"We dem boys!" is starting to sound like "who are these guys?"

The Cowboys: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Jason Garrett
Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

Jason Garrett coaching on the sidelines.

The Week Six game between the Cowboys and the Jets was like most football games; there was the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. The end result left a bad taste in the mouth of every Cowboys' fan, but there were other takeaways from this sad loss in East Rutherford.

The Good

The defensive front seven is playing very well. Guys like Demarcus Lawrence and Robert Quinn were able to get some pressure on Sam Darnold. Quinn added two sacks Sunday, bringing his season total to five.

Kicker Brett Maher made two key field goals from 50 and 62-yards in the first half. The 62-yarder as time expired in the first half tied a Cowboys record that Maher had set himself last season. However, he did miss a 40-yard field goal in the third quarter. Those three points could have propelled the Cowboys to a victory, but Maher still performed admirably this game. Ezekiel Elliot added another 100 yards to his season total, but took a pounding every time he touched the ball. This has to be a wake-up call for the Cowboys. For a team supposed to be contending for a Super Bowl, the Cowboys could find themselves sitting at home come playoff time.

The bad

The Cowboys defensive secondary has been bend don't break for too long, and on Sunday they finally broke in half. Sam Darnold and the Jet's offense were able to figure them out early, and took full advantage of their soft coverage. Jets receiver Robby Anderson had the play of the game when he torched the Cowboys backfield for a 92-yard touchdown reception. Both defensive backs Jeff Heath and Chidobe Awuzie could not keep Anderson and the Jets receivers in front of them all game.

The ugly

With tackles Tyrone Smith and La'El Collins inactive for the game, the Jet's defensive coordinator was able to come up with multiple rush packages to disrupt the Cowboys' depleted offensive line. Under constant duress, Prescott struggled through poor throws, short throws, and a barrage of body blows. He did find some rhythm in the second half, but it felt more like a Blake Bortles garbage time performance than Dak and the Cowboys electric offense that was on full display weeks1-3. What also didn't help was the horrendous play-calling. On 4th and 2 on the seven-yard line, Garrett called for a QB run option instead of handing the ball off to Elliot, or settling for an easy field goal. Of course, it failed and on the very next play, Darnold threw his 92-yard bomb to Anderson putting the Jets up 14-6. One more time, the Cowboys and Garrett heavily underestimated his opponent.

While the season is not doomed with the loss to the Jets, the Cowboys certainly missed a golden opportunity. Next up, the Cowboys run face first into division rival Philadelphia Eagles, who are also 3-3 and coming off a tough loss.

The season may not be over for the Cowboys, but unless he starts learning from his mistakes, Jason Garrett won't be allowed to waste all this talent for much longer.


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A lockout appears unavoidable! Photo via: Wiki Commons.

Looming over baseball is a likely lockout in December 2026, a possible management push for a salary cap and perhaps lost regular-season games for the first time since 1995.

“No one’s talking about it, but we all know that they’re going to lock us out for it, and then we’re going to miss time,” New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday at the All-Star Game. “We’re definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league’s obviously not going to like that.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and some owners have cited payroll disparity as a problem, while at the same time MLB is working to address a revenue decline from regional sports networks. Unlike the NFL, NBA and NHL, baseball has never had a salary cap because its players staunchly oppose one.

Despite higher levels of luxury tax that started in 2022, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets have pushed payrolls to record levels. The last small-market MLB club to win a World Series was the Kansas City Royals in 2015.

After signing outfielder Juan Soto to a record $765 million contract, New York opened this season with an industry-high $326 million payroll, nearly five times Miami’s $69 million, according to Major League Baseball’s figures. Using luxury tax payrolls, based on average annual values that account for future commitments and include benefits, the Dodgers were first at $400 million and on track to owe a record luxury tax of about $151 million — shattering the previous tax record of $103 million set by Los Angeles last year.

“When I talk to the players, I don’t try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change to address that problem. I then identify a second problem that we need to work together and that is that there are fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem.”

Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1, 2026, and management lockouts have become the norm, which shifts the start of a stoppage to the offseason. During the last negotiations, the sides reached a five-year deal on March 10 after a 99-day lockout, salvaging a 162-game 2022 season.

“A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game,” union head Tony Clark said Tuesday. “A cap is about franchise values and profits. ... A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it, literally pits one player against another and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system. It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion.”

The union’s opposition to a cap has paved the way for record-breaking salaries for star players. Soto’s deal is believed to be the richest in pro sports history, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million deal with the Dodgers signed a year earlier. By comparison, the biggest guaranteed contract in the NFL is $250 million for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

Manfred cites that 10% of players earn 72% of salaries.

“I never use the word `salary’ within one of `cap,’” he said. “What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that’s real we should think about whether this system is the perfect system from a players’ perspective.”

A management salary cap proposal could contain a salary floor and a guaranteed percentage of revenue to players. Baseball players have endured nine work stoppages, including a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that fought off a cap proposal.

Agent Scott Boras likens a cap plan to attracting kids to a “gingerbread house.”

“We’ve heard it for 20 years. It’s almost like the childhood fable,” he said. “This very traditional, same approach is not something that would lead the younger players to the gingerbread house.”

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