Cowboys roundtable: Eagles loss, the QB position, and this week’s game on MNF

Every week, we gather the latest news about the Dallas Cowboys and seek our writer’s perspective on each headline. Welcome back to the roundtable. This week we have Brian Martin, Tom Ryle, David Howman and RJ Ochoa.

Which side was worse for Dallas against the Philadelphia Eagles, the offense or defense?
The Dallas Cowboys drop to 3-6 after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles. On offense, the Cowboys failed to score a touchdown and managed to produce just 146 total yards. On defense, they allowed the Eagles to run up 348 yards and score four touchdowns. By the fourth quarter, the Eagles pretty much pulled their starters and rotated backup players. It was an embarrassing loss at home yet again.

Brian: It’s really just bad football all around for the Dallas Cowboys right now, but if I had to choose which side of the ball is worse I’d have to go with the offense. They have absolutely no identity this season and will be without their starting QB probably for the rest of the year. Brandon Aubrey may be the only way to put points on the board in the final games.

Howman: Yeah, it was definitely the offense, but I have a hard time assessing any blame for it. The last few weeks, I’ve had the attitude of “yeah it’s bad, but what do we expect” for the defense playing without so many key players, and that extends to the offense. It was already problematic, but when you lose your franchise quarterback it’s going to get so much worse, and it did. It honestly went just as I expected it to go.

Tom: There is a bit of “what does it matter?” for me, because this season looks to be lost already. But the defense did stand up for the first part of the game, and if there was one play that just sapped the will from the team, it was the Elliott fumble. So the offense “wins” this dubious distinction.

RJ: It was unquestionably the offense to me. There were legitimate points where the defense stood tall and played above their weight in the name of the overall goal, but that did not happen at any point from the offense. Consider that they did not score a single touchdown and haven’t done so since September 22nd. We are talking about a team that is now over two games through without a touchdown in their home building. It is embarrassing.

Things look bleak at the quarterback position with both Cooper Rush and Trey Lance failing against the Eagles. What can Mike McCarthy do to turn things around for next week’s game?
The Cowboys offense produce five turnovers last week against the Eagles. Cooper Rush failed to keep hold of the ball and fumbled snaps during the game, while Trey Lance helped add to the tally with an interception. Between both quarterbacks they produced 66 passing yards, zero touchdowns and averaged a passer rating of 47.1.

Brian: The best thing Mike McCarthy could probably do to improve the QB situation is to go to more of a read-option game plan with Trey Lance. Taking advantage of Lance’s athleticism and what he can do with his legs may be the only way to provide a little bit of a spark to the offense moving forward. Even that’s probably not enough to turn things around though.

Howman: Short of discovering a Lazarus Pit and dragging Dak Prescott into it, nothing. Cooper Rush is the top option right now because he knows the offense really well and has chemistry with the receivers, but he lacks any real physical gifts. Trey Lance is the exact opposite, loaded with raw talent but lacking any of the fundamentals you need to quarterback effectively in the NFL. Unless McCarthy suddenly imports the Ravens offense Matrix-style for Lance – a fun concept for Madden but wholly unrealistic in the middle of a season – this is what we’re going to get for the rest of the year.

Tom: Nice comic book reference, Howman. However, this is just an unsolvable puzzle for Dallas. Rush just looks to have lost whatever he had in the past when he could rise to some heroics. Playing Lance and trying to come up with something like read-options to give him a chance seems the only reasonable path forward, but this question begs another: will Mike McCarthy even try to do the best for the team? He is moving from lame duck to crippled pigeon, and with how snappish Jerry Jones was about the alignment of celestial bodies after the Eagles debacle, it is not improbable that McCarthy will be gone before the end of the season. In that case, it really isn’t up to him, is it?

RJ: Honestly at this point it is difficult to believe that anything can be salvaged from this mess. I think we are resigned to the fact that we are simply watching grains of sand drip through the hourglass. Maybe Trey Lance can run a bit and help time feel like it is moving faster, I suppose.

What’s your expectations for this week’s game against Houston? What players are the biggest threat for the Texans?
This week the Dallas Cowboys take on the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football. Kickoff will commence at 8:15pm in AT&T Stadium, Arlington. The Cowboys lead the series 4-2 between the two teams and Houston has yet to defeat the Cowboys on the road in a regular-season game. The Texans are favored to win the Week 11 contest at -7. Houston are currently 6-4 and first in the AFC South, where Dallas are 3-6 and third in the NFC East.

Brian: I really don’t have any expectations for the Cowboys this week. Houston is clearly the better team and should easily walk away with the “W” in this matchup. I’m more interested in getting a closer look at Texans’ OC Bobby Slowik and how he utilizes his offensive weapons. Slowik could be a top candidate to replace Mike McCarthy as the Cowboys next HC.

Howman: My expectation is pain. I’ve gone on the record that this year’s Texans are paper tigers – all but one of their wins this year has been by one score and now three of their four losses have been lost in the fourth quarter – but the Cowboys may be the worst team they face all year right now. C.J. Stroud will give this secondary fits and DeMeco Ryans has punked this offense a couple of times with Dak Prescott. I can’t imagine what he’ll do to Cooper Rush.

Tom: Well, at least the sun won’t be a factor, so we will have something else to focus on after what looks like another inevitable loss. Houston is coming in angry after their narrow loss to the Lions. They clearly have a problem with their second half offense, and the Cowboys look like just what the doctor ordered to work on that issue. We already agree that the Dallas offense is the epitome of ineffectiveness, so get ready for another horribly embarrassing lopsided loss. Ain’t this fun?

RJ: I’ll be at this game, my first in the stands in quite some time. My expectations are that a football game will be played and that a team from Texas will win. More than anything I expect the Dallas Cowboys to embarrass themselves and the players involved really don’t matter because they will find a way to ensure that this happens.