In what has becoming a weekly occurrence, the Dallas Cowboys put up a pathetic performance in the 23-13 Week 6 loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.
We heard the excuse all week that three games in 11 days might have been a big factor in the Week 5 loss. Well, the Cowboys had 10 days of rest before Week 6 and still came out flat.
The Cowboys actually should have lost by more than that, as the Packers dropped multiple easy touchdowns during the game.
With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 2-4 on the season and are set to take on an equally broken team in the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7. The only saving grace for Dallas right now is the fact that the NFC East is a total mess and is completely up for grabs.
Before we turn the page to the upcoming NFC East matchup, here are the biggest takeaways from the latest Cowboys debacle against the Packers in Week 6.
A broken team
There's no need to rehash all the issues this team has. It has been the same story all season long and nothing changed in Week 6.
The Cowboys might not be the most talented team in the NFL, but they have more talent than what their performances would suggest, especially on offense.
There are so many players underperforming on this team on both sides of the ball, execution is sorely lacking, to say the least, and the Cowboys are undisciplined, too.
Making matters worse, Brian Schottenheimer and Christian Parker are inept as play-callers and have no answers for how to improve things. Not that this needs to be pointed out, but both should be fired.
The Cowboys can make all the changes they want with personnel, but it's the equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. There is no hope things will get better, plain and simple.
Legendarily bad third-down defense
The Packers entered the game with the worst third-down offense in the NFL with a success rate of 27.59%. But all they needed was a matchup against the Cowboys to get right, as the Packers converted on 61.1% of their third-down tries.
What's especially glaring is the Cowboys' inability to stop teams on third-and-long. Bobby Belt of 105.3 The Fan noted that teams are converting 50% of third-down attempts of nine-plus yards on the Cowboys this season and the league average is 21.8%.
Just Pathetic.
Joey Porter Jr. proving his worth
If there was one bright spot from the loss, it was the performance of Joey Porter Jr., who played like the CB1 the Cowboys hoped to get in the trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Porter shut down every Packers wide receiver he covered during the game. If only the Cowboys could clone him a few times they might be able to turn this thing around.
In all, Porter finished with three tackles, including one for a loss, and a pair of passes defensed.
Notable changes
We saw personnel changes on both sides of the ball, as Schottenheimer promised.
Brevyn Spann-Ford started and played ahead of Jake Ferguson, and Malachi Lawrence got the start over Donovan Ezeiruaku.
Unfortunately, as we expected, those changes did nothing to alter the performance of a Cowboys team that just cannot get it together.
More injuries
The Cowboys saw two players leave the game early with injuries.
KaVontae Turpin suffered an injury to his ribs on the opening kickoff and did not return. Dee Winters came down with an ankle injury in the first half, also, and never got back into the game.
The Cowboys are already banged-up at linebacker, so the Winters injury is especially notable. We'll see if DeMarvion Overshown can finally return from his hamstring injury in Week 7.
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