Exhausted cowboys 'still the same'

FRISCO, Texas – Here we go again.

The 3-4 third-place NFC East Cowboys versus the 5-3 first-place NFC South Falcons.

Another in a series of crucial games this season for these inconsistent Cowboys. Some would call Sunday's noon game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium a “must-win game,” although mathematically speaking, not so much, other than the Cowboys need to at least keep their heads at sporting sea level.

But Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb puts it succinctly: “Every game has to be won.”

Well, the Cowboys have been here before. Even in the season opener in Cleveland, the knowledge that they are off to an 0-1 start with New Orleans and Baltimore could hurt their chances of becoming the first NFC East team to repeat as division champions since the Eagles did so in 2001 made it to 2004.

But then they got off to a 1-2 start and lost two games in a row to the Saints and Ravens. Next up for the Cowboys was a game against the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Thursday night, knowing that falling to 1-3 in the next two games before the bye at Pittsburgh and at home against Detroit could put them in a hole too deep.

Then it's on to Pittsburgh, not necessarily a must-win, but it would be nice to come out of this six-game battle against Detroit, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston and Washington with a winning record.

And they won again. Beat Pittsburgh, a breath of relief, 3-2.

But now this: The second streak of consecutive losses, first wiped out by Detroit and then shattered last weekend after San Francisco's bye, hence the now 3-4 record.

That brings us to Sunday, and since the 2020 COVID season, the Cowboys haven't lost three games in a row, and actually four this year from Weeks 6 through 9, when they lost consecutive but 10, 3, 9 and 19 points scored while losing to Arizona, Washington, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Now it's on to Atlanta, which has won four of its last five games, with a red-hot quarterback Kirk Cousins, this week's NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the No. 3 QB in passing yards, along with 2023 first-round running back, Bijan Robinson ranked ninth in the NFL with 546 yards rushing, but fourth in the NFL with 790 yards from scrimmage.

In order to win this game and get to .500 again, the Cowboys will have to, well, that's starting to sound like a broken record.

To steal a Bob Seger song title from 1978, “Still The Same” when it comes to winning week after week.

Run the ball more efficiently.

Put pressure on the quarterback, this time Cousins, one of the more stationary quarterbacks in the NFL, won't leave the pocket unless absolutely necessary. And that's only 14 times so far this season, for an unimaginable total of eight yards despite a long yardage of 13.

Score touchdowns in the red zone.

And leave it to Lamb to hit the nail on the head, because in the four losses, it was for all of these reasons: Three of those two teams were either in first place in their division, tied for first place, or a half game out of first space removed.

“A sense of urgency to win, absolutely, yes,” Lamb says rhetorically. “But in terms of urgency for anything else, at the end of the day we just have to get better overall.”

Then there's this, the elephant in the room that few want to believe, as if it's a lame excuse for the slow start to the first half of the season.

We seem to talk about these injuries all week, every week. Who practices? Who doesn't practice? Who is only allowed to practice on a limited basis? Who was placed on injured reserve? Who could return from injured reserve?

And guess what for Sunday in Atlanta?

In fact, this endless list of casualties is getting worse, if that's even possible, along with the needed reinforcements not yet ready to rush over the hill to the rescue.

Here's what we knew. The top four defensive ends heading into training camp don't appear to be even close to ready. Sam Williams is out for the season. DeMarcus Ware and Marshawn Kneeland are still on injured reserve and still working on resistance bands. Micah Parsons is a similar story, he starts with a little running, those high ankle sprains are tricky boogers. Not ready to practice, let alone play consistently.

Well then, cornerback. Pro Bowler DaRon Bland, last year's NFL interception leader with nine, has yet to play. Before the start of the season, he underwent surgery to repair his broken fifth metatarsal, a plate with screws inserted to facilitate recovery. Remember, in 2014, the same injury caused Lawrence to miss the first eight games of his rookie season.

Bland did not practice this week. He's outside. At least rookie Caelen Carson, who was a starter in Bland's absence until he missed the last four games with a shoulder injury, appears ready to return against the Falcons since he was taken off the injury report.

And that's a good thing, because Amani Oruwariye, who started the last three games and played half a quarter, suffered three broken transverse processes late in the Niners game and was placed on injured reserve. Seriously now. And perhaps making matters worse, Trevon Diggs, just seven games back from his ACL injury at the end of last season, suffered what he called a “severe” calf injury after the San Francisco game .

Haven't trained yet this week. Rehab. He likely won't know his status until after practice on Saturday as he is listed as “questionable” on the official injury report. I hate to even have to say this, but if Diggs is out, Carson and either Josh Butler, when elevated, will be at corner on Sunday against the NFL's sixth-ranked passing offense, averaging 250.9 yards per game and nearly eight rushing yards Each player in the starting lineup on game day will be from the practice squad or second-year cornerback Andrew Booth, whose stint lasted just half a season this season before Oruwariye took over the game against the Giants.

And look, that would mean a rookie starting at one corner and a guy in his second season on the Cowboys' practice squad who hasn't played in an NFL game at the other corner when the Cowboys are on their nickel defense, with veteran Jourdan Lewis in the slot. And unlike last Sunday, when Lewis started against Diggs with the Niners in a two-receiver set, Atlanta's base offense typically consists of three receivers.

Let it all sink in.

Oh, and let's not forget Brandin Cooks, who is still on IR (knee infection after receiving the injection to speed recovery from knee soreness he sustained at the end of training camp). The veteran wideout will miss the fourth game of his mandatory four-game stint on IR on Sunday, which began after the Week 4 win over the Giants, but has a chance to return next week.

Man, thank God our court system at least returned to practice on Thursday after kicker Brandon Aubrey missed all of jury duty last week in Fort Worth. Even the second-year kicker was shocked that he was singled out for a criminal trial since he had shown, according to the judge, that he has a sister-in-law in the Dallas DA's office and a lawyer brother.

I can't make this stuff up.

Look, get it. Every team has injuries. Happens every season, the Cowboys are certainly not immune. But so many in these two positions at the same time? Get out of here.

Now, at some point this season, everyone but Williams should return, and that includes veteran swing tackle Chuma Edoga, who is still on IR since the start of the season with a foot injury, and at least he's close.

So if you're wondering why the Cowboys can't put pressure on opposing quarterbacks, consider that their two Pro Bowl defensive ends are out and those two positions are now filled by Chauncy Golston, Tyrus Wheat and two late additions, Carl Lawson and KJ Henry, to be cast.

At linebacker, two of the three starters are now rookies. Two of the starting five on offense are rookies, with veteran Pro Bowler Zack Martin trying to recover from a shoulder injury.

Without Cooks, third-year receiver Jalen Tolbert has already played 388 snaps as the No. 2, 88 percent of the snaps, while he played a career-high 40 percent last season. After that, at the third receiver spot, it was a combination of KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks and rookie Ryan Flournoy. Entering this season, these three receivers had a combined 19 NFL catches.

Look, these are not excuses for 3-4. Just facts to consider. And I don't want to hear the old cliché that a $60 million-a-year quarterback, Dak Prescott, has to test the team. He's not out there playing singles, okay. Not even double. What other sport has 11 players starting on each side of the ball, for a total of 22, not counting special teams? Like the last game, the Cowboys played 46 of 48 active players, the only two who sat were backup quarterback Cooper Rush and third-string running back Deuce Vaughn.

Nobody wants to say anything about it. Not Dak. Not CeeDee. Not Zack. Not Mike McCarthy. You know how that sounds.

As for Jerry, he will even say the team is “green.” He will say the team is growing but will have more experience once the experienced players return.

“When I look at the reasons why we're here, it's really hard for me to get past sheer youth and sheer inexperience on the offensive line. And it's hard for me to get over that turnover (ratio),” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says the team is minus-8. “I'm telling you, if you look at this and know what turnovers mean to you, we, the Cowboys, turned the ball over 13 times in seven games. Last year we did this all year long. “I only turn it over 16 times.

Otherwise everything that is said seems to come from the book of clichés. Need more concentration. Must be executed. There needs to be better communication. More attention needs to be paid to details. Fine.

The real need is to get better players on the field, not on injured reserve. Not in the training room. At least better players than those playing on the other team that day.

“It is what it is,” Dak says of those first seven games. “Right now we are 3-4 and we have a chance to get even again this week.”

So on to Atlanta where I try to change that “same” broken record.