Why Cowboys' horrible loss to Saints is even scarier than we thought when watching live
Where does one begin after a loss like that?I'll jump straight to the point: The Dallas Cowboys' Week 2 humiliating loss to the New Orleans Saints is much worse than first meets the eye. Earlier in the week, I wrote about how big this game was for Mike Zimmer to prove he could change things for […]
Where does one begin after a loss like that?
I'll jump straight to the point: The Dallas Cowboys' Week 2 humiliating loss to the New Orleans Saints is much worse than first meets the eye.
Earlier in the week, I wrote about how big this game was for Mike Zimmer to prove he could change things for a Cowboys defense uncapable of defending Shanahan style offenses, which the Saints fully embraced when they hired former San Francisco 49ers pass game coordinator Klint Kubiak to be their offensive coordinator.
Zimmer failed the test miserably. In the first half, his defense allowed five consecutive touchdowns after allowing 11.9 yards per play. The Saints put 35 on the board with Derek Carr only completing nine passes through two quarters. It didn't get any better in the second half, with the final scoreboard reading 44-19, Saints.
Among the many things that went wrong was Zimmer's early decision to feature Damone Clark and Marist Liufau over DeMarvion Overshown in the team's base defense personnel. One week after Overshown showed off against the Cleveland Browns, he was mostly sidelined until the Saints put 21 points on the board.
Additionally, the team had no answers for the Saints rushing offense in large part due to poor defensive tackle play, which is a particularly tough pill to swallow knowing the Cowboys refused to add depth to the position group until training camp was well underway in August. The team was also unable to set the edge against a Saints offense that averaged 5.2 yards per rush attempt (prior to their final drives where they were just chewing the clock).
It's obvious that this was a tough loss. Anyone watching knows that what happened in the game was a good ol' whooping. But the tough reality is that it's a loss that should be much more concerning that it appeared watching live.
This was worse than losing a 'trap game'
You see, I've seen many people compare this particular loss to the Cowboys' Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals last year, when Dallas was significantly favored before dropping an unexpected L on the road. We need to stop that and get real.
This isn't that. Back in 2023, the Cardinals game was a legit trap game. But this was worse: This was the Cowboys struggling again against a good team led by a Shanahan-style offense. You'll see this game in the playoffs when you face the Sean McVay Rams, the Kyle Shanahan 49ers, the Matt LaFleur Packers, the Kevin O'Connell Vikings or heck, the Saints again.
The Cowboys did nothing to beat the allegations that they can't stop teams that can run the ball well or that are willing to eliminate the team's threat of a pass rush through quick passing plays and scheme. This was a worrying one because the defense showed not much has changed despite Zimmer leading the way.
This was the Cowboys reminding us they've got a flawed team that's not quite built to beat the exact kind of offense that they'll face when January football comes around. If the matchup reminded you of the Packers game, it's for good reason.
