The highs and lows from Week 3 for the Dallas Cowboys.
If the Arizona Cardinals 28-16 victory over the Dallas Cowboys wasn’t the upset of the week, it’s certainly in the running. This was as embarrassing and disappointing a loss as the Cowboys have had in quite some time, and hopefully the last one they have this year. Hopefully they can put it behind them, because there is still a lot of football to play in 2023.
The best thing the Dallas Cowboys to do is use this embarrassing loss for kindling the fire within to hopefully propel them to bigger and better things to come this season. This slap in the face will hopefully serve as nothing more than a learning experience that is easily and quickly forgotten.
Before we can put this unfortunate loss behind us, let’s take a look at the good, bad, and ugly from this Week 3 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. Unlike the first two weeks of the season though, things of kind of flipped on their head and instead of having more positive things to discuss we have more negative this week.
THE GOOD – Brandon Aubrey
In a game where everything seemed to go against the Dallas Cowboys, Brandon Aubrey was a bright spot Sunday afternoon in the Week 3 matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. He was successful on all three of his kicking attempts, two field goals and one extra point. In three career games in the NFL he’s been as close to automatic as possible with the exception of one missed extra point attempt on his first ever kick in Week 1. He’s turned himself into a difference making kind of weapon and one who can be relied upon.
The Cowboys also got a performance out of Michael Gallup this week. He caught six passes for 92 yards and was clutch in helping to move the sticks. He also drew a pass interference penalty in the end zone that should have set up Dallas at the one-yard line, but the refs mysteriously picked up the flag.
THE BAD – Self-inflicted wounds
The Dallas Cowboys self-inflicted wounds is something we had hoped they had put behind them, but sadly that doesn’t seem to be the case. They had blown assignments, bonehead mistakes, and numerous penalties that helped pave the way for an embarrassing loss to the Arizona Cardinals, who were winless on the season until pulling off the upset. Dallas’ coaching staff and players alike have some soul-searching to do this week. They’ll need to find some way to get back on track after getting out-muscled by a less talented team.
THE UGLY – Offense, defense, and special teams
There was no resemblance to the team we had seen play against the Giants and Jets in the first two weeks of the season to the one who played Sunday afternoon against the Arizona Cardinals. The Dallas Cowboys completely got beat physically and were outplayed by an inferior opponent. Offensively they could never really get anything going, defensively they gave up way too many big plays and touchdowns, and on special teams penalties negated a big return from KaVontae Turpin. This team is better than that, at least that’s what we thought.
The Cowboys redzone worries continue on offense where they blew multiple opportunities again this week. The run defense was non-existent in the first half, something they can’t blame on the loss of Trevon Diggs. The Cardinals exposed some serious cracks within this team, and the coaching staff needs to figure out a way to repair it.