By Dwain Price
ARLINGTON – Things sure have changed rather quickly over the last couple of weeks for the Dallas Cowboys.
Following the first three games of the National Football League season, Cowboys’ fans were strategically making plans to be in Miami to watch their favorite team play in the next Super Bowl. However, two horrific games later, now those same fans are systemically wondering if the Cowboys even have what it takes to qualify for the playoffs.
Some player from Green Bay who goes by the first name of “Aaron” accounted for four touchdowns Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium and guided the Packers to a pulsating 34-24 triumph over the Cowboys. But it wasn’t the “Aaron” who usually torments the Cowboys.
Aaron Jones rushed for a career-high four touchdowns as the Packers raced to an insurmountable 31-3 late in the third quarter. It marked the first time anyone has ever rushed for four touchdowns against the Cowboys in their storied 60-year history.
Meanwhile, the Packers’ other “Aaron” – future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers – didn’t exactly put up any gaudy numbers. But he made more than his share of critical plays that kept the Cowboys at bay and ran his perfect record at AT&T Stadium to 5-0.
It was the second straight loss for the Cowboys after they opened the season with three consecutive wins. Their wins came against New York, Washington, and Miami – three teams with a combined 2-12 record – while the losses to New Orleans and the Packers are against teams with a combined 8-2 record.
“Sure, we might have sniffed ourselves a little bit too much (after the 3-0 record to start the season) and that’s why I said we’ll take these last two games – especially this one – and say, ‘Hey, we probably needed that and we’ll get better because of it,’ “quarterback Dak Prescott said. “That’s why I said maybe we’ll look back at this four, five games later — however many games it is — and say, ‘That was good for us because we became the team that we are now.’
“The men we have in the locker room, there’s no doubt in my mind that that’s what we’ll do,” Prescott said.
Prescott, for one, knows he must play better for things to turn around for the Cowboys. Although he tossed a pair of touchdowns and threw for a career-high 463 yards against the Packers, his three interceptions were keys in a loss that left the Cowboys (3-2) tied with Philadelphia for first place in the NFC East.
“I don’t care how many yards I had or anything else like that,” Prescott said. “I had three interceptions and a loss.
“I don’t care what career-high I have. None of that matters.”
The Cowboys gallantly fought and crawled back into the game thanks to Prescott, and were on the verge of making it a one-possession contest. But kicker Brett Maher missed a short 33-yard field goal with 1:41 remaining in the game, sending a large portion of the crowd of 93,024 scurrying for the exits.
In the first half, Maher misfired on a 54-yard field goal attempt with the Cowboys down 17-0.
“Obviously, there were two big kicks missed that we needed, and he didn’t make them,” coach Jason Garrett said. “But he’s made a lot of big kicks for us in the past.
“We have a lot of confidence in him, and we will continue to give him opportunities,” Garrett stated.
Because the Cowboys fell behind by 28 points with a little over a quarter left in the game, running back, Ezekiel Elliott didn’t get many opportunities to strut his stuff. Elliott, who recently signed a five-year, $90 million extension, had just 12 rushes for 62 yards and a touchdown and two receptions for 29 yards.
And like his teammates, he knows these back-to-back losses set off some high-powered alarm bells in Cowboys Nation, who saw Amari Cooper caught 11 passes for 226 yards and a touchdown.
“I think it is a reality check,” Elliott said. “I think we’ve just got to take this loss, take these last two losses and use them as fuel.
“We’ve got to come out and play a lot harder, play a lot better, and execute. It’s going to be hard to win games in this league if we keep shooting ourselves in the foot, so we’ve just got to be a better team.”
Offensively, the Cowboys racked up an incredible 563 yards of total offense. But their defense allowed 335 yards, including 107 rushing yards to Jones on just 19 carries.
All of that, the Cowboys know, much change – along with the turnover situation – before they face the 0-4 New York Jets on the road on Sunday at 3:25 p.m.
“We’re just really in the business of getting back to work and trying to get better,” Garrett said. “Our goal every week is to get better each and every day in practice and get better from week to week, and we’ll continue to strive to do that.
“Two challenging games (against New Orleans and Green Bay). We didn’t get it done in either of them the last couple of weeks. We’ll learn from the experience and hopefully grow and get stronger and get better as we go.”
