The Cowboys are heading into Week 9 with the same uneasy feeling that has hung over their season for weeks: the talent is there, but the results keep slipping away.
Inside The Star, the mood has turned reflective after a stretch of uneven football and another round of conversations with Brian Schottenheimer, Christian Parker, Klayton Adams and several key players. Dallas now gets the decimated Indianapolis Colts in the noon window, and the urgency is obvious. The Cowboys need a win for their playoff hopes, but also for the temperature in the locker room.
A big part of the frustration comes from the offense, where the inconsistency has become impossible to ignore. Over the last three weeks, Dallas has converted 38.5%, 61.4% and 37.5% on third down. That kind of swing has fueled the same explanation over and over: execution.
Dak Prescott didn’t try to hide how aggravating it has been.
“It’s hard to say we’re pressing,” quarterback Dak Prescott said. “But, yeah, when you’ve got the talent we’ve got, when you’ve got the expectation, the standards that we have for ourselves and you go three-and-out or you don’t score a touchdown, yeah, that’s frustrating and you’ve got to make sure that you don’t allow that to continue to bleed because then that bleeds into guys making [mistakes] or not doing the details the right way because they want the big play rather than just sticking to it.”
CeeDee Lamb echoed that same sentiment, putting the blame on the offense itself.
“We stop ourselves,” Lamb said. “That sh** is frustrating.
It’s annoying. I hate it.
And then ultimately, we end up losing.”
That lack of rhythm has also raised questions about identity. Dallas keeps shifting between leaning on the run and leaning on the pass, and that back-and-forth has only added to the sense that the offense hasn’t settled into anything reliable. Even with numbers and league rankings that sit near the top of the NFL in some areas, the Cowboys still feel like they haven’t put together their best offensive football through eight games.
The frustration isn’t limited to one side of the ball, either. Christian Parker recently gave a blunt assessment of DaRon Bland, saying the Cowboys need more from the fifth-year defensive back.
“We need more from him. He knows that, we’ve had some good talks about that.
I think he’s battling. The frustrating thing for him and for us has been he’s been close and contesting.
Now, it’s about the final piece of just finishing those plays,” Parker said via Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “We just got to get back to making that consistent.”
Sunday’s matchup also brings a Colts team that looks vulnerable on paper, but Dallas can’t afford to overlook anything after the losses it has already piled up. Indianapolis is 2-6 and has moved into selling mode, having already fired general manager Chris Ballard and traded away defensive lineman DeForest Buckner and guard Quenton Nelson. There have also been rumors about other players, including Taylor and Downs, but based on Schultz’s report, it sounds like they will be involved on Sunday.
On the field, one matchup to watch is Quinnen Williams against rookie Jalen Farmer. Williams started slowly this season but has recently been playing at an elite level, including two sacks last week against the Cardinals. Against a fourth-round pick, the expectation is that No. 92 can create problems in both the run game and as a pass rusher.
There’s also the bigger roster question hovering around Dallas as the trade deadline approaches. The Cowboys still haven’t decided whether they should buy or sell, but one thing they should avoid is standing still.
If they do lean toward selling, T.J. Bass is one name that could make sense as a moveable piece.
He signed a one-year, $5.76 million restricted free-agent tender in March, and while he gives Dallas experienced guard depth, a team looking for immediate offensive line help might value him more than the Cowboys do if they don’t expect to bring him back beyond this season.
A fifth-round pick would be a logical starting point, with a sixth-rounder still worth considering depending on how Dallas feels about its remaining reserves.
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