The Dallas Cowboys were flat-out embarrassed in week seven, losing to the Washington Football Team by a score of 25-3. The offense could not get anything going against the Washington defense, while the Cowboys defense struggled to stop the run and get off of the field.

Dallas now sits at 2-5 on the season, one of three teams in the NFC East with two wins. The Giants, of course, have just one win on the season. The division as a whole is a dumpster fire.

As bad as the division is, Sunday makes it difficult to see a path for the Cowboys to come out on top at the end of the season. The offensive line has been playing dreadful, the offense looks nothing like it did with Dak Prescott behind center, and the defense is historically bad. We have five thoughts regarding week seven's loss.

Dak Prescott is the MVP of the Dallas Cowboys, and that's an understatement

The quarterback is always typically the most important player on any football team, but that is even more magnified with Prescott and the Cowboys. Dallas had one of the elite offenses in all of football until Prescott went down with an injury in the third quarter against the Giants. Now, the Cowboys offense is laughably bad.

The Dallas Cowboys have scored 26 points without Dak Prescott in a little over nine quarters of play.

That’s it.

— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) October 25, 2020

To be clear, this is not all Andy Dalton's fault. The offensive line cannot protect whatsoever, the running game has been unable to get going, and the wide receivers dropped multiple passes against Washington.

Still, it is still crazy to see the difference between a Cowboys-led offense with Dak Prescott at the helm versus the offense with Andy Dalton behind center. With Dalton expected to miss week eight because of a dirty hit from Jon Bostic, seventh-round rookie quarterback Ben DiNucci has a tough task on his hands next week.

What has happened to Ezekiel Elliott? 

The quarterback position has been the most heavily scrutinized spot on the team, especially with Prescott down, but the Cowboys have not gotten good play out of their running backs, either.

So much about a running back's production is reliant on the pieces around them. As we have covered here, the Cowboys offensive line is depleted. Tyron Smith and La'el Collins won't play another snap this season and Brandon Knight is injured. Zack Martin is in concussion protocol, and the rest of the offensive line has not played well at all.

That will obviously impact how effective Elliott is. It is hard for any running back to produce behind a makeshift line — look at how Le'Veon Bell played with the New York Jets, for instance.

Still, with all of that said, Elliott has not played up to his standards. He looks a step slower, he is not taking care of the football — five fumbles this season — and he has not shown the ability to take over games like we saw early in his career. Again, this is not all on Zeke, but it is concerning to see the star running back decline in such a big way through the first seven games of the 2020 season.

Mike Nolan's seat is scorching hot — or at least should be

The Dallas Cowboys defense is laughably bad. Comically bad. Historically bad. Whatever adjective you want to use, it probably is not strong enough to describe just how terrible the Cowboys defense has been this season.

Dallas ranks 27th in total defense, 32nd in run defense, and 32nd in scoring defense. The unit has not improved at all in any way since week one — in fact, the defense has performed worse since the 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Since giving up 20 points to Sean McVay's offense, the Cowboys have given up 39 points to the Atlanta Falcons, 38 to the Seattle Seahawks, 49 to the Cleveland Browns, 38 to the Arizona Cardinals, and 25 to the Washington Football Team — the team's second-highest point total of the season.

The defense has failed to force an interception since playing Jared Goff in the opening week and looks lost more often than not. The Cowboys do rank around league average in pass defense, but that has a lot to do with the fact that teams have their way with them running the football.

There just are not many bright spots on that side of the football, and a lot of that falls on the shoulders of Nolan. Nolan was brought in to improve the defense and teach an aggressive style, but the defense has looked anything but aggressive this season.

Changes need to be made soon, and it starts at the top.

Featured image via Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports