Cowboys Get SPANKED by Broncos in Week 8, 44-24
Good Lord.
Yesterday, the Cowboys put up a ridiculously poor performance by every stretch of the imagination. We saw Matt Eberflus go back to running zone coverage ALL day long. Mind you, this is with starting safeties Donovan Wilson and Juanyeh Thomas, starting LB Jack Sanborn, and CB Trevon Diggs being questionably shipped off to IR with a concussion over a week after the injury.
Dallas ran out Trikweze Bridges, a ROOKIE SEVENTH ROUNDER for the entire game yesterday. He actually started the game with an interception after Denver QB Bo Nix threw a ball behind a receiver, but after that, he got picked on all afternoon. I’ll give him his flowers for giving me some hope to start the game up 3.
Offensively, we looked just as bad. I mean, going into the game, I assumed we needed to put up 35+ to win it, but we just couldn’t get it started. Denver’s defense is great, with Nik Bonitto (4th most sacks through 8 games) and reigning Defensive Player of the Year, CB Pat Surtain. Surtain actually got hurt on the first drive of the game, and came in and out a little bit in the first half before sitting out the second half entirely.
Javonte Williams was the only player to score in his revenge game against the Broncos. QB Dak Prescott probably just lit his MVP case on fire, with a 0:2 TD-INT ratio. Fantasy TE1 Jake Ferguson had no catches on ONLY ONE TARGET (???), which was a ridiculously questionable throw from Dak. It was right before half, and we were down big enough to know we weren’t going to get any stops, so he fired a seam ball into triple coverage. He also threw a second pick later, where he clearly wasn’t on the same page with CeeDee Lamb on a shallow crosser.
Brian Schottenheimer needs to learn to manage the game better. He’s an offensive guy who, through this point in the season, has put together a top-tier offense in the league. He also has a HISTORICALLY BAD defense. 8th-worst in points per game allowed (31.3), and 15th-worst in yards per game allowed (404.7) SINCE THE NFL MERGER IN 1966!!!!!!!!! Schotty punted on crucial 4th downs of 1 and 5 yards to go. It was infuriating to see him give up the whole game like that. Trust the offense!
Dallas hosts the Arizona Cardinals next week, before having a bye week to prepare for the toughest part of the schedule. If Schottenheimer doesn’t fire Eberflus after this game, he’s probably here for at least the rest of the season.
As soon as next week, we could see a few more players return, like center Cooper Beebe and LB DeMarvion Overshown. Let’s get back to .500 this week against the Cardinals.
Go Cowboys.