Cowboys could tie unbelievably bad NFL history with poor defensive showing vs Ravens

Maybe the Dallas Cowboys are still paying the price. Consider that the last win we saw from America’s Team in their home building was a Saturday night victory against the Detroit Lions in the penultimate week of last year’s regular season. It was a thrilling win that ultimately wound up deciding who took the #2 seed in the NFC between Dallas and Detroit. Given that the Cowboys drew the Green Bay Packers, who found themselves at the right time, and the Lions got the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are impressive but less formidable, it seems to have worked out for the team who lost that particular game.

But that Detroit did lose was the subject of much consternation at that moment in time. If you recall, the game was incredibly tight and the Cowboys defense surrendered a drive in the final moments where the Lions appeared on the verge of tying the contest and sending it to overtime. Lions head coach Dan Campbell elected to go for the two-point conversion and the win, and seemingly got it until a questionable penalty was called against Detroit for one of their linemen failing to report as eligible.

We are not here to re-litigate that moment or sequence, but maybe it is the one that Dallas is still atoning for with respect to performances in their home building. Ever since then they have not only lost all of the games played at home, but they have been beaten rather soundly in them. As a result of that. they are in the company of some teams you do not want to be anywhere near.

The Cowboys are on the verge of tying a very unfortunate mark in NFL history
There are different ways to sort and sift through porous performances on the defensive side of the ball, but given that the winner of a football game is the one who scores the most points, that will be the point of our analysis in today’s discussion.

Dallas is coming off of a horrific outing where they allowed the New Orleans Saints to drop 44 points on them without really flexing any muscles. As this was the first time that the home crowd got to see the Cowboys since they were embarrassed in the building by the Green Bay Packers, seeing what felt like more of the same was rather disheartening.

The Packers dropped 48 points in the Wild Card Round, so the Saints did not quite touch the air that they did, but 48 and 44 points scored against you the last two times you played at home is a bit of a tough pill to swallow.

Something like that sounds rare, but just how common or uncommon is it? Thanks to our friends at Stathead and Pro Football Reference we are able to look at this information (their database in this area stretches back to 1920 mind you) and the results are not good!

Here is every team in NFL history who allowed outings of 44 or more points in consecutive games at home, playoffs included obviously.

Stathead

This is it (also a great Huey Lewis song). This is the entire list. It’s unclear why the list still shows the 1950 Baltimore Colts as being in the middle of an active streak, but best guess is because they were dissolved after that season (this is a different Colts franchise than the one known today in Indianapolis that themselves migrated from Baltimore). Incidentally, as their Wikipedia page notes, these Baltimore Colts are the only team in NFL history to allow 50 or more points to be scored against them four different times in a single season.

Back to the Dallas Cowboys, who incidentally lost their first Super Bowl appearance ever to the Baltimore Colts that became the franchise we know today, this is a pretty tough scene. The “2024” on their line sticks out like a sore thumb among a group of teams that played in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Consider that this particular “feat” had not been achieved by anyone since the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968. That was before the NFL merger. This pre-dates us landing on the moon! Also remember, the Cowboys were the betting favorites in both of the games in question!

Should the Cowboys allow the Baltimore Ravens (funny enough that it would be Baltimore) to score 44 or more points on Sunday then they would tie the NFL record for most consecutive home games with that many points allowed against them. You can see that the 1966 Atlanta Falcons currently sit atop the list all by themselves, lonely and looking for company. Amazingly, in another twist of coincidence, it was the Cowboys who began that streak against Atlanta almost 60 years ago.

The Ravens have scored 20 and 23 points, respectively, in their first two games this season, so even if you were to add those up they do not meet the required mark. Across all of last season, where Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson won MVP, Baltimore only reached 44+ a single time when they dropped 56 against the Miami Dolphins.

But the Cowboys defense left much to be desired in their home debut. Hopefully the Cowboys are able to limit Baltimore, particularly in a winning effort.