Coming off a sad performance last Monday night against the Cardinals, the Cowboys managed to look even worse in their loss to Washington Sunday afternoon.

By Aaron Arguello

It took almost no time at all for the boys to lower the standard for what is expected of this team this season. After Washington took the kickoff, they started running the ball right through the woeful Dallas D, with Antonio Gibson (RB2) ripping off a 40+ yard run on the opening drive. Gibson would go on to rush for a career-high 128 yards on 20 carries. It was painfully obvious that Washington knew they could run the ball all day, and they didn’t seem to let it affect their play-calling at all.

Initially, though, Washington’s fast paced opening drive did come to an abrupt end as Kyle Allen fumbled the ball on the goal line on a QB sneak. But this momentum would quickly be erased by an Andy Dalton fumble ending in a safety. Before the 1st quarter was halfway over, the Cowboys were down 2-0. Which is a baseball score. So maybe the boys thought they were playing baseball rules for this game? I mean, the World Series IS being played in Arlington right now. 

And of course, it only got worse as the game went on. The offense was a shadow of its former self, with the decimated O line allowing six sacks, Zeke going just 45 yards on 12 rushes, and a whopping 60 total passing yards that even a middle school coach would look to improve on. The six sacks could have easily been more if not for Dalton running for his life all day. Finally, facing a 15 – 3 deficit, Dalton’s frustrations exploded on the sidelines, where he was livid, yelling at his offensive line for their lackluster protection. And I gotta admit, I feel for Dalton. A QB who’s been in the league for 9 years, who probably has never had to work with an offensive line so tragically inept at matching up against an NFL defense. I mean, this cowboys team was so despairingly outmatched in every single area it almost seems unsafe for them to continue playing. Especially if they’re going to keep playing with minimal effort or heart

And these Cowboys definitely are not playing with any corazón. Any brotherhood. Or any discipline. They lack even the basic fundamentals of football: Tackling, picking up blitzes, ball security, catching. Really pretty terrible. But that was the overarching theme for the boys on Sunday. The cheap shot on Dalton as he erratic escaped the pocket, followed by the shameful lack of any retaliation from any of his teammates. It just showed how little of a connection these players have with each other. They’re just workers clocking in for another day of getting by doing as little work as possible. 

The 25 – 3 final score was a welcome sight by the time it was all over. Especially with our QB 1 out indefinitely and now our QB 2 on the questionable list. QB 3 Dinucci, McCarthy’s 7th round pick, might end up being our rookie starter vs. the Eagles Sunday night. He looked like a decent enough third-stringer, but at this point, maybe we should be wondering if he even wants to play anymore (same for Andy). Because ultimately, it doesn’t seem like anybody is motivated to go out there and get a W for Mike McCarthy. Especially when you have a back and forth telephone game between the coaches, players, and the media. 

I could go on and on. And maybe someday I will go more in-depth with what is wrong with the boys, but that’s all I can handle this week. There’s just so many bad things about this loss that there’s not enough time to learn from all of them before we play again. So we got the Eagles Sunday, and luckily if there was a team that is comparable to how bad the cowboys are, it’s definitely the eagles. And if we win Sunday, we go back to first place in the NFC least. 

There’s still a chance?