Overreaction Monday - Cowboys vs Bills (if you feel like reliving the pain)

[Mac_MaloneV1]

I agree that gap integrity was a huge problem. But even when they tried to fix that the bills still whipped us. I counted five plays just in the second half where the first Cowboys defender to even touch the ball carrier 7-10 yards downfield. The Cowboys boy physically dominated.

They never fixed it.

You are always going to be physically dominated when you are late to the gap every time.

 

[VaqueroTD]

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.

Nice take. Agree that Dak and offense were off. I don't think anyone will criticize them because our defense was blown out but O came out flat from play one. It wasn't just Mazi. Watch the first video where they show Bell getting blown back by blockers. We got defensive backs going against offensive linemen. Not pretty.

 

[Swagger]

The Bills are a better team than the Dolphins with a much better quarterback. Make no mistake about that.

 

[CTcowboy203]

miami is more of a finesse team like us. built on speed and scheme. buffalo is a lot more physical and played a lot more physical. we played a smaller front, hoping to negate them with speed, except they schemed to get their guards on our second level defenders and we couldn't tackle.

I think we beat miami.

While Miami may be more finesse they are a better rushing team statistically than Buffalo. This will also be the new blueprint, not saying we don’t win but Miami is more than capable and willing to run it all day long at us

 

[Swagger]

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.

Fully agree.
In essence the Cowboys got owned and bullied physically. Prescott was never likely to elevate the team in those conditions.

 

[stiletto]

I don't see how anyone can take the Cowboys seriously after seeing them kicked their teeth kicked in twice this season. Everyone hoped the team had changed after the San Fran game and all the dominate wins that came after. So much for that. They are what they are. Not much different than last year.

Might get a playoff win on the road against a bad NFC South team and I stress MIGHT. Will get destroyed on the road the next game. Pretty predictable and almost time wasting for everyone.

 

[Swagger]

It's why there were so many of us banging on about the horrific loss against the Cardinals and the late choke job by Prescott against the Eagles. Win those two games and win out then the Cowboys have the #1 seed. Cowboys are awesome at home. There's no shame in losing to proper good teams like the 49ers and Bills if you end up with home field advantage.

 

[stiletto]

It's why there were so many of us banging on about the horrific loss against the Cardinals and the late choke job by Prescott against the Eagles. Win those two games and win out then the Cowboys have the #1 seed. Cowboys are awesome at home. There's no shame in losing to proper good teams like the 49ers and Bills if you end up with home field advantage.

It's how they lost to both the 49ers and Bills. Good teams don't show up like that. You lose 27-23 or something, then fine, it happens but this team got manhandled with ease by both. They are what they are.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Shannon Sharpe's podcast w OchoCinco, Coach Prime guest
Deion hoping it's just 'one of those games.' Thinks Boys are a great team, just inconsistent. Shannon trashing Cowboys for not having a more physical back on O.


DC.COM Crew - Nate Newton, Barry Church, Isiah Stanbach (yesterday's video)
Lines dominated. Buffalo 76% of plays were runs. That is definition of 'enforcing your will.'
What to figure out? Nate says every team will decide to run the ball more now with Hankins out. If can't figure out Run D by next week, won't work. Stanbach says they need to figure out why they can't win Away games vs Home games.

 

[Swagger]

It's how they lost to both the 49ers and Bills. Good teams don't show up like that. You lose 27-23 or something, then fine, it happens but this team got manhandled with ease by both. They are what they are.

Agree but if those games were at home then it's a different story in my view. Not claiming Cowboys win both but they would be hugely competitive meaning with home field in the play offs it would only become an issue at a neutral venue in one game for a ring.

 

[stiletto]

Agree but if those games were at home then it's a different story in my view. Not claiming Cowboys win both but they would be hugely competitive meaning with home field in the play offs it would only become an issue at a neutral venue in one game for a ring.

They aren't catching the 49ers now. The 49ers will have 1st seed most likely. Good luck if they have to go there again.

 

[Swagger]

They aren't catching the 49ers now. The 49ers will have 1st seed most likely. Good luck if they have to go there again.

Agree

 

[VaqueroTD]

They aren't catching the 49ers now. The 49ers will have 1st seed most likely. Good luck if they have to go there again.

Away game @ SF in Playoffs. We don't have a chance in hell. Don't think anyone else will give us problems as long as we show we can beat Detroit in 2 weeks. But that game will catch us somewhere in the tourney tree.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds058]

I don't see how anyone can take the Cowboys seriously after seeing them kicked their teeth kicked in twice this season. Everyone hoped the team had changed after the San Fran game and all the dominate wins that came after. So much for that. They are what they are. Not much different than last year.

Might get a playoff win on the road against a bad NFC South team and I stress MIGHT. Will get destroyed on the road the next game. Pretty predictable and almost time wasting for everyone.

Rinse and repeat for next year, Jed will sale everyone the team is better and people will get snowed again with hardly no changes at all and bringing back everyone for another spin.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Undisputed
Keyshawn says Coach Mac's job is over. Can't be physically dominated like this. No shot against SF in Tourney. (Hard to disagree with him.) Both #88 and Key hard on the coaching scheme adjustments from DQ. Was necessary with the personnel available.
Key saying Cowboys are paying now for not being more aggressive to sign Shaq Leonard and other mid-season trades. Needed more physical presence on D.
Michael Irvin calls us an Oprah Winfrey Run Defense. You get 200 yards, and you get 200 yards, and you get...! Some of those runs from Buffalo, no one even TOUCHING Cook until 10 yards. Scheme has to improve.

 

[kskboys]

How can it be consider overreaction after such a pitiful performance when the team should be having a must win mindset?

That is 100% what I was going to ask. I don't think an overreaction as to how bad we were is even possible. We were not competitive.

 

[triplets_93]

I had something I had to do Sunday, and I couldn't watch the first 3 and 3/4 quarters of the game. I think that was Blessing!