3 takeaways from the Cowboys embarrassing Week 6 loss to the Lions

Dallas Cowboys long-time owner and general manager Jerry Jones was not happy Sunday sitting in his private suite watching the team he’s constructed get completely obliterated. This loss to the Detroit Lions (47-9) showed us everything we needed to know about the Cowboys, who couldn’t even make this game competitive on their boss's birthday. Jones’ 82nd birthday will be remembered for his guys getting spanked by 38 points.

Dallas is not a playoff contender

Clearly, this sounds like an overreaction to most, but playoff teams don’t perform like that consistently against other top-tier teams. The Lions are expected to be in the mix all season as were the Cowboys entering the 2024 campaign. After that Sunday afternoon showing, it’s easy to see that the Cowboys are an eight-win team at best.

Sunday was the third time this year that the Cowboys were dominated at home. New Orleans, Baltimore and now Detroit simply came out and kicked Dallas right in the teeth. The score against the Ravens (28-25) was closer than that game actually was as the Cowboys got back in it late. But the Cowboys played three-quarters of that game like it was the preseason.

This game showed the real Cowboys defense who looked big and bad last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the previous week with the New York Giants. However, matched up against one of the NFC heavyweights (yes it sounds weird), the Cowboys' defense was exposed once again.

The excuse of injuries will only go so far when many of the same players were out last week when the defense held the Steelers to 17 points on the road. Detroit came in with no regard and straight-up trampled all over this Cowboys defense from start to finish. Dallas didn’t lose one home game last season and have already lost their first three this year. If you include the loss to Green Bay in last postseason's wild card game, Dallas has lost their last four home games.

Jerry Jones should’ve unloaded all his Dak Prescott stock

Jerry Jones cannot be happy, especially after the contract extension he handed over to Dak Prescott just before the season began. Four years, $240 million with $231 million of that guaranteed. Prescott threw two more interceptions against the Lions and even had one called back due to pass interference. He’s thrown two INTs in three different games already this season.

Watching Dak, it’s like he’s reverted back to how he played two years ago when he had a career-high 15 INTs. On Sunday Prescott barely completed 50 percent of his passes and was sacked four times. The offense looked like it belonged in the XFL the way each drive stalled out. Three field goals are all they could come up with.

Lackluster doesn’t even begin to explain what we saw Sunday from the Dallas Cowboys. They couldn’t run, pass, block or do anything required offensively. The Saints loss in Week 2 was bad but this was much worse. Dallas was able to score 17 points in Week 2, but the offense looked completely flustered against Detroit. Even at 3-3 this team is going nowhere fast and could find themselves well under .500 but Thanksgiving.

The Cowboys have plateaued under Mike McCarthy’s leadership

This might be the truest statement on the Cowboys to this point. We’ve seen the best of Dallas under the guidance of head coach Mike McCarthy. There’s a reason Jones allowed him to walk into his fifth year with the team without a contract extended past the end of the season.

Three consecutive 12-win campaigns is a great feat but the lack of playoff success under McCarthy is the same thing that eventually got Jason Garrett canned. McCarthy took over play-calling duties and his antiquated style has been glaring this season. It’s time for Jerry to make what shouldn’t be such a tough decision although it probably will be for him.

McCarthy is not going to get this franchise over the hump and back to title town. It’s too bad Jones sidestep his ego and go crawling to Bill Belichick but that’s the type of discipline this team needs. But Jones would have to give up too much power for a coach like Belichick to come regardless of the money attached. Either way, McCarthy’s time in Big D is likely coming to an end unless something miraculous happens in the next few months.