The Dallas Cowboys lost Week 3 in a stunner to the Arizona Cardinals, 28-16. Against the thought-to-be worst team in the NFL, the Cowboys looked outmatched from start to finish. Dallas appears to have a window where they can make a run at a Super Bowl, presuming the of-late injury luck doesn't tumble into something even more concerning.
As such, Dallas needs to ratchet up the intensity and shorten the leashes on underperforming players. A bad week happens in the NFL, but two bad weeks? That's flirting with habits.
Losing habits cannot fly in Dallas this season.
Unfortunately for Dallas, the idea of actually removing these players from starting roles if they stumble is actually a bit of a pipe dream, and perhaps a luxury they don't have. The injury bug has continued to press on in Dallas this year, and depth is not to the Cowboys' advantage.
That said, these three players should be motivated to prove themselves in Week 4 in order to convince the world their starting roles are justified.
Terence Steele
One thing is sure to keep Terence Steele in the starting lineup if he otherwise should be taken out: The health of the entire rest of the offensive line.
Steele, despite recently signing an extension, has been relatively disappointing, allowing four pressures and earning the second-worst grade per PFF ahead of only Tyler Bass in the pass rushing game.
Putting that aside, what's most frustrating is that the veteran presence fans hoped Steele would bring haven't come, as he has committed a line-leading four penalties.
Expect Steele to stay in the lineup solely because of depth issues and injuries, but if the Cowboys had more of a luxury decision to make, Steele's role might be more in view as a lingering question.
Brandin Cooks
Brandin Cooks was a good offseason add for the Dallas Cowboys, we thought, but his performance thus far has not met expectations. Pro Football Focus grades him the worst receiver of any that have seen at least 90 offensive snaps, a troubling look into how far he has tumbled in the first few weeks.
He has graded 70 or higher per PFF the last three seasons, but so far this year is below 60. In Week 4 he caught two of seven receptions, albeit up against some questionable officiating and possible missed pass interferences.
It would be a shock to see Cooks permanently removed from the starting lineup, but he's also been banged up this year, missing Week 2 before giving it a go in Week 3. Pushing him out to play in Week 3 was questionable, and if he's still banged up and puts forth another nothingburger in Week 4, the Cowboys should consider giving him a week off to get back rested in Week 6.
Clearly, Cooks is better than this, and poor play has to make you wonder about the injury continuing to linger and impact his play.
Behind Cooks in the depth chart is KaVontae Turpin who has a 5.0 yards per target (only four targets so far this year) to Cooks's 3.5. Turpin has been a return man more than a receiver thus far, but it could be an interesting wrinkle to give Cooks some time to rest up while pushing Turpin in as the starter.
Cooks has the 12th-highest cushion in the NFL, but a horrid separation, which indicates this might not all be on him. Cushion is a stat that details his distance from defenders on route runs, while separation is his distance from defenders when the ball arrives. Some of this is on Dak to identify those high-cushion routes.
Prescott and Cooks need to get in sync moving forward, otherwise, all is lost. If the Cowboys can't make something out of his quality route running, there won't be much hope for the offense.
Jayron Kearse
17-of-21 passing for a quarterback rating of 117.9 for Joshua Dobbs in Week 3. Yes, as knee-jerk as it may be, someone from the secondary needs to be on the line here.
Truthfully, I would toss in another veteran, Stephon Gilmore into this slide too, and say both should have their rears on the hot seat in this week's game after what the Cardinals were able to do to the secondary last week.
Yes, it was Dallas's first week without Trevon Diggs, something that will absolutely take the wind out of a unit's sails, but as the two veteran members of the secondary, fans expect better.
Gilmore has given up a team-worst 167 yards, Jayron Kearse an also-bad 62.
Despite both struggling this year, Kearse finds his name as the lowlight headline on this particular article rather than Gilmore because he has been atrocious in both man coverage and zone, allowing four of five targets to convert in zone four 51 yards total, 12.8 yards per catch in zone coverage.
History suggests Kearse poor game against the Cardinals shouldn't become a trend, but two straight duds would be mightly concerning. Might be time for Dallas to flex why they signed Malik Hooker to a contract extension and give him a go in Kearse's place.