It’s profoundly telling that after a two-touchdown loss to a division rival who had won only two games, the Dallas Cowboys coaches and players spoke unanimously about the exponential progress shown in Sunday night’s 23-9 loss.
“Moving in the right direction,” coach Mike McCarthy said in his postgame press conference.
“I feel like we took another step tonight,” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence told reporters before leaving Philadelphia.
“It was a step in the right direction, but not good enough,” running back Ezekiel Elliott explained.
“I think we made some really good strides,” said linebacker Leighton Vander Esch.
About the only thing missing was orange wedges handed out to everyone afterward.
It’s clear that the tone in the Cowboys locker room has changed dramatically over the past two months. The electrifying potential of Team FortyBurger rode out on the cart with Dak Prescott. In its place is an offense whose only touchdown in the past thirteen quarters came in garbage time of Week 6 and has now been held to single digits two weeks in a row. A defense loaded with promising personnel and a new-and-improved scheme was quickly exposed as a leaky sieve. They’ve allowed the most points in the league, three players have already been sent packing, and there are questions about whether some of the coaches should follow.
Indeed, expectations in Dallas have been recalibrated. Chatter before the season about Super Bowl odds and scoring records have turned into praise and congratulations for the moral victory of winning the turnover battle for one game.
“A lot of improvement, in a number of areas,” McCarthy said afterward.
“Clearly, our defense took a huge step. It looked like our gap integrity- our run defense- was the best that we’ve had all year. And not only the four takeaways, but we were all over the ball a number of times. I thought we definitely took a step on defense.”
For Vander Esch, the takeaways- two interceptions by Trevon Diggs and a pair of fumble recoveries- were of little solace as the team fell to 2-6.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the amount of turnovers that you get; it’s the frustration of just losing,” the third-year veteran said. “Whether you lose by one point or you lose by 20 points, you have 100 turnovers or you have no turnovers, losing sucks. Just a simple answer. Being a competitor, you don’t like to lose. And I don’t like losing.”
But for a team that has seen so much go so wrong in half a season of play, the Cowboys are in a position where they must find the silver linings where they can.
Now, even the smallest thing- like the defense forcing more turnovers than the offense commits- can serve as an important building block for the second half of the 2020 campaign.
“Division game, we needed to win this one,” Elliott reflected. “We were right there. We were in a good position to go and get this game. We’ve got to find ways to win these tough games, and it’s not always going to be pretty. But we’ve got to find a way to pull it out.”
The Cowboys may still be- mathematically speaking- alive in the race for an NFC title, but this team isn’t ready to talk about wins. Not realistically. Heck, McCarthy is talking about just playing with pride.
“We’re running out of time. We understand that, as far as where we are in the season,” the coach offered to media members on the conference call. “I thought our defense played with tremendous pride. We knew we needed to stop the run, and I thought our guys hit the mark there. We needed takeaways. That’s the brand of football and the team identity we’re focused on playing: winning the turnover differential margin for the first time this year, and that was led by the defense. Defense pretty much held them to- what- 15 points? You keep the opponent to 15 or less, you should win the game.”
It’s a fair point. The defense wasn’t on the field for the Eagles’ fumble recovery that they returned for a touchdown to effectively ice the game. And the defense had nothing to do with snapping the ball out of the end zone for an intentional safety, a last-ditch gambit to try to regain possession via the ensuing free kick.
So when compared to the defense’s past several performances- six straight games of allowing 25 or more points- Sunday night did feel, to borrow the Cowboys’ new favorite phrase, a step in the right direction.
“Obviously, the game wasn’t perfect and we’ve still got to clean a couple things up,” Vander Esch maintained. “But as far as effort and play style, I think we’re getting on the right track. And I think it showed.”
“We’re doing a better job understanding our coaches, understanding each other, and playing together all as one,” Lawrence added. “We showcased that tonight, and I feel like we’re getting better each and every week.”
The defense senses improvement. The coaches see progress. The latest game wasn’t an embarrassing, hopeless rout. Perhaps that’s a start.
McCarthy, who famously took a year off just to prepare for this head coaching gig, seems to similarly be taking a long-view approach to building his new team.
“I think, like anything in life, the game of football will teach you humility in every form or fashion that you can imagine. To me, that’s just part of the course of this season, it’s part of our challenge. I clearly believe we’ll be better off in the future because of these hard times.”
Probably. It’s hard to imagine the Cowboys being much worse.
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