Jerry Jones gives harsh assessment of Dallas Cowboys' loss
Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys lost just their second game of the season on Sunday, and the loss was rather surprising to most — the lowly Denver Broncos, who entered the game 3-4, beat Dallas with a Teddy Bridgewater-led offense on the road.
After the game, Jones gave a harsh explanation of what he saw from his Cowboys. First, he gave credit to the Denver Broncos, saying that the visiting team drew up a good game plan; then, however, he called the loss “inexplicable” on their own home turf.
“I thought they had a good plan against Dak [Prescott] and executed it well. We needed some plays to happen,” Jones said. “Certainly it’s inexplicable. … They played an outstanding football game against what we think is a good football team, and that’s the Dallas Cowboys.”
The Cowboys ended up losing 30-16. Despite having star quarterback Dak Prescott back from injury, Dallas showed no fight in the game Sunday, scoring all 16 of their points — both off passing touchdowns to wide receiver Malik Turner — in the fourth quarter. Prescott completed 19 of his 39 passing attempts for 232 passing yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Cowboys’ loss ends record-setting streak
With the loss, the Cowboys — previously on a record-setting streak — had it snapped on Sunday. They entered the game with eight consecutive home games scoring at least 35 points with Prescott as their starting quarterback, the longest such streak in NFL history between a franchise and any quarterback, according to ESPN NFL insider Field Yates. The Broncos held the Cowboys scoreless until the fourth quarter and even then, the Cowboys garbage-time touchdowns hardly meant anything, as the game was far out of reach.
The Cowboys only got into the red zone twice on Sunday, both in the fourth quarter, scoring on both tries. Before then, they could hardly get close to the pay dirt; Dallas finished with an abysmal 290 yards of total offense, compared to the Broncos’ 407, and they managed to rack up just 78 rushing yards.
The Cowboys were hampered by turnovers on Sunday. In addition to Prescott’s interception, Dallas also lost a fumble courtesy of punt-returner Nahshon Wright. They were lucky to not suffer two costly fumbles, as wide receiver Cedrick Wilson dropped one of his own, but the Cowboys were able to retain possession after the ball was knocked loose.
Teddy Bridgewater was efficient for the Broncos, completing 19 of his 28 passing attempts for 249 passing yards and one touchdown. Moreover, Bridgewater scored on a rushing touchdown, which was part of a three-headed rushing attack — while the quarterback had a rushing touchdown, running backs Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon both turned in great performances, too. Williams had 17 carries for 111 rushing yards and no touchdowns, while Gordon had 21 carries for 80 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The loss brought the Cowboys’ record down to 6-2, but Dallas still holds a comfortable three-game lead over the second-place Philadelphia Eagles, and a three-and-a-half game lead over the third-place New York Giants. Dallas has time to recover from the loss before hosting the Atlanta Falcons, a 4-4 team which could set up a nice rebound for the Cowboys.