The Dallas Cowboys crashed back to Earth Sunday afternoon, losing to the Denver Broncos 44-24. They have yet to win a road game, and the defense is once again being criticized. However, Dallas' offense had its own struggles against one of the best defenses in the league.
The blame starts at the top in the front office and trickles down to the coaching staff. However, players who were on the field that afternoon failed to execute and deserve to be held accountable. These players deserve the most amount of blame for falling flat against Denver.
3 Cowboys players who deserve the most blame for Week 8 loss
1. Sam Williams
The entire defense can take a large portion of the blame but, Sam Williams needs to be singled out. When Dallas traded Micah Parsons, the team was hoping Williams would answer the call of stepping up as the team's leading pass rusher. So far this season he still looks like a backup and someone who could potentially not be in Dallas next season. The Broncos game was more proof.
Williams' effort was poor on the Broncos' first touchdown of the game. Rookie R.J. Harvey took a toss on the left side where Williams was looking to make the tackle, but he was blocked, allowing Harvey to slip past him easily and go untouched to the end zone. What sticks out the most is that Williams was easily blocked by receiver Pat Bryant. An edge rusher should not be checked by a receiver so easily like that.
Williams also once again could not control himself after plays. He was seen mouthing off at opposing players after plays, and it came to a boiling point in the second quarter. After the Broncos scored another touchdown to go up 20-10, Williams was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty. Due to the ball being moved closer to the goal line, Denver went for two.
While the two-point conversion try was unsuccessful, Williams has to be smarter than that. He put the team in a position to give up even more points. Williams' bad effort and poor decisions set the tone for the Cowboys' defense all afternoon. He deserves the most blame of any defensive player for this loss
2. Tyler Guyton
Tyler Guyton once again looked shaky on the road. The Cowboys were flagged for numerous pre-snap penalties all game, and Guyton's early one arguably set the tone for how the offense would perform all day.
Dallas got a turnover within the first few plays as Trikweze Bridges' interception set up good field position for the offense's first drive. After Dak Prescott hit CeeDee Lamb for 29 yards, the Cowboys were in business with a chance to seize early momentum. With a 3rd-and-goal at the one-yard line, Guyton jumped early, moving the team back five yards.
The penalty turned what might've been an easy Javonte Williams rushing touchdown into an incompletion that forced Dallas to settle for a field goal. With the struggles of this defense, to get an early turnover and not turn that into six points was critical.
Guyton also killed the next drive when he got beaten easily by John Franklin-Myers for a sack. Dallas had to punt, and the Broncos scored shortly after to go up 14-3. It might have still been the first quarter, but that stalled drive told how long of a day it was going to be for the Cowboys.
Right now, Guyton does not look like he has made the jump on the discipline side of things from his rookie year. For holding his own offense back early, he deserves a good amount of blame for this loss.
3. Dak Prescott
Make no mistake, Prescott has been a big reason why the Cowboys have managed to win three games so far with definitively the league's worst defense. He had been playing at a high level for the past few weeks, but Sunday in Mile High, he pressed to overcome a deficit and it showed.
Prescott had his worst game of the season, throwing for only 188 yards along with two interceptions. This time though the interceptions came not because his receivers dropped passes, but because of him making poor decisions. For an offense that has to be borderline perfect with this defense, Prescott fell below expectations Sunday against a solid defense. Of course, that's an impossible ask for any quarterback, but even Prescott would say he didn't play well enough.
The first came at end of the half when he was looking to get in Brandon Aubrey's range. Down 27-10, Dallas was looking to get a field goal off before halftime. Instead of only a two-possession deficit with getting the ball to start the third quarter, the offense blew a chance to trim the lead. They scored to start the third quarter to pull within 10, but a field goal would have made it closer.
While a 37-17 deficit in the fourth quarter already seemed insurmountable, the Bronco's defense squashed any doubts by picking off Prescott in the red zone due to a miscommunication with CeeDee Lamb. Either way, it was a forced throw that Prescott didn't need to make, even if the game was already decided.
After going four straight games with no picks, Prescott came back to Earth in Mile High country. A lot of fans may want to blame him a lot more for this loss, but the defense still deserves most of the blame. Prescott is allowed a bad game, but he definitely deserves some blame.