How bad is the Cowboys’ defense right now? Well, pretty bad. Dallas allowed 33 first downs, 508 total yards, and 307 rushing yards on Sunday in a 49-38 loss to the Browns. Coming into Sunday’s game, they were tied with the Falcons in allowing a league-worst nine touchdown passes, and they allowed three of those on Sunday — two from Baker Mayfield, and one from receiver Jarvis Landry.
Not only has the defense been the primary issue in the team’s 1-3 record, the defense is also wasting quarterback Dak Prescott’s ridiculous hot streak. Prescott has thrown for at least 450 yards in each of his last three games — 450 against the Falcons in a 40-39 win that took everything Dallas had and everything Atlanta didn’t to pull off a remarkable comeback, 472 yards last Sunday in a 38-31 loss to Seattle in which Prescott threw two picks and was out-dueled by Russell Wilson, and Sunday’s loss to the Browns.
In that game, Prescott completed 41 of 58 passes for 502 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. And with that, he became the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for at least 500 yards and four touchdowns in a game and watch his team lose.
The other two quarterbacks to do it? Detroit’s Matthew Stafford on January 1, 2012 against the Packers in a 45-41 loss. Stafford completed 36 of 59 passes for 520 yards, five touchdown passes, and two interceptions. Problem was, Stafford was outdone by Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn, who threw six touchdown passes against Detroit’s wafer-thin defense. Flynn parlayed that performance into a large free-agent contract with the Seahawks in the subsequent offseason, which became redundant when he was beaten out in the preseason by a third-round rookie named… Russell Wilson.
The only other quarterback to throw for at least 500 yards and four touchdowns in a game and have his team lose? Avert your eyes, Cowboys fans, because you probably already know the answer. It was Tony Romo on October 6, 2013 (just two days away from an eerie anniversary), when Dallas lost, 51-48, on a last-second field goal from Denver kicker Matt Prater. Romo completed 25 of 36 passes for 506 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. Romo’s issue is that he was going up against Peyton Manning in the season the Broncos could not be stopped on offense, and this game played to type. Manning completed 33 of 42 passes for 414 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, and a rushing touchdown as well.
Dak Prescott can hold his head high. It’s not his fault that his team lost. It’s not his fault that he just became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 450 yards in back-to-back games that turned out to be losses. The goat horns must be placed on defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, and if Nolan doesn’t figure things out with a quickness, the Cowboys’ season is going to go right down the drain at the same time Prescott is going to set all kinds of ridiculous single-season passing records.