Entering Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys had one of the NFL’s top-ranked offenses. The Cowboys passing offense, led by two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott, ranked fourth in the league at 294.3 yards per game through the air.
After Sunday, many were asking where the top-ranked offense went. Prescott was held to 216 passing yards, no touchdowns, and forced into two interceptions in an uninspiring 19-9 defeat in Kansas City. The stat line makes his performance better than what it was. Most of the yardage came once victory was nearly impossible. With just under three minutes left in the third quarter and the Cowboys trailing 19-6, Prescott was 16 of 27 for 88 yards with an interception and a fumble.
However, no one can entirely blame the loss on Prescott. Certainly when you are an MVP candidate quarterback, you are expected to elevate the play of those around you, but many factors contributed to the Cowboy’s offensive failure.
First and foremost, the Cowboys were without key players. All-Pro left tackle Tyron Smith missed his third consecutive game with an injury, and receiver Amari Cooper tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, causing him to miss the game. To add to the star player’s absences, receiver CeeDee Lamb was injured on the final pass of the first half intercepted in the end zone. Lamb landed awkwardly, resulting in a concussion that knocked him out of the remainder of the game.
To add even more to the injury curse, starting running back, Ezekiel Elliot, had been dealing with a knee injury and appeared to aggravate it in the game. As a result, he was a non-factor in the game, gaining 32 yards on nine carries. Overall the rushing game was limited to just 82 yards on 16 attempts.
The depleted position groups severely struggled to contribute to the loss. Without Smith, the offensive line gave up a season-high five sacks and let Prescott get hit eight times in the game. Four different linemen gave up at least one sack. The Chiefs did not have to blitz extra players to achieve their pass rush success either. They managed to get all their sacks while they were only rushing four defenders.
The Chiefs Chris Jones was the most impressive player on the field. He single-handedly dominated the Cowboys linemen and finished with 3.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, a pass deflection that led to an interception, and a fumble recovery.
The Chiefs have now held four-straight opponents to under 20 points and won all four games. In four weeks, they have gone from last place in their division to first place at 7-4. They appear to be rounding into the same form that has taken them to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances.
Without Cooper and Lamb, Prescott was out of sync with the reserve wide receivers that stepped in place. The receivers could not beat the Chiefs’ man coverage and had at least four drops in the game.
Poor offensive line play and injuries to key players are the perfect formula for offensive struggles no matter who the quarterback is.
The Cowboys will have only a few days to hope players can get healthy as they play the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving day.
