Good, Bad, Ugly: 2 of 3 phases fail Cowboys in 38-31 loss

It was a tall task asking the Dallas Cowboys to go into Seattle and win a game without their top two offensive tackles and two of their top corners. Seahawks QB Russell Wilson has been one of the games best since he’s entered the league and he’s gotten off to an incredible start in 2020.

The Cowboys were behind the eight ball before the contest started, but there was hope the offense could keep up with Wilson and the beleaguered Seahawks defense. Dallas came up just short in a messy affair where they were lucky to even have a chance to win the game.

Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly in the Cowboys’ 38-31 loss that drops their record to 1-2 on the season.

The Good: Downfield passing game thrives

For the second consecutive week, QB Dak Prescott surpassed 450 yards passing. The intermediate and deep passing game for the Cowboys worked well against the battered Seahawks secondary. Cedrick Wilson and Michael Gallup each went over 100 yards receiving, combined for three scores and were close to unstoppable. Wilson broke free on two inside catches and scored his first two NFL touchdowns.

Amari Cooper was banged up but still caught nine passes for 86 yards and rookie CeeDee Lamb caught six passes for 65 yards as well. Prescott and the offense struggled on the underneath and short routes all game long, but when throwing down the field, they were successful.

The Bad: Defense struggles mightily

It wasn’t pretty for the defense, especially in the secondary. Rookie CB Trevon Diggs was burned on multiple occasions, although he made an outstanding play knocking the ball away from WR DK Metcalf to save six points, and Jourdan Lewis was flagged twice for pass interference while looking like he didn’t have a clue what he was doing most of the game.

The secondary lost track of Tyler Lockett three times in the first half and was nowhere to be found on TE Jacob Hollister’s touchdown or two-point conversion.

Getting beat by better players happens in the NFL, but completely losing focus on a number of plays that cost the team points in inexcusable. The Dallas safeties were putrid against the Seahawks.

The Ugly: Special Teams were anything but special

The Cowboys lost four points due to special teams miscues. RB Tony Pollard’s bumbling of a kickoff pinned the offense deep and eventually cost the team two points when the Seahawks got a safety on RB Ezekiel Elliott’s slip on an end zone run. It’s difficult to understand why Pollard was returning the kick in the first place and it turned out to be an expensive mistake.

New kicker Greg Zuerlein cost the Cowboys two points by not converting on two extra points. One went off the upright and another was blocked. Those two misses caused the Cowboys to chase points and made life tougher on the offense.

The Cowboys were believed to be fortunate to be able to hire John ‘Bones’ Fassel, but his group cost the Cowboys four points, which turned out to be a huge four points. Instead of being within a field goal on their final possession, the Cowboys needed a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. It was a challenge the Cowboys couldn’t overcome.