ARLINGTON, Texas – As darkness fell out of doors AT&T Stadium on a clean Thanksgiving night time, the Cowboys' offense finally looked just like the group that has earned the NFL's No. 1 rating for a lot of the season.
"We got it going overdue," quarterback Dak Prescott said after the group's 36-33 overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. "But too past due."
That's been the sample in 3 November losses that dropped Dallas' first-location record inside the NFC East to 7-four.
Prescott and the offense forced beyond regular time Thursday with a 14-point fourth region that featured 3 scoring drives and three bypass plays of at least 30 yards: 41- and 32-yard catches through wide receiver Michael Gallup and a 32-backyard touchdown take hold of by way of tight cease Dalton Schultz.
But in OT, the offense went 3-and-out from its very own 7-backyard line and the Raiders kicked the winning discipline goal following a 33-yard bypass interference name on cornerback Anthony Brown -- his fourth penalty in a game littered through 28 yellow flags (14 for each team).
The three-and-out in OT turned into Dallas' 5th of the game. They did not gain a primary down on in their first three drives because the Raiders surged to a 17-6 lead with the aid of halfway thru the second one quarter.
A past due landing run by Ezekiel Elliott did reduce the deficit to 17-thirteen by way of halftime. But currently, the Cowboys have located themselves gambling catch-up too often.
In their seven wins, they have got averaged sixteen.1 points within the first half of. In these three current losses to the Broncos, Chiefs and Raiders? Just 16 factors mixed.
"We've got to start faster," Prescott said.
There are obvious motives why the offense hasn't met its dynamic standard recently.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper neglected his 2nd directly recreation Thursday due to COVID-19 protocols. Fellow starter CeeDee Lamb did not play against the Raiders after suffering a concussion close to the give up of the primary 1/2 towards the Chiefs four days ago.
The offensive line has been in a kingdom of flux. Left tackle Tyron Smith (ankle) again from a 3-game absence Thursday, however the membership has made changes at two positions the remaining two games. (Connor McGovern and Terence Steele have moved into the beginning lineup at left guard and right address, although veterans Connor Williams and La'el Collins in brief rotated at those respective spots Thursday.)
And strolling lower back Ezekiel Elliott has been handling a knee contusion in recent weeks it's in reality giving him "some barriers," Cowboys proprietor/fashionable manager Jerry Jones stated. Elliott changed into able to push thru it once more Thursday, however he and Tony Pollard blended for best 64 yards on 20 carries (three.2-backyard average).
All that said, Prescott and the offense are not making excuses. They've also left plays on the sphere with consequences, drops and missed throws.
"We've got to be better all the way round," Prescott stated. "…We've all got to buckle up and be liable for what is happened and get better in each component. When that takes place, we will circulate forward. The run game can be higher, the bypass recreation may be better, we'll be able to do the moves off of that and play complementary soccer to each other."
Despite the slow start, head instruct Mike McCarthy stated he turned into "proud" of the group's resilience and idea the offense's up-tempo approach within the 2d 1/2 were given them in rhythm.
"I idea the offense did a truly good process with that," he said. "We just were not as easy as we'd have like to were inside the run game. Once we were given going and positioned some factors at the board, and Tony had the large kickoff go back (a hundred yards for a landing), that got us going too. Coming off a quick week, we knew this would be a hard one. I assume this sport is always hard regardless when you are in this sort of run here."
Prescott's deep completions to Gallup and Schultz in the fourth zone made the Raiders pay for playing tight guy coverage on the out of doors, a tactic used by the Broncos and Chiefs, too.
"Whether it's the formula or now not, we did OK with that once we got going," Prescott said. "We've got to do that quicker. We've were given to discover some performs early within the first sector, early within the first 1/2 which can get us rolling. And then from there, we are difficult to prevent."
Late Surge By Dak, Offense “Too Late” vs. Vegas (dallascowboys.com)
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