Cowboys Corner: Trust Jerry Jones? Time to panic? What’s up with CeeDee Lamb?

chonprasit

National Football League

Published Sep. 25, 2024 2:31 p.m. ET

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Jerry Jones isn’t ready to panic, even if the rest of Cowboys Nation is.

The Dallas Cowboys‘ “all-in” owner was very much in favor of staying the unsteady course after the Cowboys lost again at home on Sunday, this time to the Baltimore Ravens. He seems to love this team. He refuses to focus on its obvious problems.

And he has no apparent worry that Dallas has opened this season 1-2.

Whether he should be worried is a matter for debate, but there is no doubt that his team is facing a crucial game on a short week as the Cowboys travel to New Jersey to face the New York Giants (1-2) on Thursday night. A 1-3 mark was unimaginable two weeks ago, but the Cowboys’ myriad flaws have been exposed during their shaky start.

So, what are the biggest issues and questions facing America’s Team heading into their crucial Week 4 matchup? FOX Sports NFL writers David Helman and Ralph Vacchiano break it all down in our latest edition of Cowboys Corner.

1. Was Dallas’ near-comeback in the fourth quarter against Baltimore a good sign for the future, or just meaningless, garbage-time points?

Vacchiano: It’s always good when a team shows some kind of life. It surely will build some confidence for Dak Prescott and the offense. That’s still a pretty good defense they rallied against, even though the Ravens were sitting back a bit and the Cowboys were helped by an onside kick. But nobody should get too crazy. Those were mostly meaningless, garbage-time points and yards.

When it mattered most, when it was still a game, the Cowboys were mostly a disaster. And it’s also hard to say there were any good signs for the future, what with the Cowboys’ two biggest issues still evident in the fourth quarter: They can’t run, and they can’t stop the run. If anything, their final flurry was a reminder that Prescott is really good and can put up big numbers when needed. But he’s still not getting much help.

Helman: We’ve got to be stricter with our definition of “garbage time,” because holding a 22-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter is not a safe situation in the NFL. Go flip on the fourth quarter tape of Cowboys-Ravens, and you’ll see Baltimore doing all the stuff it normally does. They blitzed Dak Prescott, they disguised coverage, they simulated pressures. There was nothing “garbage” about that rally. The more important question is why it took three quarters for the Cowboys’ offense to approach that level of functionality. I’ll call it encouraging but not sustainable. The Cowboys have to find a way to be more balanced, and it’d help tremendously if they can play some games where they aren’t trailing by 10-plus right out of the gate.

2. The Cowboys beat the Giants twice last season by a combined score of 89-17. But they’re both 1-2 now with their seasons in disarray. Has the gap between these teams closed at all, or should Thursday night be another easy win for Dallas?

Helman: I’m not exaggerating when I say this game will tell me everything I need to know about the state of the Cowboys. The Giants’ overall talent level has improved, and Malik Nabers is a baller. I still think there’s a solid gap between these two squads. If the Cowboys can’t get to Daniel Jones and create turnovers, or at least stops, then I’m not optimistic about this defense finding its footing. And conversely, if Dak Prescott can’t take advantage of a Giants defense that’s been very blitz-happy the past two weeks, then there are some big issues in Dallas.

Vacchiano: Yes, the gap has closed in the sense that the Cowboys aren’t as good as they were a year ago and the Giants aren’t as bad. I’m not sure that it’s closed all that much, though. They’re both 1-2 and the Cowboys have looked terrible the past two weeks, but I still think they are generally a good, deep team. And if you go down the depth chart, the Cowboys are better at every single position group. That doesn’t mean this game will be 40-0 or 49-17.

The Giants were overwhelmed in their first game against the Cowboys last year because their offensive line was a complete disaster, and they were blown out in the second in large part because their quarterback was Tommy DeVito. The line has been much better this season and Daniel Jones is coming off two good games; those upgrades alone should help the Giants keep things close. Winning is another story, but they shouldn’t be blown out as badly as they were twice last year.

3. Did the Saints and Ravens just show the NFL the blueprint for beating the Cowboys? Are teams now just going to try to run on them all game long?

Vacchiano: Yes, they did. And other teams should follow it, though to be honest, none of this was really a surprise. The secret to beating the Cowboys is to run the ball all over them on offense and to do whatever is necessary to shut down CeeDee Lamb on defense, because the Cowboys can’t run or stop the run. They weren’t good at either last year either, and they didn’t do much to improve in the offseason, so the blueprint remains really clear.

The Cowboys are going to be vulnerable to any strong rushing team on their schedule, and even the weaker rushing teams are likely to stick to the ground — at least until Dallas’ defense improves. Shutting down Lamb won’t be nearly as easy, of course. He’s going to have his big games at some point. But he remains the one guy in the Cowboys offense that opposing teams really have to be concerned about.

Helman: I typically think “blueprint” talk is overrated — but not when you can’t stop the run. There are currently five teams in the NFL that haven’t allowed as many rushing yards on the season as the Cowboys did against the Ravens. When you struggle like that, teams are going to target you. My only question for this week is whether the Giants have the scheme and personnel to replicate the Saints’ and Ravens’ success. If New York can do it, I think it means most anyone in the league can — which puts the Cowboys in deep, deep trouble.

4. CeeDee Lamb has had a really quiet start to the season and has only caught 54.2% of the passes thrown his way. Is that just a product of his summer-long holdout, or a warning sign that teams are able to take him away?

Helman: Why can’t it be both? Lamb is definitely playing his way back into game shape. He even told reporters last week that he and Prescott are still working on “training camp things.” But I also think it’s fair to be concerned about the options behind Lamb, and how much defenses can afford to focus on him. If we’re looking for positives from the loss to Baltimore, it was encouraging to see Jake Ferguson and Jalen Tolbert both show up and put in solid performances. That needs to keep happening. But more importantly, Lamb needs to step his game up.

Vacchiano: This looks to me like a very predictable result of his holdout. As good as he is, and as familiar as he is with his quarterback, a receiver can’t just show up with no practice time and expect to be completely in sync with the QB. We’ve seen it time and time again in the NFL. Being just a hair off in timing or the way routes are run can mean the difference between a catch and an incompletion. Lamb has caught just 13 of the 24 passes thrown his way for 218 yards and a touchdown. It’s impossible to say how many of the 11 misses were timing issues, but it’s a good bet that more than half of them were.

The good news, of course, is that by now you’d think Prescott and Lamb would have had enough time to get their timing back, so they’re probably due for a big game to even things out. Sure, Lamb is going to be covered a lot — he’s the best thing about the Cowboys’ offense by far. But that was true last season, too, and he still caught 135 passes for 1,749 yards and 12 touchdowns. So, no, nobody has figured out how to take him away completely. He will very likely turn his slow start into a big year.

5. Jerry Jones said on Sunday that he’s “all-in” on the personnel on this team and doesn’t feel any need to go out and make a big trade. Is he delusional, or is he right that this team is good enough to turn its season around?

Vacchiano: Completely and totally delusional. … OK, maybe not totally. The Cowboys are good, and they will likely turn their season around. But remember where the standards are. It’s basically Super Bowl or bust in Dallas, and if Jones thinks that this team, as is, can make the Super Bowl with its current roster, then he’s crazier than everybody thinks. The Cowboys need … something. Trades aren’t easy, and it’s not like other teams are going to give away All-Pro defensive tackles or running backs — the two positions the Cowboys need to address the most. But Jones has to at least try. Or maybe he can go bargain shopping, like by dealing for Carolina’s extra running back Miles Sanders. Or honestly, even a No. 2 receiver could boost this team.

There’s a buzz around the league that Amari Cooper — the No. 2 receiver the Cowboys should have kept a few years back — might be on the block at some point. Big, bold moves can really boost a team’s chances and give them a kick in the rear to get them rolling. At this point, Jones would be making a mistake to just stand pat and not at least explore other options. Because if he can add a key piece and all it costs him is draft picks? How could he possibly justify not making a move like that?

Helman: The thing about the Cowboys is that they’re a stubborn bunch. They don’t want to overspend in free agency, they don’t want to pay top dollar for their own players, and they don’t want to admit their mistakes until they have to. We’ve seen this song and dance before, back in 2018 when they cut Dez Bryant and didn’t adequately replace him until a 3-4 record forced them to make a move for Amari Cooper.

Now, I’m not ready to say the Cowboys will make a splash like that, but they’re willing to reverse course when they must. So, either this team is going to step up and vindicate Jerry, or he’s going to change his tune. Personally, I think it’s more likely that he changes his tune than winds up being right. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a way to add a running back or a defensive tackle within the next 5-6 weeks.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

David Helman covers the NFL for FOX Sports and hosts the NFL on FOX podcast. He previously spent nine seasons covering the Cowboys for the team’s official website. In 2018, he won a regional Emmy for his role in producing “Dak Prescott: A Family Reunion” about the quarterback’s time at Mississippi State. Follow him on Twitter at @davidhelman_.