The Dallas Cowboys’ struggles outside of the NFC East continued Sunday night as they fell to the Minnesota Vikings, 28-24.

The most frustrating aspect of the loss is that Dallas threw away an outstanding performance by Dak Prescott, who finished 28 of 46 for 397 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The Cowboys’ defense was thrashed on the ground by Dalvin Cook and shredded through the air by play-action passes in key moments.

This loss moved Dallas (5-4) back into a tie for the NFC East lead with the Philadelphia Eagles – which, despite Dallas’ head-to-head victory, is concerning given the fact that four of Philadelphia’s last five games come against the Miami Dolphins, New York Giants (twice) and Washington Redskins.

The bright side is the Cowboys still control their own destiny, but they’re going to back themselves into a corner if their struggles outside of the division continue.

With that in mind, let’s dive into a few things we learned from Sunday night:

Reliance on run wastes outstanding Prescott performance

Even in the loss, Dak Prescott consistently defied the odds against the Vikings, completing +6.5% of his attempts above expectation.



5 of Prescott's 10 most improbable completions of the season came in tonight's game, including 3 to Amari Cooper.#MINvsDAL | #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/AZYuQujdnm — Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 11, 2019

Prescott was outstanding, evidenced by the fact that five of his 10 most difficult completed passes this season were done so against the Vikings (7-3), according to NFL’s Next Gen Stats.

Prescott routinely had to bail out the Cowboys’ questionable first-down play-calling. Despite having much more success through the air, the Cowboys frustratingly continued to stick with the ground game.

The Cowboys had 30 first downs against the Vikings, toting the rock 16 times for just 39 yards (2.44 yards per carry) and zero first downs while attacking through the air 14 times for 108 yards (8.3 yards per attempt) and six first downs (seven if you count Jason Witten’s 9-yard catch that became a first down after a Minnesota unnecessary roughness penalty).

If you take out the last two drives of the game, the Cowboys ran the ball on 15 of 23 first downs, which means, despite finding zero success, Dallas ran on 65% of first downs before the game situation forced them to pass.

And what happened when the Cowboys were forced to pass on first down on the last two drives? Fifty-eight yards on six passes (9.6 yards per play).

The reliance on the ground game on first down continually put the Cowboys behind the eight ball on second and third down. Of Dallas’ 16 first-down runs, only two went for over 5 yards, which continually put the offense behind the sticks.

The Cowboys faced 15 third downs, only four of which would be considered third-and-short situations (less than 5 yards to go for a first down). Despite being put in disadvantageous situations, Prescott was masterful on third down, going 10 of 14 for 170 yards, a touchdown and nine first downs. Of Prescott’s nine third-down conversions, eight came on passes that gained 10-plus yards and five gained 20 or more.

Given the stark differences in the Cowboys’ success attacking through the air and on the ground, one would think the team would rely on the pass in high-leverage situations. Yet after the Cowboys entered the red zone on a drive where Prescott had gone 6 of 7 for 79 yards (11.3 yards per attempt) and five first downs, they opted to run the ball twice for minus-3 yards, putting themselves in a tough fourth down in an area of the field where space is condensed.

Unfortunately, Prescott couldn’t bail out the play-calling this time, as his pass to Ezekiel Elliott fell incomplete, effectively ending Dallas’ chances to win.

The Cowboys seemed more preoccupied with taking time off the clock to prevent a Minnesota comeback if they took the lead, rather than, you know, actually trying to score a touchdown to take the lead. With under two minutes in the game against arguably a top-five defense, putting the ball in the end zone should be the main priority on every play, but the Cowboys tried to get cute -- and it hurt them.

Prescott did his best to bail out the suspect situational play-calling, hitting tight-window throw after tight-window throw, but in the end, he had only so many tricks up his sleeve.

Missed tackles, poor LB pursuit ruin Cowboys’ run defense

The Vikings may have finished with 36 carries for 153 rushing yards (4.3 yards per carry) and a score, but it was the 10 straight runs for 61 yards and touchdown on Minnesota’s lone touchdown drive that really broke the back of the Cowboys’ defense.

It was yet another instance of Dallas’ poor run defense setting the stage for disappointment, harking back to losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Rams from last season. The Cowboys struggled mightily at bringing down Vikings running backs on first contact. In fact, 77 of Cook’s 97 rushing yards came after contact, illustrating Dallas’ tackling issues.

While poor tackling certainly was a huge issue, poor pursuit by Dallas’ linebackers also inhibited the defense’s ability to adequately defend the run. Here’s an example:

On this play, the Vikings are running a simple pin-and-pull lead toss to get Cook on the perimeter. Byron Jones does an excellent job of forcing Cook to cut back into the teeth of the defense. Unfortunately, there were no Cowboys defenders in position to bring Cook to the ground.

First off, Sean Lee has to do a better job of taking on the puller with outside leverage so he can force Cook to continue bending the run back inside. Lee actually attacked the wrong shoulder of the pulling lineman. Because he took a more downhill angle toward the puller’s inside shoulder, it put him in a poor position to defend the cut block in space.

If Lee would have taken a wider angle, 1) he would have been in better position to defend and defeat the cut block, and 2) even if he still got blocked, his momentum would have taken him outside, which inevitably would have forced Cook to either hesitate or bend his path more toward the middle of the defense. Either way, it would have put Dallas in better position to stop Cook.

With Lee unable to maintain outside leverage and force the cutback, it put a lot of pressure on Jaylon Smith to flow into the fit and meet Cook in the alley when he cuts back. However, Smith got sucked up by Cook pressing the line of scrimmage, which puts his line of pursuit directly in conflict with the puller, who executed a nice cut block in space against Lee.

Because Smith had to leap over the traffic, he was a step or two late in filling the alley, giving Cook free access to the second level and resulting in a 23-yard gain on a drive where Minnesota came away with points. The Cowboys let the puller essentially block two guys with one block, which is not a recipe for success against the run.

Unfortunately for Dallas, this wasn’t the only demonstration of poor pursuit from its linebackers. Here’s another example:

On this play, Minnesota is running an outside-zone lead toss, which is the same play as above but without the puller, putting the linebackers in a similar conundrum.

But instead of losing outside leverage like Lee, Smith maintained outside leverage and defeated the left guard’s block as he climbed to the second level – which, in conjunction with Robert Quinn and Joe Thomas taking on blocks and setting a strong edge, forced Cook to cut back into the teeth of the defense.

As the SAM (strong side) linebacker in a 4-3 defense against weak outside zone (fast flow), Leighton Vander Esch’s job is to play the cutback. However, despite the fact that Smith forced the cutback, Vander Esch was nowhere to be found because he was out of position.

Vander Esch anticipated Cook spilling outside, so he tried to play over the top of the blockers. Given Vander Esch’s responsibility, he should have flowed underneath the climbing left guard, which 1) would have allowed him to continue to outpace the right guard, who was climbing to block, and 2) put him in perfect position to bring down Cook once the defense forces him inside.

But because Vander Esch flowed over the block, it actually put the left guard in position to wall him and Smith off outside once Cook cut back, which again allowed one blocker to effectively block two Cowboys defenders.

To put the cherry on top, Antwaun Woods’ arm tackle attempt slides off Cook’s frame, allowing the runner to tumble forward for a few more yards and pick up the first down.

The hits just kept on coming for the Cowboys’ defense:

On this play, the Vikings are running weak wide zone, which is the same as weak outside zone except the weak-side tackle kicks out the edge defender instead of trying to reach and hook him.

Even though Smith does enough to force Alexander Mattison to cut back into the middle of the defense, his lazy pursuit angle created a huge gap between the first and second levels of the defense, which created the perfect alley for Mattison’s cutback.

If Smith attacked the blocker while maintaining outside leverage instead of merely drifting over the top, it would have condensed the cutback lane while giving Mattison more traffic to the second level.

On top of Smith’s drifting over the top, Vander Esch, who is once again the cutback defender, is lackadaisical flowing from the backside, making a bad situation even worse. Vander Esch tries to turn on the jets once he sees Mattison start to cut upfield, but it’s too late, as Mattison already picked up the first down by the time Vander Esch was able to make contact.

On the most important defensive play of the game – a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line – poor linebacker pursuit once again enabled Minnesota to find success:

On this play, it was a Smith false step that led to the touchdown run. Anticipating an inside run, Smith took a step downhill, which put him in a poor position to avoid the center climbing to the second level.

Even though the center trips as he climbs to the second level, Smith’s first step put him so out of position that it didn’t matter, as the center was able to get enough of Smith’s legs to cause him to tumble to the ground, leaving no one in position to bring down Cook once he cuts back.

If Smith would have read his keys properly and not guessed, his first step would have been lateral (just like the other linebackers on the play), which would have allowed him to outpace the center, especially considering the center tripped while climbing.

Thanks to poor tackling and shoddy pursuit by the linebackers, the Cowboys’ defense failed to accomplish its No. 1 goal Sunday night – stopping Cook and the Vikings’ run game.

DeMarcus Lawrence is best player on Cowboys’ defense

If there was any question as to whom the best defender on the Cowboys was, it was answered Sunday night. DeMarcus Lawrence put together an excellent performance despite the team and defense faltering.

Lawrence finished with eight tackles, one for loss, a QB hit and a bevy of pressures in a Herculean effort to slow down the Vikings’ offense.

To their credit, the Vikings limited the number of one-on-one opportunities for Lawrence on the edge by giving him a steady diet of chip blocks and double-teams along with screens and play-action bootlegs. Still, when Lawrence was given an opportunity to work one-on-one, he was effective:

On this play, Lawrence executed his primary pass-rush move -- the euro cross-chop -- as he feinted with an inside move before expanding outside with a well-timed cross chop to knock down the right tackle’s outside hand. From there, Lawrence uses a rip move to clear contact as he corners and flattens to the pocket.

Lawrence was able to get his hand on Kirk Cousins’ throwing arm but was unable to jar the ball free, which meant it was an incompletion instead of a forced fumble.

Lawrence’s feet and hands worked in cohesion throughout the entire rep -- true poetry in motion.

Even when he wasn’t able to rush the passer in a traditional fashion, he was still able to make an impact against the pass. The Cowboys had trouble defending the screen all night, but Lawrence provided one of the only bright spots by chasing down a Cook screen from behind (above clip).

Lawrence was also the Cowboys’ most impactful run defender, mixing power and finesse to beat blocks and make stops nears the line of scrimmage.

On the front side of runs, Lawrence did an excellent job of resetting the line of scrimmage with power and length at the point of attack (above clip) while also penetrating to make a play in the backfield when the situation called for it.

Lawrence was also outstanding in backside pursuit against Minnesota’s zone running scheme, displaying impressive burst, great pursuit angles and a motor that never runs cold (which, undoubtedly, makes Rod Marinelli’s heart flutter). When blocked, Lawrence did an excellent job of quickly defeating his block so he could begin his backside pursuit. You’d be hard-pressed to find a defensive end in the NFL who is consistently more impactful as a backside pursuit defender against the run.

Lawrence’s performance should do well to quell any concerns -- if there were any -- that he wouldn’t provide a noteworthy return for the considerable investment the Cowboys made in him in the offseason. Lawrence is a stud and, by far, the best player on the Cowboys’ defense.

Enjoy this post? More film studies:

— Cowboys mock draft: What the film says about 2020 prospects Dallas should be targeting

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— Why DeMarcus Lawrence isn’t playing as poorly as his sack total suggests