The first half of the Dallas Cowboys' duel against a backup quarterback in Jacoby Brissett and the substandard Arizona Cardinals offense he has been leading has gone about as poorly as possible. The much-maligned secondary is barely lifting a finger against the Dallas defense.
Arizona has gotten Marvin Harrison Jr. revved up early on, as he caught five passes for 64 yards and a touchdown on the first two drives. His touchdown came via a picture-perfect release at the line of scrimmage that was so exemplary that DaRon Bland fell to the turf trying to stop it.
Harrison's touchdown was so filthy that even Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb had to react with a mix of surprise, disgust, and admiration for someone who plays the same position as he does. After this brutal rep, Bland might not want to go on social media for the rest of the evening.
CeeDee Lamb has hilarious reaction to Marvin Harrison Jr, cooking DaRon Bland
Harrison has been targeted seven times already in this game, including multiple times on third down. Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing is keeping it simple against this defense. Anytime he needs a key conversion, he simply pinpoints Harrison and lets Brissett do the work.
The fact that Bland, who is the one cornerback that actually has some stature on this team, is getting roasted to a frankly comical degree, is extremely concerning. Kaiir Elam isn't going to become Deion Sanders overnight, meaning Bland needs to be an even bigger paragon of consistency.
The Cowboys' offense struggling to get anything going is only making things worse. Between a failed fourth-down conversion that was ended by a Josh Sweat sack, a near-interception that was dropped by Cardinals linebacker Mack Wilson, and a Jake Ferguson fumble, this has been an almost complete capitulation.
The Cowboys may end up coming back due to their offensive firepower, but if Harrison is so locked in that Lamb is Jumbotron-watching and reacting like that to his own teammates getting cooked, the comeback odds are getting worse by the hour. The Matt Eberflus era keeps finding new bottoms that had not been unearthed.