Cowboys Cooked In Buffalo

The Cowboys (10-4) went into to upstate New York and got dominated from the opening kickoff, giving up touchdowns on three of the Bills (8-6) first four drives in a 31-10 win for the home team on Sunday afternoon at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. It is the worst performance of the season for a team that had already turned in an embarrassing display during a 32-point defeat Week 5 in San Francisco.

AIR ATTACK GROUNDED IN BUFFALO

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott could never get the offense on track Sunday afternoon, as Dallas only threatened with one trip inside the red zone with the game still undecided.

It started early for Prescott, who finished with just 134 yards passing, missing a wide-open Brandin Cooks on the second offensive play of the game. Cooks was 2 yards clear of the Buffalo defender, but the pass landed five yards beyond his reach. It would have tied the game 7-7, instead led to an eventual Cowboys punt.

Prescott finished hitting 21 of 34 passes, with one interception on a badly overthrown ball to Cooks with the Cowboys down 31-3 in the third quarter, no touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 57.7.

The interception was the first turnover of the game, but he had two sure interceptions dropped by Bills defenders or the numbers would look much worse for the Cowboys signal caller.

His accuracy was affected by the play of his offensive line, who had one of their worst days as a unit. He missed several wide-open receivers, while also throwing into double and triple coverage.

CeeDee Lamb caught seven of his 10 targets for 53 yards, while Prescott completed passes to just five different receivers – Lamb, Jake Ferguson (6 catches for 44 yards), Brandin Cooks (2 for 10), Rico Dowdle (2 for 8) and Tony Pollard (2 for 5), until the final eight minutes of the game and the Cowboys trailing by 28.

COWBOYS DEFENSIVE COOKED BY COOK

As good as Dan Quinn’s Dallas defense has been this season, they were equally as bad on Sunday afternoon in upstate New York.

The Cowboys had no answer for Bills running back James Cook, who put up 221 total yards on 27 touches for an average of 8.18 yards every time he touched the ball.

Cook rushed for 179 yards, added another 42 yards receiving and two touchdowns in the Bills dominating win over the Cowboys. It is by far the top day of his career, besting his 159 total yard performance in the Bills Week 2 win over Las Vegas this season.

Cook blitzed the Cowboys for 146 total yards in the first half, before finishing his career-best day watching from the sidelines as the Bills ran out the clock.

Cook was a punishing runner all afternoon, as he led the charge for a Bills team that put up 266 yards rushing. 

PENALTIES DOOM OFFENSE

The Cowboys were about as undisciplined as a football team could get on Sunday afternoon against the Bills.

Dallas committed three personal foul penalties in the first half, and Buffalo turned all of them into touchdowns.

The First came from defensive leader DeMarcus Lawrence in the opening series of the game. D-Law roughed quarterback Josh Allen on third and goal from the Dallas 10 on a throwaway. Buffalo got a new set of downs at the Cowboys 5, scoring two plays later on a 2-yard Latavius Murray run up the middle.

On the second Buffalo series and after the Cowboys forced a Buffalo punt, Sam Williams roughed the punter. The personal foul gave the Bills a new set of downs that they paid off with an Allen to James Cook 18-yard touchdown pass and a 14-0 lead.

On the Bills fourth series, Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse was called for unnecessary roughness when he hit Buffalo wide receiver hard Khalil Shakur hard in the back and head after he missed the pass on second and 19 at the Buffalo 38. The Bills would score seven plays later on an Allen 1-yard run for a 21-3 lead.

The Cowboys could never recover. It was a poor showing from two of the Cowboys most trusted leaders in Lawrence and Kearse.

DEFENSIVE PLAN SHUTS DOWN COWBOYS

Buffalo’s defense clearly had a gameplan that started with making the Cowboys beat them on the ground. After what Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has done to defenses over the last seven weeks, it was the perfect strategy.

The Bills kept both safeties 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage forcing the Cowboys to audible to runs on early downs. The periodically threw in a late run blitz that had the Cowboys in long yardage situations early in a set of downs. It forced the Cowboys out what they like to do early, which is throw the football.

The Cowboys running game produced just 89 yards while averaging 4.45 yards per carry, and only Prescott (6.8) and Tony Pollard (4.7) averaged more than 3.0 yards per carry in the game.

In the first half, the Cowboys had four drives that included 26 plays for 98 yards, six first downs and just one Brandon Aubrey field goal. The run game produced just 55 yards on 12 carries, led by Pollard with 33 yards on seven carries.

It was the Cowboys worst day on the ground since their 73-yard performance in a 28-23 loss in Philadelphia in Week 9.

OFFENSIVE LINE ABUSED BY BUFFALO FRONT

The Cowboys gave up three sacks, while only gaining 195 total yards in another let down on the road.

It started with a left guard Tyler Smith holding penalty on the first drive of the game and only got worse from their for the Cowboys offensive line.

Right tackle Terence Steele gave up the first sack soon after Leonard Floyd. It was followed up by a group sack credited to Terrel Bernard and Greg Rousseau.

Then right guard Zack Martin got hit on his left quad and left the game injured, all while the Cowboys fell behind 21-3 in the first half.

The second half was no better. They gave up another ‘everybody meets at the quarterback’ sack that was credited to Jordan Phillips and Von Miller when left tackle Tyron Smith and Tyler Smith were beaten both beaten on a stunt.

Add to it that the Cowboys wide receivers were covered all afternoon and it made for a tough day for the big boys up front.

The Cowboys added a 15-play, 80-yard drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter and the game already decided.

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BIG HUGE GIANT MONSTER Play of the Game

With the Cowboys trailing 7-0, the Dallas defense came up with a big stop on third down and eight at the Buffalo 26 when quarterback Josh Allen was forced to throw the ball away after pressure from Micah Parsons. However, on the punt, Cowboys defender Sam Williams broke through the middle of the line and leaped high in the air to block the punt but missed it and instead roughed punter Sam Martin. That gave Buffalo a first down at their own 41, and six plays later he connected with running back James Cook on an 18-yard touchdown pass and a 14-0 lead for the Bills. It turned the tides in a game that was still close early on.