I recorded the game and started watching it a second time last night. I was able to rewind and play certain plays in slo-mo to see what was really happening.
The bad news is, the Bills running game was exactly the same as the Cardinals running game. They were designed play to run outside the tackles. Our DEs kept get pushed inside or outside leaving holes for Cooks to run through outside. But it wasn't just Cooks. All their RBs were doing the same tings, cutting to the outside after feigning an inside run. It was like the Cowboys were overcompensating for the loss of Hankins or something. The Cowboys LBs were getting blocked and could not get off their blocks and that include Parsons. Plus, the pursuit to the outside was late and ineffective.
Those blaming Mazi are wrong. He had a couple of bad plays be he did okay. Not great by any means but no one on the DL had a great day.
The Cowboys did not make the plays when they had the chances. On the Bills first drive, the roughing the passer penalty gave Buffalo a new set of downs inside the 5 yard line. And yes, that was a p enalty. DLaw hit him late. Remember the late hit on Dak by Reddick that got flagged? Same thing. On the TD play, Mazi held his ground and could have made a play to stop the TD run, but he was held. The the Cowboys got the ball and Dak had Cooks open for a long TD and missed him. Sure, it is a low percentage play, but if Dak put that ball in his hands it is a TD and the game is tied. How much of a difference would that have made? And what about the Zack Martin penalty? I know he was trying to protect his QB but is he just got in the guys face instead of knocking him to the ground, which was a great acting job btw, the Cowboys would have gotten an extra 15 yards and put Buffalo on their heels. Then came the holding call on Tyler Smith which took away a 1st down run by Pollard and instead of a 1st and 10 at the Buffalo 35, they had a 2nd and 12 at the Buffalo 45. I thought it was a BS holding call to be honest given the holding the let go by both teams the rest of the game. Then on 2nd and 12 Dak changed the play to a run and Dowdle was smothered for a 3 yard law when Terence Steele lost his block right away. Then Dak was sacked on the next play when he tried to escape the pocket and instead of running to his left where he had room he inexplicably tried to spin to his right, right into the arms of the Bills DE. All these mishaps created by Dallas gave the Bills momentum. The killed came on the Bills 3rd drive when Sam Williams looked like he was going to block the punt, except the Bills kicker somehow managed to punt the ball to the right just enough to avoid Williams's hands. 15 yard penalty, fresh set of downs and an eventual TD. If Williams did the same thing 9 more times I bet he blocks every punt after that. But it was one of those breaks that just did not go Dallas's way.
I don't like to overreact to these games, but this game reminded me a lot of the 2019 NE Patriots game. Dak played a similar game then. The Cowboys lost 13-9 but the offense looked inept in that game too, in the rain in New England. Dak was off most of the night last night. Not just with his throws but his decisions. He threw to a lot of covered receivers and was struggling to find the open guy, if there was an open guy. He had some tight windows but was not as accurate as he had been in past games. Honestly, Buffalo could have intercepted him at least 3 or 4 times last night but they dropped the ball. But the Cowboys went into a shell on offense, constantly throwing short underneath passes short of the first downs and Buffalo did an excellent job making sure the receivers did not get yards after the catch.
Tackling was a big issue last night. I thought the play that exemplified the entire night came on the Bills first TD drive. on a 1st and 10 at the Bills 48, Allen handed off to Cook who found a little room but was hit by Parsons and a few other Cowboys players, but the Bills pushed the pile another 7 yards for a 12 yard gain and a first down. Parsons looked to be grabbing for the football but the rest of the defense could not stop the pile from moving forward until the refs finally blew the whistle. The Bills did the same thing a few times in this game although not for as many yards. That should never happen like that. The Bills showed they were bigger and stronger and wanted it more. But if you tackle properly, that cannot happen. No one took Cook's legs out from under him and poor tackling was a problem most of the night.
