It took two weeks for the Dallas Cowboys to crush the spirit of their entire fanbase.
After a dominant Week 1 victory over the Cleveland Browns, the bandwagon was fully stocked and well on its way to the promised land. Then, in Week 2, Dallas was upset in glorious fashion by the rough-and-tumble New Orleans Saints. It's becoming clear that NOLA is better than we all expected — Klint Kubiak is going to land that head coaching job very, very soon — but a 44-19 win over the reigning NFC East champs was the last thing most Dallas fans expected on Sunday afternoon.
The Cowboys' defense supplied about as much resistance as a 'please take one' sign on an unaccompanied bucket of Halloween candy. The Saints' ground attack was particularly lethal, netting 190 yards and four touchdowns on the afternoon. Alvin Kamara personally found the end zone four times (thrice on the ground, once through the air) and registered 180 yards from scrimmage. It was the veteran's best game in ages.
Dallas is supposed to be this vaunted defensive unit, led by a Defensive Player of the Year favorite in Micah Parsons. Jerry Jones loves to talk up his personnel choices, but after a quiet offseason that saw him mostly sit on his hands and wait to re-sign CeeDee Lamb and Dak Prescott, it's fair to start wondering if the Cowboys neglected the roster margins a bit too much.
Ahead of Dallas' Week 3 showdown with the Baltimore Ravens, Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith is on edge. He says that New Orleans "came in and took something from us."
HOF'er @EmmittSmith22 on the #Cowboys run defense after giving up 190 rush yards and 4 TDs to the Saints 😬
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) September 19, 2024
"Derrick Henry is probably licking his chops right now..." @heykayadams pic.twitter.com/aTrFWDwSC3
Emmitt Smith thinks Derrick Henry is 'licking his chops' ahead of Ravens-Cowboys
"We have to get our pride back," Smith said on Up & Adams. "I think the Saints came in and took something from us. And now we gotta fight like hell to get it back."
Before that, Smith claimed that Derrick Henry is "licking his chops" in anticipation of Sunday's matchup. That statement is particularly rich in irony, as Henry was No. 1 on the offseason wishlist for a lot of Cowboys fans. Dallas was in desperate need of a RB to replace Tony Pollard, who happened to leave for Henry's former team in Tennessee. The Cowboys are used to a dominant, physical running presence between the tackles, but Jones went the cheap and sentimental route instead, re-signing fan favorite Ezekiel Elliott.
The early returns on that particular investment aren't great. We are to the point where Dalvin Cook could very well be the Cowboys' RB1 before long, which is a dire thought. Henry, meanwhile, looks right at home in the Ravens' run-heavy offense. Lamar Jackson is a unique offensive fulcrum in Baltimore, so there will be an adjustment period, but Henry remains unrivaled when it comes to plowing through contract and scrapping for yards in traffic.
Oh, what could have been. Jerry Jones (and the entire Cowboys organization) will take an especially large amount of crap if Henry goes off in AT&T Stadium this weekend. There were plenty of suitable alternatives in free agency, but Zeke wasn't one of them, and Henry was always the dream outcome. Baltimore will come into Sunday 0-2, so expect the Cowboys fandom to properly melt down if the game goes the way it feels like it might.