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The Week 11 iteration of "Monday Night Football" between the Cowboys and Texans laid bare the many foibles that have popped up across the Dallas' roster in recent weeks.
Mike McCarthy's squad was always going to face a test in the Texans, the AFC South leaders and a side that entered the year with real Super Bowl hopes.
Houston was everything Dallas could have expected it to be. Still, the Cowboys found themselves with ample opportunities to stay close to their intrastate foes.
The Texans played an imperfect game. Dallas failed to respond, though. In fact, the Cowboys tended to answer with foibles of their own.
All that amounted to a 34-10 defeat at AT&T Stadium on Monday night. Not only did Dallas lose, but it did so in epic fashion, becoming the first team in NFL history to fall behind by 20 or more points in six consecutive home games.
Congrats to our record-setting GM! 6th straight home game trailing by 20+ points! Longest streak in NFL history! #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/KeDObpfGaH
— 1310 Ticket Radio (Unofficial) (@TicketRadio) November 19, 2024So, just what was the issue with McCarthy's roster on Monday night? In a word, everything. Whenever Dallas' offense trotted onto the field, miscues tended to follow. Here's a look at some of the most glaring.
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How miscues doomed Cowboys in 'Monday Night Football' loss to Texans
From the opening salvo, things seemed unwell within the Cowboys' setup. The defense quickly surrendered a score via a 45-yard Joe Mixon scamper, putting the onus on the Cooper Rush-led attack to get things in order.
Dallas' first possession was uneven as can be, adorned with short Rico Dowdle gains and a pair of Rush incompletions. Facing 4th-and-9 at their own 33, the decision for McCarthy and Co. seemed simple: punt the ball away.
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The Cowboys decided to go in a different direction. America's Team dialed up a crudely drawn play design that saw punter Bryan Angler toss a feather to gunner Juanyeh Thomas well short of the first down marker.
— NFL (@NFL) November 19, 2024Thomas was unsurprisingly dumped shortly after receiving the ball. Dallas surrendered the ball in prime real estate, and star QB Dak Prescott — fixed to the sidelines after suffering a season-ending hamstring injury — was befuddled.
DAK PRESCOTT HAS HAD ENOUGH!! pic.twitter.com/KF7anawY9G
— Dallas Nation (@TheDallasNation) November 19, 2024Dallas received a godsend on the ensuing drive, corralling an errant pass from CJ Stroud to seemingly stop the drought.
MORE: Jake Ferguson leaves 'MNF' vs. Texans with concussion
It didn't last too long, though; within five plays, Rush had handed the ball back to the Texans, finding Derek Stingley Jr. with relative ease.
— NFL (@NFL) November 19, 2024The toils would only continue from there. Rush conjured up some moments of magic, including a 64-yard TD toss to speedster KaVontae Turpin.
But by and large, he was pedestrian. He finished the contest completing 32-of-55 passes for 354 yards, one touchdown, one interception, and one fumble. That showing was good for a passer rating of 75.9. By comparison, Anger, whose four-yard pass set the stage for Dallas' turmoil, ended the night with an 83.3 mark.
Rush wasn't the only Cowboys to wobble beneath the bright AT&T Stadium lights. The same could be said about a handful of Dallas talents. Star kicker Brandon Aubrey saw his 40-yard effort carom off the upright at the end of the first half, making his first miss at AT&T Stadium in his career.
Guard Tyler Guyton, meanwhile, made the baffling move to attempt to race down the field after scooping up Rush's fourth-quarter fumble. He was "rewarded" with a fumble of his own, one which DE Derek Barnett eventually recovered and took to the end zone for a Texans score.
— NFL (@NFL) November 19, 2024McCarthy was perhaps the most polarizing figure involved in Monday night's affair, however. His side committed nine penalties across the duel, giving up 66 yards in the process. He bookended his curious coaching decisions in style, opting to take points off the board when Houston was whistled for a penalty after Aubrey knocked in a 64-yarder, then deciding against kicking a shorter field goal later in the same drive on 4th-and-2.
The decisions were defensible, but considering Dallas' offensive torpidity up to that point, making it a one-score game could've provided a momentum boost. You probably know the rest at this point — the Cowboys failed to find the end zone with Rush nearly turning the ball over on consecutive plays before missing his mark on fourth-and-short. Any Dallas momentum was gone for good at that point.
All told, it was the sort of performance that's become par for the course for Dallas as of late. Just look at the numbers for proof:
From ESPN Research: The Cowboys have been outscored by 118 points in five home games. That’s the third-largest margin in a team’s first five home games of a season in the Super Bowl era.
— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) November 19, 2024With the run game practically non-existent, questions under center, and some members of the coaching staff seemingly headed for the chopping block, all is not well in Big D. It's hard to expect things to get better any time soon, either.
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