Dallas Cowboys: Studs and duds in shocking Week 6 loss to Jets

Stud: Ezekiel Elliott

The Jets defense has struggled this season as they have given up 24.6 points per game according to NFL.com (22nd in the league). However, they have been pretty good against the run, surrendering 95.8 yards which is good for 13th.

Their strong defensive line is to thank for this and they were able to make life hard on Ezekiel Elliott. He had just 35 yards in the first half against New York, and it looked as though he wouldn’t be able to get things going.

However, he did turn it around in the second half, going for 70 yards which gave him 105 on 28 carries with a touchdown. His 3.75-yard average wasn’t anything to write home about but he continued to move the chains on the ground and added another 47 yards on five catches.

Zeke also made a huge play that didn’t show up in the stat sheets as he drew a pass interference flag on the final drive that gave Dallas 24 yards. It wasn’t his best game but he was the best player on offense in this one, which deserves praise.

Dud: Jason Garrett

One member of the Dallas Cowboys who doesn’t deserve praise is Jason Garrett. The head coach started out on fire with a 3-0 record. Since then, he’s led his team to a loss against the New Orleans Saints — without Drew Brees — and Green Bay Packers — without Davante Adams. Week 6 was another loss, this time to an 0-4 franchise in the Jets.

And once again, it was all about the coaching. Dallas has more talent than New York but Garrett and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore couldn’t make up for the loss of a few key players. Both starting tackles were lost as was Randall Cobb. Amari Cooper joined them as well, which gives team owner Jerry Jones an excuse to try and save his hand-picked coach.

The problem is, other teams find a way to win even without stars — such as the aforementioned Saints and Packers. For Garrett, he struggles mightily to get it done without his key players, which shows their success is all about the players winning individual battles rather than the coaches drawing up a good gameplan.

Garrett showed this as he made a couple of errors, including the decision to gamble on a fourth-and-2 from the Jets’ seven-yard line. Rather than taking the points, he rolled the dice and Moore called a play that we all saw coming, which resulted in Dak Prescott being stuffed for a one-yard loss.

Dallas also continues to be heavily penalized in Garrett’s tenure, including four penalties on the same drive, which ended with New York’s first touchdown of the game. There’s a lot of blame for this loss but the majority falls squarely on the shoulders of the team’s head coach.