Cowboys Point/counterpoint: Inconsistency Looms As Huge Obstacle

It’s one thing for a football team to be inconsistent from game to game. That can make it hard to accomplish much. Being wildly inconsistent within the same game is possibly even worse.

We just saw the Dallas Cowboys wrest a stunning defeat from the jaws of what looked until halftime was going to be a pretty decent win over their nemesis, the Arizona Cardinals. They dominated things before halftime, building a 17-3 lead. The offense wasn’t exactly crisp, but a couple of takeaways and some sacks let them put points up while keeping the Cards under control.

But Arizona pulled Jacoby Brissett and put Gardiner Minshew in at QB, and suddenly they were an offensive juggernaut. Dallas still managed to add 13 points to their score, but could not stop the Cards from scoring TDs on four consecutive drives. Still, thanks to a missed extra point, the Cowboys had a chance to win it in overtime, only to see their offense continue a slump that started in the fourth quarter.

This inconsistency now hangs over their heads as they visit the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday. Our Sean Martin and Tom Ryle discuss the unfortunate realities of this year’s Dallas team.

Tom – It’s hard to process the abject failure we witnessed at AT&T Stadium. After bottling up the Arizona offense for the most part, the Cowboys’ defense just seemed to crumble once Minshew came in. What is really mystifying is how the most damage was done by running back Tyler Allgeier. Another bevy of missed tackles and bad defensive alignments let him run free. The defense had really been the main reason Dallas built a 14-point lead at half. Then it just fell apart.

Meanwhile, their offense was also displaying its own version of inconsistency. After a good showing against the admittedly depleted Philadelphia Eagles, we once again saw multiple missed opportunities. The run game went back to sleep. A rash of sacks of Dak Prescott also played a big part. We are seeing evidence that he has to have a clean pocket to make the passing game work. Once that breaks down, things go off the rails.

Now the chance for the first winning streak has been blown, they are facing another ‘must win’ game. The Colts do look very beatable. The challenge is that Dallas cannot play down to the level of the competition again.

Sean – Our worst nightmare has been realized, as now it requires beating the San Francisco 49ers to get back-to-back wins, and still needing until mid-November to do so. The inconsistency really makes the fan experience hard to enjoy, we have to say at this point we’ve been conditioned under Brian Schottenheimer to just expect a letdown after each and every win. And here’s the crushing thing that goes with that too – even Schotty’s wins this season aren’t impressive. 

There were some things to like about how the team took a workmanlike attitude out of the Eagles win, instead of getting too high like usual, but clearly this somehow didn’t help them get up off the mat once hit with adversity at home against the Cardinals. That is ridiculous. 

Tom – I would choose ludicrous as my description. This is a team with veteran leadership that looks rudderless. And clearly the coaching staff is doing an enormously inept job. 

Although I will not tabulate any fetal barnyard fowl, I do think there is a better than even chance they will beat the Colts. Maybe by a comfortable margin, or just eking out a win. But as I said, that is hardly a given. And if they do manage to avoid an even bigger disappointment against 2-6 Indy, that, as you said, still leaves the NFCW-leading 49ers to face.

Given how things have gone this season, the most likely scenario is that they will get a win at the Colts, then get totally embarrassed by San Francisco. That is another home game for Dallas, and they have only managed one win this season in their own house.

Trying to find things to build hope on is very hard.

Sean – This game was really a wild meltdown in three parts. Early on, it didn’t feel like the Cowboys had a lot of energy, but the score held at 17-3 for a while and there was some thought that maybe this would be a win stamped by the defense, which would be a welcome sight to say the least.

Then it became just trying to hold on for dear life, to the point where even a win doesn’t bode all that well for seizing any momentum. My only thought at this point was that it is the Cardinals, these games are for whatever reason never easy, and let’s just get the win in the bank. 

Finally, the collapse was complete, and now there really is only one way to describe this upcoming Colts game as far as I’m concerned – two bad teams going at it. The Cowboys have zero quality wins and a list of bad losses that some head coaches don’t compile in multiple seasons on the job, yet Schottenheimer has five and room to add more before Thanksgiving here in year two.

Tom – I for one am so tired of wasting talented players. I don’t know if it’s bad coaching, a failure to have a better supporting cast so the talent at the top is nullified, or maybe some kind of culture issue. Maybe some of all three, and things we just can’t figure out.

I am getting an uneasy feeling that we are watching yet another season go down the drain. No, it’s not just a feeling. It’s a growing sense of inevitability. At least I came into this year without great hopes, believing it was always a long shot to make the playoffs with no real chance at going far.

So I’m not disappointed as much as I’m just disgusted.

Sean – Likewise Tom, my concern is about trying to get something out of this season that protects what’s hopefully the best possible future for this franchise, but that feels rocky right now.

Doing virtually no work on one side of the ball (offense) in the offseason won’t be an option; by the time we slog our way through this latest wasted season, the offense is going to have concerns, question marks, and need to be shaken up. It could very well have a new head coach, offensive coordinator, or both on top of all that.

The best path forward for the defense is likely still to get to a second season with the same coordinator in place, but is it too much to ask for the coordinator earning that chance to not give up 33 points to the Cardinals?

This organization is going to have a hard time selling a year 12 for Dak Prescott being the one they finally use to get over the hump, and we don’t even know if that will include both CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens remaining together. They sure didn’t seem interested in using this duo to their advantage against the Cardinals anyway. Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams will be a year older, and they’ve needed EDGE help since the start of this season, another thing that hurt them in this latest loss.

Normally, the generic answer here would just be that seeing which players continue to play hard through adversity is always something a team can build off of. Right now though, that just feels like a play into the whole “culture build” that Schotty sold us a bill of goods on, and appeasing to a coach long term that doesn’t have a long term future here as far as any of the fan base is concerned. 

*Gulps* We might have to continue having the conversation that the best thing for this current 2026 team is to still try and win the NFC East, which physically makes me feel gross to even say.