowboys?
By Brooke Brottman
The 2020 season for the Dallas Cowboys has gotten off to a disastrous start, and that may be an understatement. Everything that could go wrong for the Dallas Cowboys has gone wrong in 2020, and it has gotten to the point where there are no answers coming this season for the Cowboys. Even though they are tied in second place to The Washington Football Team with a 2-5 record in a bad NFC East division, there’s zero hope that this season is going to get better. Actually, it may get worse before it gets better.
When it comes to offense, Dak Prescott, Blake Jarwin, and La'el Collins are all injured and not expected to return for the rest of the season. The Dallas Cowboys certainly missed Dak Prescott in their blowout loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week. Although Dak Prescott is out for the season, he is still leading the league in passing yards despite missing one game and nearly half of another. Dak put up 1,856 yards in Weeks 1-5 for a 371.2 average. That total is still good for first place among all NFL passers after Week 6. Dak Prescott was clearly having a special season in terms of passing production. He was on pace to set the single-season record for a Cowboys quarterback (4,903 yards by Tony Romo in 2012) and perhaps even the all-time NFL record of 5,477 yards by Peyton Manning in 2013.
Offensively, it has gotten much worse as they faced one of the best defensive front lines on Sunday with The Washington Football Team. The Cowboys offensive line is struggling right now and depending on how long Zack Martin will remain out due to concussion protocol, these struggles will continue. Backup quarterback Andy Dalton, who has become the starter since Prescott was injured, was not sharp in his debut as the Cowboys starter against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 6. However, changing your quarterback isn’t going to help things if you cannot block anybody. The changing of your quarterback situation is not going to matter if you have a good defense behind you.
Unfortunately, that is not the case with Dallas, as their defense is still struggling. The team’s defense is 31st in the league against the run and 32nd in the league in points allowed. The problems on defense stem from a lack of progress under first-year coordinator Mike Nolan and his new scheme after a shortened offseason amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The front office owns part of this failure by not fully investing in working to fix a defense that was bad in 2019, but has become historically bad in 2020. While the players certainly carry some of this weight, the inability and unwillingness of the front office to make a serious investment on the interior of the defensive line or at safety continues to show in games every week. Yes, they made an effort to bring on veteran free agents to help this team improve on the defensive side of the football, but those efforts have not assisted them this year. Dontari Poe has struggled to provide much during the first six games of the season. Everson Griffen has not lived up to the expectations most had wanted to see when the Cowboys signed him this summer. The front office has also struggled to find defensive players in the draft that could be star long-term players and that’s starting to show. The front office has struggled to find defensive players with much consistency and we’re seeing this taking a toll on the team.
Ezekiel Elliot has 4 fumbles through seven weeks of football. (Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports)
On the field, the players who are supposed to be the stars of this team are failing to play up to their potential. Ezekiel Elliott continues to struggle with ball security. Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch continue to struggle getting off blocks and making an impact in stopping the run. DeMarcus Lawrence has not been consistent through the first six games of the season. Michael Gallup continues to struggle with dropped passes. Elliott has lost four fumbles this season after losing just five in the first four years of his career, and his turnovers this season have accounted for 28 points by the opposing teams. The Cowboys have 16 turnovers on the season and are a league-worst with minus-13 in turnover differential. Turnovers have been an issue all season for the Cowboys. So far in 2020, they have been outscored off turnovers 84-10. 24 of those points came on last Monday night courtesy of two Ezekiel Elliott fumbles and two Andy Dalton interceptions. They’ve had fumbles on consecutive drives three times this season. Right now, 21.4% of the Cowboys’ offensive drives result in a turnover.
However, a bad season has gotten much worse for the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday. Already missing their starting quarterback Dak Prescott due to a compound fracture and dislocation of his right ankle, backup quarterback Andy Dalton was forced out of the game in a Cowboys' 25-3 loss to the Washington Football Team in the third quarter because of a concussion. Dalton, who was making his second start for an injured Prescott, took a hit to the head from linebacker Joe Bostic in the third quarter. Bostic was ejected from the game and Dalton went straight to the locker room for further examination. He was replaced by rookie Ben DiNucci.
There are many things to fix this season for the Dallas Cowboys. After Sunday’s 25-3 loss to The Washington Football Team that dropped the Cowboys to 2-5, players blamed it on the coaching staff. Players called the coaching staff “totally unprepared” and said “they don’t teach” and don’t “have any sense of adjusting on the fly.”
It is not just that the team is bad. It is that there are no obvious answers, and may not be any. The injuries are reaching a ludicrous level this year. The offensive line is just about impossible to fix this year. The defense seems as if they are always a step behind or just flat out missing tackles. The good news is that they still have 10 games left in the regular season to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, with all the struggles Dallas is having this year, it might be another failed and disappointing season.
You can follow Brooke on Twitter @Brottman_10.
