Dallas Cowboys catch up late but face the same problems in 28-25 loss to Ravens

For the third consecutive game at home, and the second consecutive time in this young 2024 season, the Dallas Cowboys were completely outgunned by their opponents for nearly the entire 60 minutes of play. Unlike last week’s 44-19 loss to the Saints, the Cowboys rallied in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens but could not overcome a 28-6 deficit and did not score their first offensive touchdown until less than nine minutes left. The Cowboys have not been able to find their winning strategy at home, which usually involves building an early lead, getting their defense in position to pressure the passer, and controlling the ball in the short passing game. Instead, that script has been completely flipped on them, leaving them to contend with big deficits that force them to defend the run and drive the ball themselves.

The Cowboys knew the Ravens would show plenty of running game strength no matter what. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry were 0-2 and ready to test Mike Zimmer’s defense to the breaking point to avoid a disastrous 0-3 start. For the most part, Dallas, as a 1-1 team, couldn’t match that intensity. For the second week in a row, it was the linebackers and secondary who led the way in tackles as the front four repeatedly failed to hold firm at the point of attack. While that made things look easy at times for the Ravens offense, which didn’t allow a third down attempt of more than eight yards until the third quarter, nothing was easy for the Cowboys offense. It was again ineffective running the ball, often found itself behind the chain line due to penalties and struggled to establish its top WR CeeDee Lamb to pull the defense apart.

It was KaVontae Turpin and Jalen Tolbert who rattled the Ravens defense with fourth-quarter touchdowns. It was proof positive of the fighting spirit of Mike McCarthy’s team and gave the team something to build on in a short week before Thursday night’s division opener at the New York Giants. Tight end Jake Ferguson also made his presence felt after returning from a knee injury, leading the team in targets, catches and receiving yards. The Cowboys will need more consistency from the start of games to get back on track this season.

Here are a few more notes on the Cowboys’ disappointing three-point loss to the Ravens.

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• The Cowboys fell apart on defense last week against the Saints, unable to stop the run that allowed Derek Carr to make every throw. In this game, their secondary faced a different kind of challenge, as the Ravens can still keep up vertically, but their focus was clearly on the run. It was telling how much Dallas had to play in run defense early as a sign of respect for the Ravens’ physicality, as Malik Hooker was busy in the backfield action on Charlie Kolar’s 30-yard run-and-catch that set up the game’s first touchdown. One play later, both Hooker and Donovan Wilson were caught in the backfield on a Baltimore two-back set, and Jackson was able to run the ball in from nine yards out.

This Cowboys defense is simply not used to playing in tight formations with a lot of players at the line of scrimmage, and even in the new formations Zimmer has implemented that were supposed to help them with the run game, they are ineffective due to their lack of size and rushing. This also leaves a lot of one-on-one matchups on defense that opposing quarterbacks can exploit, like Zay Flowers, who took on Trevon Diggs in the final two minutes and got a crucial third down that allowed the Ravens to run down the clock.

• The Cowboys defense had few opportunities to pressure the passer in this game, but it led to their first stop of the game in the second quarter. Micah Parsons, lined up as a stand-up rusher against center, was able to take full advantage of the matchup and quickly paired with Osa Odighizuwa to pressure Jackson. The Cowboys offense was unable to build on this momentum, as they started with a first-down run with Ezekiel Elliott for no gain and eventually evaded a safety before punting out of their own end zone.

Early down runs, especially between the tackles, continue to feel like wasted plays for the Dallas offense right now — it’s desperately searching for a balance that doesn’t put even more pressure on Prescott and rookies Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe to hold out in pass protection. This could be the second week in a row that the Cowboys point to the deficit on the scoreboard rather than their own players to explain why they couldn’t run the ball. The truth is, though, that the list of players who strike fear into opposing defensive coordinators from a matchup perspective is currently razor-thin, and none of those Dallas backs (with Rico Dowdle leading the way with eight runs against the Ravens) have done it.

• Speaking of Tyler Guyton, his holding penalty late in the first half proved costly, as it negated a pass interference penalty on CeeDee Lamb that would have moved the ball to the one-yard line. Lamb had been frustrated up until that point in the game, and setting up the Cowboys’ first touchdown of the half may have completely changed the course of the game.

Guyton will need to rely more on his length and first-down in pass defense to keep attackers at bay and give Prescott more opportunities to get in on throws. That’s what Guyton excelled at as a right tackle in Oklahoma, but so far the position change, as well as the increased speed and athleticism he faces at the NFL level, has made it much harder for Guyton to win with athleticism alone.

• Of all the encouraging things that happened during the Cowboys’ furious comeback attempt, perhaps the best thing was getting KaVontae Turpin more involved in the offense. The Cowboys desperately needed another receiver alongside Lamb to prevail against the Saints, but they couldn’t get that because they also lacked Ferguson as a TE. Even with Ferguson’s return, the deliberate attempt to target Turpin from a clean pocket shows that McCarthy’s playbook has enough to build upon for this offense to finally turn things around.

Turpin and Jalen Tolbert scored on similar routes through the middle, an area Dallas must continue to prioritize. Prescott continues to show that he is one of the league’s most accurate quarterbacks when he gets the chance to throw to receivers facing linebackers or safeties, throwing with anticipation and timing to create yards after the catch.

Turpin completed all three passes aimed at him in the game for a gain of 51 yards. It was his second consecutive game with at least three passes aimed at him and a pass catch after going undefeated in the opener against the Browns.