What’s Wrong in Arlington?
Over the last three seasons winning in Arlington has come easy for the Dallas Cowboys. Through the last 25 home games Dallas has only lost four times and never back-to-back. The question on everyone’s mind at the moment is what’s causing this painful start to the season for the Cowboys?
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Unfortunately for Dallas, play on both sides of the ball has not looked great this season. On offense a lack of offseason pursuit of a starting running back seems to be coming back to haunt them.
Running Back Ezekiel Elliott was not the answer and through the first three games Dallas has not had a ballcarrier rush for over 50 yards and have only gone over 100 yards as a unit once against a middle of the pack Cleveland defense that has struggled against the run.
After several losses of cornerstone guys, the Cowboys have been rebuilding an offensive line that for years was one of the best in the NFL.
This season only right guard Zack Martin remains from the old regime as Dallas starts two rookies left tackle Tyler Guyton and center Cooper Beebe. The offensive line has looked like its age this season, allowing nine sacks through three games and making quarterback Dak Prescott uncomfortable in the pocket.
The defense hasn’t looked much better as they’ve struggled getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks and only getting seven sacks so far this season, while a whopping six of which came from their first game against Cleveland.
For Dallas, their star defensive end Micah Parsons has only recorded one of those and after coming off a 14-sack season the Cowboys were expecting another big leap from Parsons as a potential defensive player of the year.
Dallas hasn’t been great against the run either and the loss of Defensive Coordinator Dan Quinn is showing. Through the first three games the Cowboys defense has allowed over 450 yards rushing and they don’t seem to have an answer against teams opposing running backs.
With division play starting this Thursday against the New York Giants, who are coming off a strong win against the Cleveland Browns, will Dallas be able to right the ship or will the Giants break a six-game losing streak against the Cowboys.
