Cowboys third go to to Panthers since 2018 conjures up little or no pleasure

For the second consecutive season, the Dallas Cowboys will go to the Carolina Panthers for a late season matchup that seems like a little bit of a footnote. The year-to-year nature of the NFL can be on full show this Sunday in Charlotte, as the house Panthers are literally favorites to beat the Cowboys for simply the sixth time in franchise historical past. Each groups come into this sport with a dropping report with Dallas at 5-8 and Carolina 3-10, however even the three wins the Panthers have thus far is progress from the 1-8 report that they had coming into final season’s Week 11 date with the Cowboys. The Cowboys beat the Panthers for his or her third of what can be six consecutive losses, their second such dropping streak of the season, as they completed 2-15. Conversely, the Cowboys used the win to start a brand new win streak that lasted 5 video games earlier than December street losses at Buffalo and Miami.

The Cowboys relied on Dan Quinn’s takeaway-fueled protection to tug away in final 12 months’s win on the Panthers. A DaRon Bland pick-six and strip sack that led to a Brandon Aubrey subject aim each within the fourth quarter separated Dallas on the scoreboard for a 33-10 win. The Panthers had threatened in the beginning of the second half with a landing drive that put them inside 17-10, however it was all Cowboys the remainder of the afternoon.

The Cowboys should not have that sort of opportunistic protection this season within the first 12 months underneath Mike Zimmer, and is just additional hampered by accidents coming into Week 15 after the devastating lack of Demarvion Overshown final Monday night time in opposition to the Bengals. It might really be Dallas’ earlier go to to Carolina in 2018 that feels extra pertinent to this Sundays.

Let’s make a journey down reminiscence lane to the positioning of the third youngest group within the NFL with the Panthers.

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In a season opening loss, the Cowboys managed simply 232 yards and eight factors in a 16-8 defeat. The Cowboys offense crossed into Panthers territory simply 4 occasions with a punt, missed subject aim, and turnover on downs on three of those drives. Allen Hurns had the group’s solely reception of 20 yards or extra, and Dak Prescott was sacked six occasions. It was a depressing begin to a season the place the Cowboys started with a wide-receiver-by-committee method and misplaced in Carolina for the primary time since a 2003-04 Wild Card sport. Jason Garrett’s group, in his eighth season and fourth underneath offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, would alternate wins and losses beginning at 0-1 for the primary seven weeks of the season. The week eight bye turned a turning level for the season because the Cowboys reacted to not being practically adequate within the move sport and traded for then-Raiders vast receiver Amari Cooper.

Cooper made his debut on a Monday night time in opposition to the Titans the next week, and regardless of getting his first receiving landing instantly, the Cowboys misplaced their second straight sport for the primary time all 12 months. It might be their final loss till an unsightly Week 15 shutout on the Colts, with former Cowboys coach Matt Eberflus in command of the Indianapolis protection on the time. Cooper fully modified the tenor of the season and helped the Cowboys attain the Divisional playoffs for the second time underneath Prescott.

If it weren’t for the Cowboys getting shutout for the primary three quarters of the season on the Panthers, managing only one Ezekiel Elliott landing for the entire sport, who is aware of what occurs on the buying and selling block for a group not precisely recognized for being aggressive in participant acquisition.

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No such in-season saving grace of a commerce is coming for the Cowboys in 2024, no matter what occurs in opposition to a Dave Canales’ Panthers group taking part in significantly better soccer as of late. Neither is something near a visit to the identical Divisional spherical of the playoffs they’ve been in simply as soon as underneath McCarthy, with a loss on the 49ers. The one factor near the Cowboys realizing they weren’t correctly outfitted at vast receiver in 2018 that’s occurred for this present group is realizing their running-back-by-committee method was not working to begin the season, however this additionally didn’t are available in practically sufficient time to save lots of the season. Rico Dowdle has seemed significantly better because the group’s true lead again, and can go for his third straight 100 yard sport in opposition to a Panthers group that’s allowed 300 extra speeding yards than the subsequent worst group within the NFL this season.

One group has given up extra speeding touchdowns than the Panthers although, and that may be the Cowboys. With no groups on their bye and a slate stuffed with compelling video games beginning this Sunday, the Cowboys don’t discover themselves in certainly one of them.

Dallas is 4 video games away from having to determine the destiny of a fifth-year head coach and second-year play-caller. Based mostly on the futility this group has gone by means of from the beginning, the expectation is {that a} mass exodus of coaches beginning with McCarthy on the high is the very first thing the entrance workplace can do to point out they’re severe about proving the 2024 efficiency is beneath requirements. It will likely be a change of tempo from the lengthy leash the Garrett and Linehan regime acquired, with the 2018 Amari Cooper season going a great distance in not less than saving their jobs previous that season. The disappointing playoff loss to the Rams in 2018 was the top of Linehan’s time with the group, and lacking the playoffs completely the subsequent season marked Garrett’s final as head coach. The Cowboys should shorten the period of time it takes them to study such classes, with 2024 being a really lengthy lesson in the best way to arrange a group for failure from the soar.

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The Cowboys are nonetheless vying to surpass McCarthy’s worst report with the Cowboys which got here in his first 12 months at 6-10 within the “Covid season”. They might very nicely tie the wins in technically upset vogue in opposition to the Panthers, however face a a lot more durable process in getting over the six-win mark to finish the season in opposition to the Buccaneers, Eagles, and Commanders. All three groups are at the moment in playoff positions.

The remaining kickoffs the Cowboys have on the season will come and go amidst the frenzy of vacation season, and simply after New Yr’s Day it’s going to all be over. It’s onerous to recollect a time the place gamedays felt like such a again burner merchandise within the proceedings of the work forward for a Cowboys group being examined for depth at practically each place, and ill-prepared for this attrition at most of them. This week’s opponent being one the Cowboys are taking part in for simply the seventeenth time in franchise historical past certainly doesn’t assist, though there’s a unusual quantity of current historical past between these groups that’s extra related. Even the constantly-mentioned 2015 season compared to this 2024 one has a major bookmark in a chapter in opposition to the Panthers, with Carolina being the opponent Tony Romo was formally misplaced for the season in opposition to in a Thanksgiving loss.

The Panthers can’t ship the identical sort of knockout blow to the Cowboys this time round, however they will look to seek out higher fortune in one-score video games, coming in having misplaced 4 straight by a mixed 15 factors. The Cowboys are 4-4 in one-score video games this season, which their final three have been. Win or lose, the perfect factor the Cowboys can hope for is that they get out of Carolina with out anymore accidents that impression the offseason and even begin of 2025. Such is life for a Cowboys group taking part in in what might be their final early kickoff window of the season.