Review of Cowboys Losses in 2019

[xwalker]

Review of 2019 Cowboys losses with regards to QB performance:

The Bears, Vikings, Packers and Bills didn't lose in 2019 when they scored as many points as they scored against the Cowboys.

That means those 4 games were defensive losses.

That leaves 4 games that might have been offensive losses:

• Game 6: Starting OTs were rookie UDFA Brandon Knight and Cam Fleming.
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• Game 4: The Cowboys had a season low in rushing yards with 45 and a season high in fumbles lost with Witten and Zeke with 1 each.
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• Game 15: Dak injured his shoulder prior to that game. He would not have played if they had legit backup like Dalton in 2019.
• 
  
• Game 11: In the 1st quarter with the score at 0-0, the Cowboys missed a field goal and on their next possession had a blocked punt that gave the opponent the ball with 12 yards to go for a TD. That's a 10 point swing due to special teams in a game they lost by 4 points...

 

[Kaiser]

Good writeup. The whole season was really a snakebit year, Romo called it perfectly on one of the broadcasts. It was a 12 win team that went 8-8 because of every break going against them. On top of it the team quit against the Bears and Bills.

The Pats game was decided on the blocked punt like you say. The Jets game had problems like the coaching coming in with a conservative game plan, but on top of that all of the WRs, OTs and CBs went out with injuries at once. Then to top it off they had a 14 point swing on an Olawale mistake followed by allowing a 90 yard TD.

The Packers game had a 14 point swing in a potential TD pass hitting Amari Cooper in the hands and going through them for an INT. That kind of play will happen with Amari once every ten years.

The 2016 team was the opposite, all the breaks went their way and a 10 win team won 13 games. Last year a 12 win team won 8.

 

[Ranching]

Review of 2019 Cowboys losses with regards to QB performance:

The Bears, Vikings, Packers and Bills didn't lose in 2019 when they scored as many points as they scored against the Cowboys.

That means those 4 games were defensive losses.

That leaves 4 games that might have been offensive losses:

• Game 6: Starting OTs were rookie UDFA Brandon Knight and Cam Fleming.
• 
  
• Game 4: The Cowboys had a season low in rushing yards with 45 and a season high in fumbles lost with Witten and Zeke with 1 each.
• 
  
• Game 15: Dak injured his shoulder prior to that game. He would not have played if they had legit backup like Dalton in 2019.
• 
  
• Game 11: In the 1st quarter with the score at 0-0, the Cowboys missed a field goal and on their next possession had a blocked punt that gave the opponent the ball with 12 yards to go for a TD. That's a 10 point swing due to special teams in a game they lost by 4 points...

What about missed FGs? Do they fit in there?

 

[John813]

Jets game blew open the flood gates in the 2nd after a 10 point swing.

Went for it on 4th down, failed. Then Robbie Anderson scores on a long *** TD pass to deflate the team. Should of just made it 6-7, basically a "tied" game. Instead it went to 3-14.

 

[GenoT]

What about missed FGs? Do they fit in there?

Missed FGs suck!

 

[CowboyRoy]

Review of 2019 Cowboys losses with regards to QB performance:

The Bears, Vikings, Packers and Bills didn't lose in 2019 when they scored as many points as they scored against the Cowboys.

That means those 4 games were defensive losses.

That leaves 4 games that might have been offensive losses:

• Game 6: Starting OTs were rookie UDFA Brandon Knight and Cam Fleming.
• 
  
• Game 4: The Cowboys had a season low in rushing yards with 45 and a season high in fumbles lost with Witten and Zeke with 1 each.
• 
  
• Game 15: Dak injured his shoulder prior to that game. He would not have played if they had legit backup like Dalton in 2019.
• 
  
• Game 11: In the 1st quarter with the score at 0-0, the Cowboys missed a field goal and on their next possession had a blocked punt that gave the opponent the ball with 12 yards to go for a TD. That's a 10 point swing due to special teams in a game they lost by 4 points...

Dak was the best player on our team last year and bright spot of the season. Offense was the strength of the team by far. They were up there top 5 all time in offensive rating in regards to yards.

Team had some issues with the offense in the redzone in key situations. Situations they didn't have the first couple years under Dak. That's why they led the league in last drive comebacks under Dak the first 3 years.

I see this offense and Dak completely taking off with MM and an unleashed Moore. Dak is entering his prime and has more weapons then every. My only concern is the Oline. If the Oline is sub par it makes all these great skill players much less effective.

 

[jazzcat22]

Missed FGs suck!

And Garrett, don't forget him.

 

[shabazz]

Cowboys offense scored 10 or less points in 3 winnable games against the Patriots,Saints, and Eagles for the division....but lets leave that out so we cant get full context. Cherry picking is so much more convenient when trying to justify the 40 Million Dollar Man contract

 

[Direwolf63]

Most objective fans would come to the conclusion that many (not all) losses were due to bad defense (specifically lack of turnovers generated) and horrendous special teams.

 

[Whirlwin]

What about missed FGs? Do they fit in there?

What about where we started every drive because it’s a special teams.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

I definitely don't agree with your simplistic definition of a defensive loss, that's for sure. Against the Packers, the defense sucked horribly. The other games require a more nuanced take.

 

[xwalker]

What about missed FGs? Do they fit in there?

Great question.

A missed FG and blocked Punt were the difference in the Pats game with was a 4 point loss.

A missed FG was the difference in the Jets game which was a 2 point loss.

There was a missed FG in the 4 point loss to the Vikings. The Cowboys might have been in position to kick another FG if not for the previously missed FG.

He missed 2 in both the Packers and Bills games. Both game would have been with 1 score if he had made the FGs.

He missed 1 vs the Bears. It would have been a 4 point game without the missed FG.

The only loss without a missed FG was the game vs the Eagles when Dak's should had been injured the previous week.

 

[glimmerman]

It was team wins and team loses. But we had 1 phase in the ST that just hurt almost all season long and the Offense and Defense has to attempt to make up for it. And if either side didn’t have a good game then it made it so hard to win. Our Defense didn’t get many takeaways and Dak and the Offense had there blown drives as well.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

Great question.

A missed FG and blocked Punt were the difference in the Pats game with was a 4 point loss.

A missed FG was the difference in the Jets game which was a 2 point loss.

There was a missed FG in the 4 point loss to the Vikings. The Cowboys might have been in position to kick another FG if not for the previously missed FG.

He missed 2 in both the Packers and Bills games. Both game would have been with 1 score if he had made the FGs.

He missed 1 vs the Bears. It would have been a 4 point game without the missed FG.

The only loss without a missed FG was the game vs the Eagles when Dak's should had been injured the previous week.

We've been over this before, there is no missed FG that could be pointed to that definitely cost the Cowboys a game. The only game that comes close would be the Jets game... a game which needed a 62 yard field goal to even be in that spot. People cry about the missed field goals because that's what they do, not because it makes any sense.

 

[JBS]

We've been over this before, there is no missed FG that could be pointed to that definitely cost the Cowboys a game. The only game that comes close would be the Jets game... a game which needed a 62 yard field goal to even be in that spot. People cry about the missed field goals because that's what they do, not because it makes any sense.

I haven't gone over the missed fgs as closely as it appears you have, I'll take your word for it that it wasn't a deciding factor in any of our games. How about the decision to kick to begin with? Or how about situations where we punted and shouldn't have? I'm sure stupid decisions by the coach had some ramifications

 

[texbumthelife]

The impact of the kicking game on the failure of the 2019 Dallas Cowboys can not be overlooked, but at any given time, there were multiple other aspects affecting the Cowboy's ability to win games and Dak shared in some of those moments. Too many people are putting all on Dak, or absolving him completely when the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Dak needs to be better in 2020 for the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl.
The ENTIRE team needs to be better in 2020 for the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl.
The coaching absolutely needs to be better in 2020 for the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl.

None of these things happen in a vacuum. They all affect one another. Missed field goals alone did not lose games. Coaching blunders alone did not lose games (as much as I want to say they did). Poor performances by Dak alone did not lose games. I've said it before and I will repeat it until I'm dead and buried, there are too many people rooting against players/for players, at the behest of the TEAM, which is the most important thing.

 

[GenoT]

We've been over this before, there is no missed FG that could be pointed to that definitely cost the Cowboys a game. The only game that comes close would be the Jets game... a game which needed a 62 yard field goal to even be in that spot. People cry about the missed field goals because that's what they do, not because it makes any sense.

Mostly agree but, depending upon the score and where they are in any particular game (time, down, distance), the loss of 3pts from a missed FG might also cause the O-coaching staff to alter their play-calling strategy...possibly to our overall detriment.

 

[CowboyoWales]

Review of 2019 Cowboys losses with regards to QB performance:

The Bears, Vikings, Packers and Bills didn't lose in 2019 when they scored as many points as they scored against the Cowboys.

That means those 4 games were defensive losses.

That leaves 4 games that might have been offensive losses:

• Game 6: Starting OTs were rookie UDFA Brandon Knight and Cam Fleming.
• 
  
• Game 4: The Cowboys had a season low in rushing yards with 45 and a season high in fumbles lost with Witten and Zeke with 1 each.
• 
  
• Game 15: Dak injured his shoulder prior to that game. He would not have played if they had legit backup like Dalton in 2019.
• 
  
• Game 11: In the 1st quarter with the score at 0-0, the Cowboys missed a field goal and on their next possession had a blocked punt that gave the opponent the ball with 12 yards to go for a TD. That's a 10 point swing due to special teams in a game they lost by 4 points...

OK, take that we lost 4 games because of the defence and 4 games that might have been offensive losses NONE OF WHICH appears to be daks fault.

To me this is an argument for NOT PAYING DAK (as he being a top 3 QB still only gave us 8 wins).

As you cant account for luck, your assessment seems to indicate that Dak is not a factor in the losses and as such to improve on the 8-8 record would be to not resign Dak and spend:

1) Reversing some of the 4 Defensive losses.
2) Improving Special Teams
3) Improve our back-ups in case of injury.

 

[GMO415]

Things that were crap:
#1 Garrett. He lost control of the team
#2. Defense was full of self promotion
#3. Center was bad and only allowed the slightest hole for EzE to run up the middle.

 

[johneric8]

Dak was the best player on our team last year and bright spot of the season. Offense was the strength of the team by far. They were up there top 5 all time in offensive rating in regards to yards.

Team had some issues with the offense in the redzone in key situations. Situations they didn't have the first couple years under Dak. That's why they led the league in last drive comebacks under Dak the first 3 years.

I see this offense and Dak completely taking off with MM and an unleashed Moore. Dak is entering his prime and has more weapons then every. My only concern is the Oline. If the Oline is sub par it makes all these great skill players much less effective.

Salute CowboyRoy! It's refreshing to see someone whom actually forms opinions based on facts instead of preconceived bias... You're 100% correct, I agree that Dak Prescott was the best player on our team last year even with some of his shortcomings. Guys around here want the guy to be perfect and leave no room for human error. It's almost like they don't watch other Quarterbacks. What has hurt Prescott is the guy has had to deal with a horrible coach and an even worse culture, not to mention that defense and special teams that offered little help.

Don't worry about the oline, Tyler is going to surprise lots of people, mark it down.