Dak Prescott won’t be returning this season, and the Dallas Cowboys finished their latest home game without three of their five starting offensive linemen and their top tight end.
Talk about a fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs is long gone.
Instead, it’s starting to feel like 1989, the year Jerry Jones bought the team, and the Cowboys couldn’t win a home game. A team that began the season with Super Bowl dreams is now in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
The reality of a five-game losing streak is clear as the Cowboys prepare for a fourth straight game against a team with a winning record—this Sunday against Washington (7-4). Dallas (3-7) has settled into a tough situation.
“We certainly have to be realistic about how we’re playing,” Jones said after a 34-10 loss to Houston on Monday night. “We have to be realistic about what we’re dealing with at quarterback, and we have to calculate that and look ahead.”
Cooper Rush is 0-2 while filling in for Prescott, who had season-ending surgery for a torn hamstring last week.
Rookie left tackle Tyler Guyton hurt his shoulder while trying to run with a fumble from Rush that he caught mid-air, only for the ball to be knocked out and returned for a touchdown by the Texans.
Later, All-Pro right guard Zack Martin and left guard Tyler Smith both injured their ankles during the same series. Tight end Jake Ferguson also suffered a concussion in the first quarter.
The Cowboys were already struggling with the growing pains of a young team. These struggles will likely continue.
“We had so much success over the last three years as far as the regular season, it’s starting to bother us right now,” said 2023 All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb. “We’ve got to find ways to gel together, play together, and finish this thing out.”
Dallas is 0-5 at home for the first time since losing all eight games at the old Texas Stadium and finishing 1-15 in 1989, Troy Aikman’s rookie year.
The highest the Cowboys have picked in the draft since then was fourth in 2016. Wherever they end up picking this year, it could be the start of a new coaching era with Mike McCarthy on an expiring contract.
“This is it, man. We’ve got to go,” McCarthy said. “We’ve got to fight, scratch, and claw. Our young guys are getting a lot of experience. We need to do whatever it takes to win.”
