3 takeaways from the Cowboys thrashing by the Texans

The Dallas Cowboys lost their fifth game in a row Monday night to the Houston Texans, 34-10. Dallas is the only professional franchise in the major North American sports not to have won a home game in 2024. That stat goes back to last postseason’s wild-card loss at home to Green Bay. At no point, this year, have the Cowboys looked like a team that could seriously contend for a championship. Even Jake Paul even has a victory at AT&T Stadium this year.

Mike McCarthy is all out of ideas

Watching Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is a big part of this five-game losing streak. He looks bewildered more often than not and it feels like he’s fresh out of ideas. Yes, there have been a plethora of injuries in Dallas, but the team wasn’t playing well when most of its “heavy hitters” were on the field.

Whether it was Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, Demarcus Lawrence or anyone else, they just haven’t been good. Even in the three games they’ve won, it hasn’t been pretty. The offense has struggled badly all season no matter who the quarterback and all we’ve done is talked about how abysmal the running attack continues to be.

Any hope McCarthy or anyone else may have been holding onto went down the drain Monday night. Dallas has allowed 34 points in each of its last two games while scoring a combined 16. In McCarthy’s fifth year, it’s clear he’s taken this organization as far as possible under his watch. There’s a reason Jerry Jones chose not to extend his contract heading into this season.

"We got to win. We deserve to win. We deserve the opportunity to win," McCarthy said. "And that's why I'm putting the best people out there, and right now they're young… but we need to do whatever the hell we need to do to win."

"There is good coming out of this," McCarthy said. "You don't see it because we're not winning games, but there's young men that are getting an opportunity to do more and I do believe it'll pay forward. It needs to hurry the hell up, because we need it in six days."

It’s time to see Trey Lance as QB1

Dallas is at the point where they’ve got nothing to lose. At 3-7, this season is a wash and it’s time to see what Trey Lance has when he’s prepared to be the man week after week. Prescott is out for the year; you already know who and what Cooper Rush is so give the young kid a shot. If he shows anything promising he could become a bargaining chip as potential trade bait in the offseason.

Coach McCarthy even admitted afterward that he should’ve got Lance a few reps in this game.  Rush dropped back to pass 55 times in a game where the Cowboys got blown out by 24 points. Lance could’ve come in to take a few of those snaps. Dallas wasn’t coming back to win and while those on the field “never” think that everyone around could see the Cowboys were outmatched from the jump.

"I think the one thing I should've did at the end and didn't do was put Trey in there," McCarthy said. "Could've gotten him a series, that's one thing I would second guess myself on."

Rush is who he is as an NFL QB, we know he’s going to play well at times but ultimately, he can only do so much. Some might say the same about Lance but we haven’t seen enough of him in Dallas or San Francisco to know how good (or bad) he can truly be in the NFL. Let’s take off the training wheels, throw Lance out there and toss it around 20-30 times in a game.

Jerry Jones gets more delusional by the minute

One thing that can never be said about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is that he isn’t his own man. Like, Love him or hate, he’s going to run his organization however he sees fit. While most of the football world seems to think Mike McCarthy is on his final tour in Dallas, Jones isn’t too keen on this notion. While McCarthy is coaching without an extension in place, Jones isn’t under media and fan scrutiny publicly.

"I've made a change early and on a coach with Chan Gailey [when he went 18-14 in 1998 and 1999 combined], and I've always regretted that. I've made a change during the season [firing Wade Phillips in 2010 after he went 1-7], and I've regretted that," Jones explained postgame. "That's the music I'm listening to." 

This sounds like a load of crap but that’s nothing new with Jones. He’ll never let it be known that he was pressured into a business decision but he’s got to see the writing on the wall. The Cowboys are cooked under the current coaching regime and it’s time to move on. McCarthy’s play calling is no longer innovative and has not been for over a decade. It’s been a decent run, that’s all. Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.