The Dallas Cowboys might be the luckiest 3-3 team the NFL has seen in a while. Of their three wins, the only team worth mentioning is the Pittsburgh Steelers. This Cowboys offense managed to beat the Steelers by scoring just 20 points.
However, their Week 6 debacle at home against the Detroit Lions will sting for a while. Dallas accumulated 251 yards of total offense while scoring nine points. It’s been said for some time, but it’s never been clearer that the end is on the horizon for head coach Mike McCarthy.
3. Inept offense
Inept might be too gentle a way of describing Dallas’ offense through the first six games of the season. We’re talking about a team that was one of the top offenses in the NFL last season. The Cowboys led the league in scoring last season finishing a shade short (29.9) of 30 points per game.
So far, this season this Cowboys offense has scored more than 20 just twice. Their worst outing came this past Sunday, where Dak Prescott and the offense posted three field goals. Watching McCarthy on the sideline he looks like a man who’s out of fresh ideas. Losing 44-9 is among the worst ways to enter the bye week.
The loss to Detroit will sit and linger for almost two weeks for McCarthy and his team. Dallas couldn’t do anything right against Detroit. Prescott and Ceedee Lamb just cannot seem to get on the same page. They’re still inconsistent running the ball but when you fall behind that goes out the window quickly.
All we hear about is the level of talent the Cowboys have each year. Much of that is said to be on offense, which is even more embarrassing given the way they’ve played. McCarthy has to take a lot of the blame for this as he got rid of Kellen Moore following the 2022 campaign. Last season’s transition wasn’t bad until the postseason but what we’ve seen thus far in 2024, everyone involved should be ashamed.
2. Offensive coordinator
Many fans might not even realize that Brian Schottenheimer is the offensive coordinator in Dallas and has been since 2023. Son of former long-time NFL head coach, Marty Schottenheimer. McCarthy sent Moore packing and brought in a glorified assistant coach.
Since McCarthy wanted to take over play-calling duties to save his job, he needed a coach who would come in, do as he was told and not worry about calling plays. While Schottenheimer surely plays a role in game planning from week to week, these two can’t seem to come up with a great game plan to save their lives. There isn’t any reason for this offense to look as lost as it has all season.
Losing is one thing but when you continuously settle for field goals even after having good field position, it’s clear something needs to change. This offense isn’t generating much momentum despite housing the league’s highest-paid quarterback and one of its highest-paid wide receivers. Fans now wonder what Schottenheimer does within the offense the same way they wondered what McCarthy did his first couple of years in Dallas.
1. Simply clueless
For a coach who has a Super Bowl win on his resume, sometimes McCarthy looks absolutely clueless standing on the sidelines. Whether it’s his lack of innovation in play selection or watching as his offense struggles to march down the field. Most times this season McCarthy seems bewildered as he watches his field goals.
One of the reasons for removing Moore as OC/play caller was to implement more of an emphasis on the running game. Prescott is dropping back more than ever and it just isn’t working. Last week the Cowboys ran the ball well with Rico Dowdle who had a career-high in the win over Pittsburgh.
Consistency has probably been the hardest element for Dallas to achieve for some time now. They can’t run it consistently week to week and in some games, Dak looks like he’s been in the league for about an hour rather than eight and a half years. This team has eight wins written all over it and that’s only because the defense can pick up the slack sometimes. But let’s not get it twisted, the defense isn’t anything special to write home about either.