NFL Open Thread: May the Beav Stay in Dallas Forever Edition

It’s Cowboys Elimination Day! And this year they were unable to lose the game with an epically bad play Mike McCarthy play call, because they were absolutely blown off the field by the youngest team in the NFL:

If that is how Jones describes winning a Super Bowl, then I shudder to think how he would describe Dallas’s 48-32 loss to the Packers on Sunday. The final score doesn’t do the game justice. The Cowboys were embarrassed from the opening drive and were down 32 points in the fourth quarter.

Dallas allowed the most points in a playoff game in team history. Green Bay had 20 points before Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb had a catch. Packers quarterback Jordan Love finished one point off of a perfect passer rating versus Dallas’s vaunted defense. When Green Bay went up 27-0, the Packers had more interception return yards (64) than Prescott had passing yards to his own team (61), per ESPN Stats & Info.

Another rebuttal to the ridiculous claim that Belichick is just a generic coach and anybody would win 6 Super Bowls with a great QB even though nobody else has is the fact that McCarthy went 10-8 in the playoffs with one Super Bowl appearance while having Aaron Rodgers, who was in his prime clearly better than Tom Brady was at any point during the first three Patriots Super Bowls. (Bill Belichick? 30-11 with Brady. Yeah, you could totally plug Jeff Fisher in there and get the same result. And yes I will get the extended warranty.) He and his staff had an epic meltdown even by McCarthy playoff standards:

But most of the ire from this game will rightfully be directed at McCarthy and the coaching staff. In a season when Dallas dominated by throwing on offense and playing man on defense, Dallas came out running and playing zone. Love shredded Dallas, starting 8-of-10 for 135 yards vs. zone coverage. It wasn’t the only mistake from the Cowboys. Micah Parsons was dropped into coverage on an early third-and-9, leading to a Packers conversion. A Dallas defender ran into the Packers punt returner on what should have been a fair catch, drawing a penalty that moved the ball from the 9-yard line to the 24-yard line (Super Bowl teams can usually defend a fair catch, but not Dallas). Packers tight end Luke Musgrave caught the game-sealing touchdown by getting about as wide open as humanly possible. The Cowboys killed their own comeback attempt by committing a penalty on a two-point conversion, which is supposed to be the best—and most buttoned-up—play an offense has. It was the classic lack of attention to detail that McCarthy teams have come to embody. But the best way to illustrate how thoroughly McCarthy was outcoached by Matt LaFleur, the man who replaced him, is through timeouts.

After the TV timeout at the end of the first quarter, LaFleur drew up a pass to Doubs for 15 yards that took Green Bay to the 1-yard line (Aaron Jones punched in the touchdown on the next play, giving Doubs the hockey assist). On Green Bay’s fourth drive, LaFleur used a timeout to draw up a 39-yard catch-and-run to Romeo Doubs. When McCarthy used a timeout later on the same drive, LaFleur drew up a third-and-7 touchdown pass to rookie fifth-round wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks. Even on defense, the Packers jumped a Prescott throw to Lamb for a pick-six after the two-minute warning. That is four clock stoppages in the first half that went for two Packers touchdowns and set up a third, plus another 39-yard gain. Every time Green Bay’s coaches had a second to breathe, they knew exactly how to attack Dallas.

This seems like a good time to note that Jerry Jones hired McCarthy in part because Dallas kept losing to the Packers. That Green Bay—the youngest team in the NFL, which was entering this season in a transition year—is defeating the Dallas Cowboys and Jones, who is apparently trying to make deals with the devil and not hearing back, makes it even more heart-wrenching for Cowboys fans. And it only adds to the lore of Green Bay bashing Dallas. The loss ended Dallas’s undefeated mark at home this season—and 16-game home winning streak. The streak that survived is Green Bay’s undefeated 5-0 mark at AT&T Stadium.

[…]

A good coach would do wonders for Dallas. The Cowboys draft incredibly well. They selected Prescott in the fourth round. They built a stout offensive line with (Hall of Fame) guard Zack Martin, center Travis Frederick, and left tackle Tyron Smith, and they rebuilt it with guard Tyler Smith and center Tyler Biadasz. They drafted most of their defensive contributors, including edge rushers Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence; cornerbacks Trevon Diggs, Jourdan Lewis, and DaRon Bland (fifth-rounder); and safeties Donovan Wilson (sixth-rounder) and Jayron Kearse (seventh-rounder). Dallas might be the best drafting team of the past decade. Those picks are courtesy of Dallas’s front office personnel guru Will McClay (who just got a raise after getting more general manager interview requests this month).

Dan Quinn was apparently the frontrunner for the Seahawks head coaching job. I did not get this before the game — why replace Pete Carroll with the store brand version? Let’s just say that my views have not changed:

McCarthy’s offense did eventually find its footing in the second half, but by that point it had already been decided. Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry won the coaching matchup, which has been a rare occurrence this season, and it’s not like he threw some great game plan at Dallas. Barry offered up his typical menu of coverages and pressures: conservative zone defense and soft man coverage. The goal, as always with Barry’s defense, was to stay on top of routes and limit vertical throws. And the Cowboys’ offensive resurgence this season was powered by vertical throws, especially over the second half of the season.

Those weren’t there—in the first half, at least—and Prescott didn’t have great secondary options to choose from. Prescott’s two picks will get plenty of attention, but his coach didn’t provide him with many open receivers, as Fox analyst Greg Olsen mentioned several times during the broadcast. That Green Bay was able to limit Dallas’s passing game with Barry’s typical zone coverages is a bad look for McCarthy, whose main selling point is his offensive acumen and play-calling.

Quinn also comes away from this game looking pretty rough. His defense gave up 48 points and a near-perfect day to Jordan Love in his playoff debut, and Quinn stuck with six defensive backs throughout the game, even when Green Bay put extra running backs and tight ends on the field. Having that extra speed on the field didn’t help Dallas in pass coverage, either, with Packers receivers finding acres of space downfield.

Quinn never really adjusted throughout the game. Even in the fourth quarter, when the Packers were just looking to bleed the clock, he kept his pass-first defense on the field and allowed Green Bay to run without much resistance. A failure to adjust has been a theme throughout Quinn’s career as a play caller. He has that in common with his head coach.

Incredibly soft pass coverage that doesn’t adjust even though the opposing OC has clearly broken the code? Seahawks fans have seen plenty of that over the last three years already, thanks.

Where is dallas cowboys defense, someone is getting fired at the of this game wide open for TD #GreenBay pic.twitter.com/zOPqVedYg9— vexan (@treeshardar) January 14, 2024

It is unclear at this point whether McCarthy will survive this, but I certainly hope that he does!

W/r to today’s games, I’ll take the Steelers +10 (I don’t think they will win but don’t like laying that many points in this weather.) I would urge you to avoid the second game because the health status of both QBs is a mystery, but if you’re one of those desperate types who just has to bet…Tampa +3, I guess?