The Cowboys can't get out of their own way, which is ironic considering they didn't get in the way of Rico Dowdle on Sunday.
The Dallas Cowboys fell back under .500 due to their Week 6 loss to the Carolina Panthers, 30-27. The club was looking to execute their first winning streak of the 2025 season, but instead they are dealing with self-inflicted wounds and doubt.
The Panthers ran the ball at will against the Dallas defense. They were so good running early that Carolina’s offense had 25 first downs while only needing three third-down conversions. Dallas played well enough on offense, at least in passing the ball, but their defense couldn’t get enough stops. Here are the major takeaways from the loss.
Dallas couldn’t stop former teammate Rico Dowdle
Rico Dowdle told reporters that the Dallas defense needed to buckle up, but he ran over their car on his way to over 200 yards from scrimmage.
On his 30 runs, the Cowboys' 2024 leading rusher ran half of them for at least seven yards. He was handed the ball 30 times for 183 yards for 6.1 yards per attempt. He also led the team with four catches for 56 yards. On 38 rush attempts, Dallas only had two run stops all game.
Dallas allowed another QB to outperform his past
Bryce Young had his highest yards per pass, completion percentage, and quarterback rating of the season and his most yards and touchdown passes since Week 1 when he threw the ball 55 times.
On the year, Young had only completed three passes over 20 yards on 12 attempts, but against Dallas, Young was perfect on all three of those throws. The Panthers leaned on the run, but when Young needed to make a play, he did so all game. He was a perfect 10 out of 10 for 125 yards and three touchdowns with a perfect passer rating when trailing against the Cowboys.
The team was Dak or nothing
It has gotten to the point where the Cowboys' offense has to be perfect to compete with even the worst teams in the NFL. Young and Dowdle did whatever they wanted against the Cowboys' defense, and the Dallas offense ran 19 times for 31 yards, only 1.6 per attempt.
Dak Prescott completed nearly 70% of his passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, with a QB rating of 124.8 and a QBR over 90 & even recovered a fumble, but the team still lost to the Panthers. Prescott has to be perfect; a couple of poor drives could be enough for Dallas to lose the game with how their defense has performed.
You can find Mike Crum on Twitter @cdpiglet or on YouTube at Across the Cowboys podcast
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Rico Act: 3 major takeaways from Cowboys loss to Panthers
Category: Football
