FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys were served some “humble pie” in the words of linebacker Eric Kendricks after their 44-19 loss against the New Orleans Saints.
It’s a fair metaphor for their performance since the Dallas defense was only the fifth since 2000 to allow a team to score a touchdown on each of their first six drives to start the game. Saints five-time Pro Bowl running back Alvin Kamara, along with new Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and his Shanahan tree offense, led the charge. Kamara went off for 180 yards from scrimmage (115 rushing on 20 carries and 65 receiving on two catches) to go along with four touchdowns (three rushing and one receiving), which now stands as the most scrimmage touchdowns ever in a Saints road game.
Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons called Kamara “the main focus” during the week, and even though many around the NFL world are declaring that Dallas has a scheme issue with Shanahan tree offenses, citing postseason losses against Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers (2021 and 2022) and Matt LaFleur’s Green Bay Packers (2023), Parsons doesn’t think the disappointing performance against Kamara and the Saints had anything to do with scheme. Worse, he felt it had to do with the defense’s effort.
“To me, it had nothing to do with the scheme,” Parsons said Sunday. “I thought [defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer] called a pretty good game. There was a man (coverage) play we had in a screen (Kamara’s 57-yard receiving touchdown), but at the end of the day, that’s life. No play is going to be a perfect call. At the end of the day, I believe we just got outplayed. Whoever played on that field, everyone didn’t play to 100%, and that’s just me being accountable and saying the truth. Everyone, we all got to play better. There’s some plays I wish that I had back schematically, things that I wish I was in a different position. At the end of the day, I believe I still go out there and do 100 (percent effort). I just feel like there is a lot of BS.”
Head coach Mike McCarthy disagreed wholeheartedly with Parsons’ assessment. He believes his players need to be better prepared so that they fire off the ball and make an impact within 2.3 seconds — his measurement of how quick crucial things happen on any given football play. That’s the message he gave to the entire team Monday afternoon.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an effort issue,” McCarthy said. “They finished better than we did. I thought they played better than we did at the end of each play. Not every play but overall as far as the evaluations. So that’s what we’re focused on moving forward.”
Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer cited the Saints’ offense being quicker off the snap as his fault because Cowboys defensive linemen were slower with their hands than their New Orleans counterparts.
“I don’t really think it was an effort issue,” Zimmer said Monday. “They quick-counted us a few times. Obviously, they had a good scheme, but it was things we worked on.”
When the topic of his defensive tackles came up, Zimmer refused to blame Kamara’s huge rushing game on his interior linemen.
“Really most of the guys I didn’t coach up good enough. It really isn’t one spot. There were things that we didn’t do well. We ran under some blocks. We had some perimeter run force issues. That’s [on] me.”
How prepared a football team is to play on Sundays is something McCarthy takes personally, which is why he is ready for everyone at the team facility to get back and grind.
“Days like this are hard on everybody,” he said. “I know these days, you got to get past them. Obviously I’m looking forward to getting out of here so then I’ll get to watch the Baltimore film. It’s a grind. You put so much into these. I think it gets harder. That’s been my experience the older I get. These losses are harder. You want to make sure you’re being consistent with your coaches and being consistent with the players.”
Zimmer, meanwhile, is very confident in his defense fixing the issues it displayed Sunday. Why? Well, he’s already done it once before. Sunday was the Cowboys’ second-worst defeat in a home opener under owner Jerry Jones (since 1989). Zimmer was in the same role as Dallas’ defensive coordinator for the worst one, a 41-14 loss against the Eagles in 2000, a game known as “The Pickle Juice Game.” The Cowboys were playing in Texas Stadium on a 109-degree day. Philadelphia’s players cited drinking pickle juice for hydration as a key to their 306 rushing yards, 201 of which came from running back Duce Staley. Dallas turned it around in the rushing yards department the next week, allowing just 98 against the Cardinals.
“My first game here as a coordinator was ‘The Pickle Juice Game,'” Zimmer said. “I vowed to fix it after that. If I didn’t fix those, I wouldn’t be standing here today. … I didn’t allow [our defense] to use our strength (Sunday against the Saints), getting into third down situations and passing situations. I got to do a better job there.”
McCarthy views September football in the NFL as somewhat of a trial-and-error period, with trends not really being established until a team is four games into the season. That’s why he believes Dallas’ 33-17 road win at the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 wasn’t as good as it seemed, and that’s why he doesn’t believe Sunday’s 44-19 loss against the Saints is as bad as it seemed.
“It was not good yesterday … but I said seven days ago (after the Browns game) that we have a lot of work to do,” McCarthy said Monday. “That wasn’t lip service. We have a lot of work to do. We looked like a young inexperienced football team at the game yesterday. It was my first impression in watching all three phases last night. After going through all the eval with everybody, we need to be better. Our young guys made mistakes at unfortunate times that were costly, but that’s part of playing young players. With that, I’m calling on the veterans to help pull us through those moments and that starts with preparation.”
