The New York Giants are so awful Kellen Moore could have played quarterback and the Dallas Cowboys would have covered the spread by halftime.
On Sunday afternoon in windy conditions in New Jersey, the Cowboys did what they were supposed to do and kicked around the Giants, 21-6, to reach the 10-win mark for the first time since 2018.
This should have been a 41-6 game, but it wasn’t because the Cowboys can’t score. From the looks of it their defense will have to carry the offense for the remainder of the regular season, and the playoffs.
The Cowboys made easy work of the Giants on Sunday because the Giants are just that bad; nothing the Cowboys did on offense should make you feel better about the state of this team’s ability to score.
Beating the Giants proves nothing, and answers even less.
The Cowboys cannot expect their defense to generate turnovers at this current pace, which is as absurd as it is historic.
Against the Giants, the Cowboys generated four more turnovers for the third consecutive game. The last time the Cowboys defense forced four turnovers in three straight games was 1994.
Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs wasn’t even alive back then. And speaking of Trevon Diggs, he came up with his 10th interception of the season.
To score 21 points when your offense forced four turnovers in a game in decent, not horrid, conditions is beyond odd. It’s troubling.
Whatever chance Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore had of landing a head coaching job for 2022 he is all but killing it in these last two months. He’s coming back as the Cowboys’ OC next season.
The next Sean McVay now looks like your standard NFL offensive coordinator navigating the hard stuff of an NFL season.
There are a lot of reasons why the Cowboys’ offense looks nothing like the offense that ripped through the NFL from Weeks 1 through 7, and one of those reasons is the offensive coordinator.
Since Moore was elevated to offensive coordinator under then head coach Jason Garrett in January of 2019, the former Boise State quarterback has bounced around as the smartest guy in the room, to too cute for his own good.
Right now he has major issues from his line to his tight end to his running backs to his quarterback.
He can’t call a cute game with these issues.
Moore is following a similar path that New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton suffered through when he worked with Bill Parcells as his offensive play caller with the Cowboys from 2003 to 2005.
Young, bright, coordinators can fall into a pattern of over-thinking their calls, and coach themselves into corners when none were visible.
The Cowboys have some visible corners aside from their clever coordinator.
The offensive line was without starting left tackle Tyron Smith, who missed the game on Sunday with an ankle sprain. Between Connor Williams and Connor McGovern, the Cowboys are not in love with either of their guards opposite Zack Martin.
Starting tight end Dalton Schultz is a nice pass receiver, but his ability as a blocker is not Jason Witten-ish. Routinely Schultz struggles to set the edge on running plays, or just whiffs on blocks.
On Sunday, the Cowboys ran the ball a little better, which makes everyone look smarter.
Starting running back Zeke Elliott still does not look like he is completely healthy, because he’s not. On Sunday, he averaged 3.3 yards per carry. It’s the sixth straight game Zeke has averaged less than four yards per carry.
He’s playing hurt.
His “backup,” Tony Pollard was available one week after he was out with a foot injury. Against New York, he touched the ball 10 times for 94 yards.
Which brings us to the Answer Key, quarterback Dak Prescott.
Dak still doesn’t look good. He has not since Week 6, when he suffered the calf injury in the last play of the game in the overtime win at New England.
Against the Giants, he didn’t get help from receiver CeeDee Lamb, who had a case of the drops in the first half.
Dak had his misses, too and finished 28 of 37 for 217 yards, with one touchdown and no interceptions.
Every team goes through an ugly stretch, and the Cowboys were never going to avoid that.
Every team goes through injuries, and the Cowboys have had a few of those.
With some head-scratching play calls and offensive alignments, Moore is trying to clever his way through these shortcomings when boring may be his best — and perhaps only — shot.
With three regular-season games remaining, the caliber of two of the opponents the Cowboys will face is so bad we won’t know if this offense is the one that rolled from Weeks 1 to 7, or the version that is currently playing.
The Cowboys host Washington and play at Philadelphia around a home game against Arizona. At worst the Cowboys should finish 12-5, and they still have a shot at the top seed in the NFC and the first-round bye that goes with it.
On Sunday, the Cowboys did what they were supposed to do and beat a terrible team.
The Cowboys are a defensive team, which, for the sake of the playoffs, is a wonderful development.
But unless they figure out a way to score a few more points, they won’t be a Super team, which will keep the coordinator back with the Cowboys for another year.
