Of all the breakdowns after halftime for the Dallas Cowboys in yet another loss to the Arizona Cardinals, owner Jerry Jones seemed most bothered by his sputtering offense.
asserted
Jones → seem → offense
Dallas had a chance to survive a fourth-quarter collapse by forcing a punt to start overtime, only to have Dak Prescott and company match the three-and-out by the Cardinals.
asserted
Prescott → have → Cardinals
Arizona drove to a field goal for the 33-30 victory after Chad Ryland’s missed PAT in the final seconds of regulation kept the Cardinals from winning without the extra period.
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PAT → drive → period
The Cardinals (3-5), who have had one winning season in the past decade, have beaten Dallas five consecutive times and are 5-0 at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Cowboys that opened in 2009.
“It’s an indictment of the whole show,” Jones summarized after a long-winded attempt to explain to himself how the Cowboys lost when they didn’t trail until the game was over and had a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter.
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game → have → quarter
Jones wasn’t ready to indict coach Brian Schottenheimer, who has just one winning streak in his two seasons — a three-game run last season when Dallas finished 7-9-1.
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Dallas → indict → seasons
Now 3-5 and still trying to believe a weak NFC East gives them hope, the Cowboys also face the reality that they have spent exactly one of 25 weeks above .500 under a coach running a team for the first time after the son of 200-game winner Marty Schottenheimer spent 25 years as an NFL assistant.
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son → try → assistant
“None of us are getting it done,” Jones said.
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Jones → get → us
So I’m not pointing at Shotty.
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I → point → Shotty
I’m not pointing to anybody.
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I → point → anybody
I haven’t been involved in too many games that we should have won it.
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we → involve → it
We had the opportunities we had to win this game.
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we → have → game
That is a big snapshot that we want to put above our mirror.”
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we → want → mirror
The beleaguered Dallas defense forced three punts and two turnovers and had a goal-line stand among the first seven Arizona possessions.
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defense → force → possessions
Then Tyler Allgeier broke free for a 63-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, and the Cowboys gave up three more TD drives in the fourth quarter.
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Cowboys → break → quarter
The last covered 80 yards in 63 seconds when the Cardinals didn’t have any timeouts.
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Cardinals → cover → timeouts
After Dallas finally did get another stop to start overtime, Javonte Williams ran for 2 yards, Prescott’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and the last of a season-high four sacks forced the Cowboys to give the ball right back.
A defense that ranks among the worst in the NFL didn’t have another stop in it.
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that → get → it
“It’s what we’re about, to go in and win those games, overtime second possession, we nail that field goal,” Jones said.
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Jones → ’re → goal
“We’ve got the best field goal kicker in my view in the country and we’ve got to get him in a position to do it.
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we → get → it
We did not do it, and that is a criticism of everybody concerned here.”
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that → do → everybody
Prescott was 19 of 29 for 195 yards, and a running game that was coming off a 204-yard showing in a victory over Philadelphia was limited to a 2.4-yard average.
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that → come → average
Williams had a career-high 155 yards on 25 carries against the Eagles.
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Williams → have → Eagles
He had 56 yards on 24 carries this week.
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He → have → carries
“At this point, talk is cheap,” Prescott said.
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Prescott → say → point
“Telling stories is cheap.
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Telling → tell → stories
We’ve got to go write on our story.
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We → get → story
We’ve put ourselves in this position.”
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We → put → position
The heat is turning up on Schottenheimer to get the Cowboys out of this position.
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heat → turn → position
“I believe in our staff,” Schottenheimer said.
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Schottenheimer → believe → staff
“I believe our players.
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I → believe → players
I think we played a really good game in Philadelphia.
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we → think → Philadelphia
And then we played pretty good first half here.
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we → play → half
So we got to look at the film and learn from it.”
asserted
we → got → it
The Aporia
