The Dallas Cowboys (2-1) lost their first game of the season to the Arizona Cardinals (1-2) 28-16 on Sunday afternoon. After leading the NFL in scoring in their first two games of the season, the Cowboys became cold in week three in Arizona.

The issues started at offense. The Cowboys were without three of their starting offensive lineman, which caused some problems for QB Dak Prescott but not many. The Cowboys had no issues getting the ball down the field, but were abruptly stopped every time by the red zone – scoring just 10 points on five trips inside the 20-yard line.

“When you look at this loss, we moved the ball up and down the field and just couldn’t score,” Prescott said. “We’ve gotta get back to the drawing board, and that starts with me making some throws and making some plays with my feet to try and get it done. We didn’t convert in the red zone. That’s the story of this game, period.”

The Cowboys were on their way up entering week three before they were hit with losing Trevon Diggs to a torn ACL for the rest of the season. The defense struggled all day which is not the case for this Dallas team. With that, they only gave up 28 points…. The Cowboys offense just had trouble producing all night.

Defensively, we went back to our old ways from last year and couldn’t defend the run. The Cowboys gave up 222 yards on the ground, which is unacceptable.

Another obvious issue for Dallas was penalties. Dallas had 13 penalties for 107 yards.

Dak Prescott threw 25-40 for 249 yards with one touchdown and one interception. That was Prescott’s first interception of the season.

Michael Gallup led in receiving with six receptions for 92 yards.
Tony Pollard led in rushing with 23 carries for 122 yards.

Dallas will head back to Dallas to prepare for the New England Patriots in week four.