Cowboys offense turned in a slot 88 Jekyll and Hyde performance. On the one hand, they had a remarkable 17-play odyssey late in the game that would have served as the defining highlight of the season for the Cowboys. That drive had it all, big plays, big conversions and overcoming adversity, all capped off by a go-ahead touchdown catch by Cooks.
While the rest of the game doesn’t take away from that drive, there were simply too many moments by the offense that played a role in not being enough. CeeDee Lamb’s involvement disappeared for the middle two frames, the running game struggled and coming up empty-handed on the first drive was killer. Chuma Edoga, filling in at left tackle for Tyron Smith, had a forgetful performance. Cowboys offense had its moment, just not enough — Saad Yousuf, Cowboys beat writer
Defense better but comes up short
Cowboys DC Dan Quinn expected his group to bounce back after that ugly loss in Buffalo. McCarthy spoke highly of their week of practice during the 105.3 The Fan pregame show. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he expected a better performance, adding, “We’re coming into this (game) like it’s the last game of the year.” While the Cowboys were much better than they were in Buffalo, they again came up short. For the first time in the last two years, Dallas has lost back to back games. The defense was clearly improved from the Buffalo game. They gave the team a chance. But they just weren’t good enough on the final drive. Offensively, there were bright spots, but again, not enough to beat a good team on the road. We’ve seen this movie. The Cowboys will likely need to beat multiple good teams on the road to make a deep playoff run. It’s hard to see that happening right now. — Jon Machota, Dallas Cowboys beat writer
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