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INDIANAPOLIS - Nothing went right for the Cowboys on Sunday. A five-game winning streak came to an end courtesy of their worst performance of the season.
Here are my thoughts on Dallas getting dominated by the Indianapolis Colts, 23-0, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
1. The defense was awful across the board. They couldn't tackle. They got very little pressure on Andrew Luck. They didn't make any plays in the secondary. The rushing defense had to be the worst of the season. The Colts have a good offense. They came in ranked eighth in the NFL at 382 yards and just under 27 points per game. But it was stunning to see the Cowboys play so poorly in all areas. For the first time since Week 7 in Washington, the Cowboys' defense allowed points in the first quarter. They then did the same in the second, third and fourth.
2. The offense wasn't any better. For the first time since losing 12-0 to the Patriots in 2003, the Cowboys were shut out. The red zone woes continued. Dak Prescott and the passing game was brutal. There were some big plays in the running game, but the deficit got to be too much to continue to hand the ball off. There's plenty of blame to go around, but the execution was sloppy. The biggest blown opportunity came early in the second quarter when Jamize Olawale dropped what should have been an easy TD that would have tied the game 7-7. Everything was pretty much downhill after that.
3. Darius Leonard won the battle against fellow rookie linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. Leonard was all over the place Sunday, leading the Colts with 11 tackles, one tackle for loss and two passes defensed. Vander Esch didn't make a significant impact. After one fourth-down stop, Leonard even mocked Vander Esch by doing his signature wolf howl. The two were part of the Defensive Rookie of the Year conversation going into the game. It's now clear that the award will come down to Leonard and Chargers safety Derwin James.
4. Why are the Cowboys such a disaster in the red zone? As much as fans would like to blame just offensive coordinator Scott Linehan or Dak Prescott or the offensive line, it's really a combination of everything. When the protection is good, there's a bad throw or a bad route or a dropped pass. When everything else goes well, Prescott is getting immediate pressure, or there's a penalty for holding. The Cowboys are still very likely to make the playoffs, but as of right now, the red zone problems are the biggest reason to have doubts about a long postseason run.
5. Was Sunday's loss an example of where the Cowboys are headed or was it an outlier? The Colts have been rolling the last two months, but they had an embarrassing showing of their own two weeks ago against Jacksonville, falling 6-0. They've rebounded well. Indy has now won seven of its last eight. Will the Cowboys do the same? It won't take long to find out. With Washington's win and Dallas' loss on Sunday, the Cowboys will have to wait another week to have a shot at clinching their second NFC East title in three years.
