On the bright side, the Cowboys did not lose their Week 13 match on Thursday, Sunday or Monday.
But the first Tuesday night football game in Cowboys history is a competition the franchise will want to forget.
A blatantly weak running defense, inconsistent attack and three missing field goals knocked the Cowboys out of the game and would likely be knocked out of the title race in the worst league in the league.
The Cowboys fell to 3-9 under Mike McCarthy, behind two matches behind the New York Giants and Washington soccer team. Baltimore improved to 7-5, picking up a three-game losing streak as it fights to compete for the match.
Here are three more things we learned in Ravens’ 34-17 win in Baltimore:
The worst defense in the league is getting worse: The Running Ravens game is sure to confuse the cowboys. Baltimore entered the game with an average of the second-largest ground yards in the league (157.6 vs 157.8 for Cleveland), leaving them in health number one. The Cowboys knew their defense could appear porous after conceding a whopping 307 yards to the Browns in September. But they seemed to be getting better in November, as they claimed they had finally stopped their duties in defense of first-year coordinator Mike Nolan. Any reason to trust this defensive run evaporated on Tuesday, when crows easily punched the Cowboys in the middle and down the sidelines – often untouched.
Lamar Jackson returns from the COVID-19 match: Jackson missed nearly two weeks of training, and his team’s game against Pittsburgh last week, before Baltimore activated him from the Reserve / COVID-19 list on Monday. The Cowboys intercepted an upside down pass from him on the Ravens’ first offensive campaign, but otherwise, the Crows and Jackson were on their way. Jackson completed 12 of 17 passes at 107 yards but scored two goals in that performance. On the ground, he lunted 94 yards in 13 stands including a result that was perhaps the most defensive cowboy play ever. Baltimore faced fourth and second places from the 37-yard streak when Jackson stomped the ball and raced straight across the field without touching to score. Jackson was one of three Ravens – Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins – to dash at least 70 yards. The Ravens tackle with Orlando Brown Jr. summed it up nicely after Dobbins sprinted 5 yards over midfield to score with 2:12 to play. Brown’s subsequent mockery of 294 streaming Ravens yards: “easy money.”
Inefficiency of registration: The Cowboys fought their way to 388 total yards, including 285 yards, two days from Andy Dalton. But interceptions, landing turns and three missing field goals were too much to overcome for a team that stopped at too many driving and needed a return kick from 66 yards to initially reach the finish zone. Offensive issues, including this week’s All-Pro right-hand goalkeeper Zack Martin being placed on casualty reserves. But the red-zone competence and the third have hit Dallas weekly since losing mid-back Dak Prescott to an ankle injury at the end of the season two months ago. Adversity often happened in McCarthy’s first season in Dallas. The cowboy still wasn’t able to answer.
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