Due to the fact that the Atlanta Falcons and the Green Bay Packers both failed to win their games on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys were able to secure a spot in the playoffs before they even played. Despite the fact that they were playing in Orchard Park, they gave the impression of being a team that had nothing to play for.
Additionally, the offense was unable to move the ball in a consistent manner throughout the entire game, and the Cowboys defense did not give them a chance. Dak Prescott appeared to be on the verge of incompetence, and Dallas fans have to worry whether this is the Prescott they will get back when the games are more important. The Cowboys are now even less likely to catch up to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East, who have a more favorable schedule in comparison to Dallas, as FanSided’s Luke Norris pointed out this weekend: “While both teams now own identical 10-3 records, it’s the Cowboys who find themselves in first place.” This is despite the fact that the Cowboys’ loss at Buffalo on Sunday does not have a significant impact on their standings. Nevertheless, if both teams are victorious, which is something that Philadelphia will have a far easier time doing than Dallas, then the Eagles would be the winners of the NFC East for the second consecutive season, as Norris stated.
Now that Dallas has been defeated by a quality Bills team on Sunday, there is little doubt that the Eagles have the upper hand in this competition. Due to the fact that they have a schedule to finish the year, the Cowboys will be able to make it to the postseason as an NFC Wild Card club; yet, if they are not careful, a single defeat could develop into numerous losses.
3. Dallas Cowboys to blame: Dan Quinn, where were you?
When it comes to assistant coaches in professional football, Dan Quinn is among the best. The Cowboys have completely revamped their defensive system and have been a formidable pass-rushing force ever since he joined the team. It is easy to understand why opponents would prefer not to face Dallas in the postseason given the presence of Micah Parsons and the ball-hawking cornerbacks that Dallas now possesses.
The Bills, on the other hand, took advantage of Quinn’s aggressive defensive this week, and they may have supplied a blueprint for how to defeat Quinn’s strategy. The Dallas pass rush was led by Parsons, who was held without a sack and recorded only two tackles. Parsons was the focal point of the pass rush. This week, Buffalo made him the focal point of their offensive playbook, and as a result, Parsons was regularly confronted with doubles and plays that were run in the opposite direction of where he was lined up on the field.
During the course of this week, James Cook was able to record more than 200 yards of total offense. As a result of Josh Allen’s performance, we were reminded of the reasons why the Buffalo Bills were thought to be among the AFC’s Super Bowl contenders at the beginning of the regular season. They were unable to provide any answers.
2. Dallas Cowboys to blame: Mike McCarthy was a disaster
Over the course of Sunday, the resurrection of Mike McCarthy was brought plummeting back down to earth. Because McCarthy took over play-calling duties from Kellen Moore, who is now a member of the staff of the Los Angeles Chargers, Dallas has been performing exceptionally well offensively ever since McCarthy came over. Prior to Sunday’s game, Prescott was widely regarded as the leading candidate for the Most Valuable Player award. This was followed by calamity.
The average number of yards that Tony Pollard gained on each rush was above four, although he only received 11 of those carries and recorded only two catches. Over the course of the entire season, fantasy football players have been irritated by McCarthy’s refusal to make frequent use of Pollard, particularly in the red zone. In this particular instance, it returned to haunt Dallas in the context of a real game.
Despite the fact that he did not score any touchdowns, Prescott had a terrible day and only once threw the ball over. Due to the fact that Dallas was already behind early on, they were compelled to toss the ball an excessive amount of times in a challenging stadium. It is not entirely McCarthy’s fault, but his redemption story has reached a point where it can no longer be continued.
1. Dallas Cowboys to blame: It starts and ends with Dak Prescott
Regarding all of the fantasy football managers who started Dak Prescott in their postseason, please accept my apologies. You have most certainly had a tough day. A touchdown pass was not thrown by Prescott, and he also did not throw an interception. Over the course of a masterful performance by the Buffalo Bills secondary, Dak completed only 134 passes for 134 yards.
At this point, it is not really obvious what exactly went wrong with Prescott on Sunday. At this time of year, Dak tends to become smaller as the moments become more significant. These worries will not be alleviated in any way by the performance of the fifteenth week. Because Dallas was trailing by multiple scores, there were some Cowboys fans who insisted that McCarthy should sit Prescott late in the game. They believed that Dallas had very little to play for because they were already behind. In the Landry Hat, Jerry Trotta was the one who told the story:
“To make matters even more difficult, McCarthy instructed the first-team offense, which included Prescott and Lamb, to return to the field with fewer than seven minutes remaining in the game…In this case, there is certainly a great deal of ambiguity. Prescott and Lamb engaged in a brawl in order to continue playing. According to what Trotta stated, it is not out of the possibility that Prescott, Lamb, and other members of the squad were adamant about not “quitting” on their teammates and continuing to play until the final whistle blew.
Sitting the player who has the ability to win the league MVP award as well as his top targets is a difficult decision to make, but it was all over by the time the fourth quarter was up. There was very little to play for, which is a testament to how horribly Dak played.
Prescott will have the opportunity to make amends, but for the time being, Cowboys supporters are understandably apprehensive about what the future has in store for them.