The buildup to the Cowboys' season opener was palpable but it ended in disappointment for Dallas, a 20-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night.
The Cowboys' offense flashed its explosive potential throughout the game but failed to finish drives and secure points at crucial moments, as an inability to slow Aaron Donald and some unfortunate play sequencing hurt Dallas efforts.
The Cowboys' defense struggled mightily to start the game, failing to force a punt or turnover until the end of the third quarter (not counting the missed field goal). The defense did tighten up, finishing the game with an interception and three forced punts over the final 16 minutes or so of the game.
The Rams' offense did an excellent job of minimizing the Cowboys' pass rush, using quick passes, screens and play-action to limit its ability to affect the game. Dallas' linebackers and safeties went through some serious struggles against the misdirection Los Angeles used throughout the game.
In the end, it was a ticky-tacky offensive pass interference penalty on Michael Gallup that prevented the Cowboys from having a real shot to tie or win the game late. Gallup did slightly push off of Jalen Ramsey to generate late separation, but it wasnt egregious enough to warrant a penalty.
On the bright side, the Cowboys made the playoffs each of the last three times their season started with a loss. Hopefully for the Cowboys' sake, they can make it four in a row. And with that, lets dive into a few things we learned about the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.
For an undrafted rookie who looked like he didnt belong in the NFL at the pre-draft Senior Bowl, Terence Steele acquitted himself quite well given the circumstances. Was he great? No. But he wasnt the unmitigated disaster many expected him to be.
He actually played well enough that the Cowboys could have earned a victory.
The same cannot be said for whoever was opposite Aaron Donald throughout the game, as the offensive line really felt the loss of Travis Frederick at center. Connor Williams bore the brunt of Donalds excellence, struggling with the Rams defensive tackles incredible blend of speed, power and technique.
Yet Williams was far from the only one.
Zack Martin and Joe Looney at times also got tuned up by the greatest defensive player on Earth.
Donald finished with four tackles and a sack, which seems good until you realize he was constantly making Dak Prescotts life difficult in the pocket with constant pressure. Donald finished with 10 pressures on 35 pass-rush snaps, according to Next Gen Stats. To put into context just how dominant he was, Donald in 2019 finished with a 13.5% pressure rate, which he more than doubled on Sunday night, posting an incredible 28.6% pressure rate.
Unfortunately for Dallas, life isnt going to get much easier for the interior offensive line. Next week, it has the unenviable task of blocking Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett for 60 minutes.
For the Cowboys' offense to operate among the NFLs best, as hoped, it will need to shore up the interior protection quickly.
It didnt take Aldon Smith long to get acclimated to the speed of the game after five years away from the NFL. He was one of the bigger bright spots for the Cowboys' defense.
Finishing with a team-high 11 tackles and a sack, Smith was outstanding against the run and came up with a huge third-down sack in the fourth quarter to get the defense off of the field as the Rams closed in on a scoring opportunity. The sack was a result of excellent initial footwork and great field awareness. Lets take a look:
With the Rams in a third-and-long situation, the Cowboys put their best pass-rush package on the field -- DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford, Everson Griffen and Smith aligned as the four defensive linemen.
Smith, aligned in a stand-up, two-point stance on the outside edge of Rams left guard Joe Noteboom -- a mismatch we identified among our bold predictions -- does an excellent job of manipulating Noteboom with his tricky initial footwork.
To illustrate, first look at Smiths two-point stance. He has his left foot forward, which typically means his first step is going to be with his right foot. Smith, however, loads his weight on his back foot and immediately steps toward Notebooms inside edge. Caught off guard, Noteboom has no choice but to immediately react inside. This forces Noteboom to open the gate -- turn his shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage -- to recover once Smith redirects back outside.
Noteboom actually does a good job of latching on to Smiths frame as he scrambles to recover, putting himself in position to push Smith past the pocket despite the initial penetration. But because Noteboom opened the gate, he is in a woefully inept position to cut Smith off once he spins back inside.
It wasnt the cleanest spin, but Smiths timing was so good and Noteboom was so out of position that it worked.
That wasnt Smiths only notable contribution as a pass rusher. He was able to generate another pressure on a tackle/end stunt with Griffen that directly led to Chidobe Awuzies interception.
All of that said, Smith made his most consistent impact against the run. The Cowboys did an excellent job of scheming Smith into mismatches against tight ends and he took full advantage, as his length and heavy hands were simply too much for the overmatched flankers. The Cowboys played Smith predominately as the strong-side defensive end/outside linebacker (depending on the front) in an effort to guarantee those matchups against tight ends, and Smith routinely made the Rams pay.
Its really impressive that Smith could acclimate to the game so quickly despite the considerable layoff. His pass-rush ability, specifically his hand technique, was still a little rusty, but the fact he was able to find ways to contribute is a great indication of the type of impact hes going to make this season.
Lawrence is still the best defender on the team, but Smith was arguably the best one Sunday night. It took him just one week to outperform his contract and prove to be a bargain.
Many are going to criticize Mike McCarthy for going for it on fourth down instead of kicking the would-be game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter, but that aggressiveness is what the fan base has wanted for the past 10 years. Its unfair to criticize McCarthy just because it didnt work out in the end.
If theres an area where the coaching staff deserves criticism, its with some of their play sequencing on offense.
For example, the decision to run the ball before that crucial fourth down (a third-and-6 with 12:26 left in the fourth) was much more ill-advised. What we dont know is whether the Cowboys called that run, or if Prescott checked into once he identified that Los Angeles was in a light box (five men) with two high safeties. Even if running into a light box, its not wise to do it right at Donald, who -- as previously stated -- was nearly unblockable all night. Donald proved it again by beating Martin to force Ezekiel Elliott to cut into the teeth of the defense, ending the possibility of a first-down conversion.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it would have been smarter to stick with the passing game in that scenario. Calling a pass would have made it more likely that the Cowboys would pick up a first down. If the pass fell incomplete, fourth-and-6 isnt much worse from a historical perspective on conversions than fourth-and-3 is -- teams (from 2009-19) convert on fourth-and-6 around 42% of the time, while fourth-and-3 isnt much better at 49%.
The need to keep the running game involved seemed to come back to bite the Cowboys on a few occasions. All four of Dallas' punts were preceded by a run on the first down of those series. In fact, the Cowboys converted a first down or touchdown on 87.5% of their series (14 of 16) that started with passes but just 62.5% of the series that started with runs.
Throwing more on first down will create shorter down-and-distances, which are advantageous situations in which to run the football. Additionally, throwing more heavily on first down will cause defenses to allocate more resources toward defending the pass, meaning that when Dallas eventually runs on first down, it will see lighter boxes than usual.
While it may seem to be the contrary, throwing more often on first down, in theory, creates better situations for running the football.
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Film room: 3 things we learned from Cowboys' loss to LA Rams, including an area Dallas needs to shore up - The Dallas Morning News
